The Molly and Paul Primary School in Kamuzinda, Uganda, was founded in 1983 by Molly and Paul Wasswa who donated land which was originally their farm.
The first classes were held in the Mission House with borrowed desks from a primary school. And soon the Molly and Paul Child Care Foundation was formed.
The children’s village is funded by a UK charity called the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir. This charity brings over a song and dance choir to the UK to tour and perform to raise money for back home.
Last February, a party of 17 Rotarians and non-Rotarians from the Ormskirk area in Lancashire travelled to Kamuzinda in February.
They travelled with more than 33 suitcases containing donated shoes, school textbooks, baby quilts, medicine and clothes, as well as a wheelchair for one of the students who suffers from polio.
Last February, a party of 17 Rotarians and non-Rotarians from the Ormskirk area in Lancashire travelled to Kamuzinda in February.
The main project was to help build a much-needed home for 40 teenage boys. This home is the result of a successful Rotary District Grant, along with match funding, by Rotary Ormskirk Clocktower, and support from other Rotary clubs.
James Thomas from Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr Rotary in Conwy, North Wales was among the party of Rotarians.
With a background is in computer science, he spent a large portion of his time in Uganda teaching maths and IT in the high school.
James said: “IT is a compulsory A level. The students had fantastic theoretical knowledge of it, but awful practical knowledge due to lack of equipment. This really hit me hard.
The main project was to help build a much-needed home for 40 teenage boys. This home is the result of a successful Rotary District Grant, along with match funding, by Rotary Ormskirk Clocktower, and support from other Rotary clubs.”
“So with the funds that I raised as part of the group, I donated 10 new laptops to the school.
“The trip itself has been a penny drop moment for me and has completely changed the direction I wish to take in my life.
“I want to change my career paths and go into the humanitarian sector.
“I realised that I spend a large portion of my time doing Rotary work and loving every second of it. So I will ultimately be unhappy in my current career.
“This boots on the ground experience has touched me in ways I could never have imagined. I think about the children out there daily.”
James said that the abiding, and humbling, impression gained from the visit to Kamuzinda was that however modest and rudimentary the help being offered, it was diligently and enthusiastically seized on by the young people involved.
James explained that the whole idea of the work which Rotarians have been engaged with in Kamuzinda was to help villagers to become self-sufficient.
The main project was to build a new mission house for boys aged 10 to 19-years-old to move into.
He added: “We delivered food drops to the elderly in the village that are looking after the lost generations children.
“We fixed all the boreholes around the village so they had access to water. We also donated what they called ‘exotic cows’ which were dairy cows to hopefully bring the village milk.
“We fixed their kitchens, did the floor up in the primary school, painted all the blackboards, added water tanks to collect the rain water and provided feminine hygiene bags for the girls.”
James said that the abiding, and humbling, impression gained from the visit to Kamuzinda was that however modest and rudimentary the help being offered, it was diligently and enthusiastically seized on by the young people involved.
All members of the team came away from Africa determined to return one day.
