Hello Mary,
Yes,l have been going through the list and studying it slowly by slowly.
The list is very nice and it will be very useful to us.
There is a lot of paper work to be done,and thats why one may think we are slow.
But we are trying and reffering to the list every day.
Christopher

Hi Christopher

That's good to hear, I was just checking that you had been able to open it. You will find that the majority on there are not likely sources of support for construction, but you may find some that could be.

Mary

Hello Everybody,

We are some students from the Netherlands and we're connected to your problem. We've been to a presentation of how to deal with your problems and how to get started. It's still a hard subject to deal with and we can't imagine how it's like. That's what so interesting. We're trying to do our best and hope that you will help us with some difficulties. For this far there are no obscurities. Christopher: We'll contact you personally for some detailed information about the subject and the surrounding of Masaka. And we will introduce us to you.

We hope we can help you!

Jelmer, Francine, Marte, Leande and Nurana
Veendam, Groningen, The Netherlands

Dear Jelmer, Francine, Marte, Leande and Nurana
Veendam, Groningen, Of The Netherlands,
We are so happy to get to know that you have interest in our programs here in Uganda.
We are ready and willing to provide all the information that you will need as regards to our Village/School.
However,note of our contact address:
NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL
P.O.BOX 226
MASAKA
UGANDA
Email:ndhschool89@yahoo.co.uk

Hi everyone-

I wanted to let you know that Christopher and I were able to meet this morning online and chat about proposed tasks/steps for the Masaka village. I felt we had a very good and productive chat. He provided me with a lot of information and details about Notre Dame High School and the issues/challenges of the local community. We also came up with what we feel will be several feasible tasks for Nabuur volunteers to work on.

I will look through my notes, type up a summary of our conversation and help get some initial tasks posted so we can move this project forward in a positive direction.

Regards-

Jennifer

Here is a summary from my chat with Christopher earlier this morning-

BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL:

Notre Dame High School was started about 18 months ago. They have a total of 282 students enrolled and a new target of 550 students. The students range in age from 11-20 years. There are 5 students between the ages of 21-22 years. There are 7 full time teachers and 10 part-time teachers. The teachers are paid through the funding the school receives from the students who can afford to pay (not all can). Teacher wages are not supported by the government. They had one volunteer teacher, but she unfortunately passed away due to contracting AIDS. The school has a Catholic Priest sent by the local Bishop to attend to the Spiritual needs of the students.

LIBRARY AND TEXTBOOKS: Christopher has successfully obtained some books for the school through proposals that have been submitted and contacts that he has made. Notre Dame High School does have a library and a librarian, Francis. They have some chairs for the library, but still lack sufficient books. The teachers each have access to books for use in their classroom. Students at the school share their textbooks.

LAB EQUIPMENT: Christopher agreed to send me a list of the lab equipment that is needed at the school. Recently 4 students from the school had to travel 105 miles, by taxi, in order to take National Exams because the school lacked the necessary lab equipment. All students are required to take National Exams after their senior four year. Notre Dame High School had their first students, 24 total, who sat for National Exams this year. In Uganda, students study and graduate with certificates in primary seven, after senior four and then again after their senior six year. They then would be able to advance and join university level studies. For these 24, they had to be transported by bus to the National Exam site. The school had to take out a loan to cover the cost and they are still working toward paying back that loan today.

HEALTHCARE: The school does not have a school nurse. They cannot afford to pay one.

MALARIA: At the present time, there are 7 students sick from Malaria. Last week, there were 10 students sick with Malaria. It is the rainy season in Masaka and they expect that Malaria cases will rise. They would like to utilize mosquito nets in the new dormitories, but not all students or teachers can afford to purchase them. In Uganda, a treated mosquito net can cost Ug shs 15000, and an untreated one costs around Ug shs 10000.

HIV/AIDS: Not all students have been screened for HIV/AIDS, but they do know for certain that there are 16 students with this diagnosis attending classes at the school and many more have become orphans due to their parents dying from this disease.

SANITARY PADS: Christopher explained that some of the girls at the school cannot afford to purchase sanitary pads. He hopes that Nabuur will be able to help with this issue. I was telling him about the work that Barb and the volunteers have done in her villages about this issue and he was very interested in getting more information.

CURRENT PRIORITIES: Christopher and I spoke about current priorities at Notre Dame High School. He identified priorities as follows: (1) water and sanitation, (2) dormitory construction, (3) transportation, and finally, (4) income generation activities to help the school become self-sustaining.

1. RAIN WATER HARVESTING: While this was the original project proposal posted to Nabuur, Christopher has been able to secure funding from a friend in the United Kingdom to resolve this problem at the school. At the present time, one toilet has been constructed and money was recently transferred to purchase the needed water tank. Christopher indicated that he feels this is no longer something that volunteers need to focus on at Nabuur.

2. DORMITORIES: Christopher and I had some discussion about the difficulties of raising large-scale funds for construction projects via Nabuur. We talked about alternative approaches and he informed me that the school received money from friends to begin construction. The girl’s dormitory has been started and as soon as it is finished they hope to break ground on the boy’s dorm.

• WEBSITE: Christopher would like very much to have a website constructed that features the school. The purpose of this website will be to showcase the work that has been done at the school, but also to help provide valuable information to prospective funders as well as solicit individual donations. Christopher feels that this will serve as a useful tool to which he can direct people when writing funding proposals and demonstrate the good work the school is doing.

• CHILD SPONSORSHIP: Christopher would also like to add information on the website pertaining to orphaned children at the school who require sponsorship to pay their school fees. Christopher tells me that the school has many orphans. They have read about the program that was started in the Matopeni village and would like to replicate it at their school. Current school fees are: Boarding Ug shs 200.000/= day Ug shs 98000, for food only. They hope that they will be able to increase these fees one day due to inflation and high food prices because it is currently difficult to cover expenses.

3. TRANSPORTATION: Notre Dame High School would like to one day purchase a mini-bus. This would be used to transport children to school and also to workshops/seminars. Some of the children come from very far away. Some live nearby as well, but have to walk 2-5 miles to/from the school location.

• BICYCLES: Christopher is interested in receiving help from volunteers to identify and contact organizations who may be able to help provide bicycles to students at the school. We did discuss that transportation costs may make something like this prohibitive.

4. LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY: I asked Christopher about the survey that was conducted in the local community and previous discussions about the piggery. He said that the idea is a very good one, but they decided that they did not want to take on this project until some of the other areas identified had been addressed. Christopher said that the school was able to obtain some vocational tools from a donation and that they hope to start vocational skills training next year, but need more teachers. I talked to him about the possibility of engaging the students in tackling some of the issues we discussed and using this as a learning tool. He said that they have been helping in some cases, but most of the time, students come to school and are very tired because they do not get enough food to eat. Some of them are also sick, so they have elected not to utilize these students for the work going on around the school campus.

Hi Christopher and Jennifer

That is a great summary! I am very impressed at what the school has achieved so far, ad that you managed to get through so much in one chat session!

To follow on from what Jennifer is doing, I am working my way through the previous posts and adding some of the information into the new tasks tasks.

While reading the summary and looking through posts, a few questions occurred to me:

1. You already have close links with the catholic church in the area. Are they able to link you up with any sources of financial support either in Uganda or internationally?

2. School fees are 200,000/98,000 Ugandan Shillings (approx $US105/52). Is this for the whole year, or for one term? How many of the children are able to pay the fees?

3. How much contact do you have with other schools in Uganda? Can you find out where they get funding from, and whether they have found successful ways of becoming more self-sufficient.

4. HIV/AIDS – do any local hospitals/heath centres offer free testing, followed by free/low cost treatment for anyone who tests positive? If so, would it be possible for the school to arrange this for any students who wish to be tested?

5. Dormitories –
(a) How much money has been raised so far?
(b) How much still required, and do you still hope to pursue this through Nabuur?
(c ) You have added 30% (i.e. about 14,000,000 Ugandan Shillings/$US7400) for labour costs. I know you will need to employ skilled people for some of the work, but can some of the rest be done by volunteers to reduce costs?

6. Website for the school - could your partner school in the UK help with this, maybe as an assignment in IT class?

7. Piggery project – previous posts have suggested that you have started this on a small scale. Is it still running or did you decide to stop until other things at the school are completed?

8. Vocational training - is any going on now, as suggested in previous posts? If it has already started, do students do a mix of vocational/academic studies? How many are doing vocational training? I ask as it may affect where you can get funding from – some organisations focus on funding academic education while others concentrate on vocational training.

9. You mention that many students are having difficulty due to lack of food. Have you ever considered starting a school garden/farm (not just the pigs) to provide food for students, also maybe to sell? How much land do you have?

10. International school links - I know you are linked with a school in the UK. Are you linked with others too e.g. you mentioned fundraising by catholic students in the US. Are these links purely about fundraising or do you exchange information too, to help teachers improve their skills, working together on joint projects, and so that students can make friends around the world?

11. Currently the school does not receive any government support. Would it be possible for the school to become registered as a government school? If it would, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Mary

Hello Mary and all friends to masaka village,
Thank you for contributing.
Have been reading through all tasks and at our cafe power is off and on.
I will have to come back write with some information.Hope to answer questions then
Thank you very much for contributing

It is indeed a great summary. Great to hear a lot of things have started happening at the school too.

Raul

Hello Mary,
Have tried to answer questions raised as below.

While reading the summary and looking through posts, a few questions occurred to me:

1. You already have close links with the catholic church in the area. Are they able to link you up with any sources of financial support either in Uganda or internationally?
We had only tried to link through it and we contacted AID LINK IRELAND but we were not successful.We have tried to do so but the diocese has many problems to handle.
2. School fees are 200,000/98,000 Ugandan Shillings (approx $US105/52). Is this for the whole year, or for one term? How many of the children are able to pay the fees?
The fees payable are for each term and the whole year has 3 terms.

3. How much contact do you have with other schools in Uganda? Can you find out where they get funding from, and whether they have found successful ways of becoming more self-sufficient.
We have 2 schools in Uganda 1.Ssnyage orphanage,this gets its funding from friends in Sweden.
lrma Pfeeifer Bweya High School,this is funded by friend in Germany.
No1,has a poutry farming as a project and while no2 has not yet got a project.

4. HIV/AIDS – do any local hospitals/heath centres offer free testing, followed by free/low cost treatment for anyone who tests positive? If so, would it be possible for the school to arrange this for any students who wish to be tested?
YES,nearby there is KITOVU HOSPITAL and TASO these do the testing.
We have not done the request yet,but we have recieved cocelling from these organisations and also from the Catholic sisters of Daughers of Mary who work in the area.
Most of the guardians do not want theier children to be tested.
But we hope with time after councilling they will do.
We need much sensitisation about this issue.

5. Dormitories –
(a) How much money has been raised so far?
Happy to inform you further that this morning we receieved a messge that frienfs in Usa are sending $5000,this means that so far we have $ 7200 in total.

(b) How much still required, and do you still hope to pursue this through Nabuur?
We hope kind people if contacted through nabuur can come on board to help.If nabuur volunteers can design and post our project to kind people or organisations like Giveameaning or Global giving or other,we hope we can make it.
We are also arranging for a charity walk i aid of the school.Request nabuur volunteers to help further descuss possible other ways for our going forward.
(c ) You have added 30% (i.e. about 14,000,000 Ugandan Shillings/$US7400) for labour costs. I know you will need to employ skilled people for some of the work, but can some of the rest be done by volunteers to reduce costs?
We have not one yet,though we have requested to.

6. Website for the school - could your partner school in the UK help with this, maybe as an assignment in IT class?
We had requested our twinned school,but this done several times with promise but it hasnt been solved for now a yaear.

7. Piggery project – previous posts have suggested that you have started this on a small scale. Is it still running or did you decide to stop until other things at the school are completed?
The Piggery,is going on,we have 1 mature pig and 3 younger ones, i will post a photoe of this next week.
As you may not all of you be aware,last sunday.was the our school Annual Parents/Guardians day and one parent donated 3 rabbits as a start for a rabbit income generating project.
A small house has been built using cutt offs from timber and cutt offs from iron sheets.
Now the rabbits are there and children are doing the feeding and care.
8. Vocational training - is any going on now, as suggested in previous posts? If it has already started, do students do a mix of vocational/academic studies? How many are doing vocational training? I ask as it may affect where you can get funding from – some organisations focus on funding academic education while others concentrate on vocational training.
Vocational studies will begin next year.But we have now most of the tools,but we again expect some problems with the further paying of teachers.
Thats why we wanted children sponsorship prog,as most of our children cannot afford to pay school fees.

9. You mention that many students are having difficulty due to lack of food. Have you ever considered starting a school garden/farm (not just the pigs) to provide food for students, also maybe to sell? How much land do you have?
We do not have enough land to practice farming,but we have started doing some small farming, like for vegatables,onions,green eatables,but mostly used as a demostration for trainning children in agriculture.

10. International school links - I know you are linked with a school in the UK. Are you linked with others too e.g. you mentioned fundraising by catholic students in the US. Are these links purely about fundraising or do you exchange information too, to help teachers improve their skills, working together on joint projects, and so that students can make friends around the world?
YES,we are linked to a school in the UK,and we really need to be linked to another one but its not easy,because one told us that British Council in Ugand does the help with this linking.We have written 5 times without a responce.We do request that if there is a avoluntter to help us do the linking to another school or 2 ot 3 or 4.
We have had alot with this linkage,and we wish we had ome others.Our pupils have learnt alot through penpal progs,and ever on my door for this.
11. Currently the school does not receive any government support. Would it be possible for the school to become registered as a government school? If it would, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of this?
NO,we do not wish our school to be registered by govt.
For us,we expect quality work and performances.
This is enough for this question.
We get some money from friends in Usa,only through the links/apeals that were made by a catholic priest who was studing in Chicago,and who was my former OB.
Yours
Christopher
Local Rep
Masaka

Hi Christopher

Many thanks for all the answers! I will post some of this information under the various tasks.

I do think that it is worth looking within Uganda for many things, especially items that may be difficult and expensive to shop from abroad, also for funding. As you may have read in other villages, finding things in other countries can be relatively easy, but getting them to Uganda can be very hard to arrange.

Its great to hear that you now have two income generating projects up and running! That is it beginning of sustainability for the school, and the vocational training will add to that. If well planned, this will make running the school much easier.

I am very impressed by the number of international contacts you have already, and the donations you are getting from them. You may find that these links are far more effective ways of fundraising than applying to various grant-giving organisations, or trying to raise money online, although it is possible to try that too.

Mary

Dear Mary thank you for contributing.
YES,for fundrising,lam to go on trying all methods.
Whenever,l hear of anything ,l do not hestate.
Fundrising from defferent cicles look very good,whatever is got can bring big changes to us.
Its very good to try various methods or its better to fail with anything than not to have tried.
Our urgent wish is to seeing a volunteer posting our project to organisations like Giveameanig or other.
We have the hopes that we can benefit from these.
Christopher

Hi Christopher

I agree, the more ways you can try, the more likely you are to succeed.

Jennifer has successfully got a project listed on GiveMeaning for Gamauli village in Nepal, as have several other Nabuur projects.

The procedure is that an organisation submits a 'proposal' - a fairly simple description of the project and a budget. The proposal then has a period of time (I think it is 30 days) to get 100 votes. If it is successful, you then have to answer some additional questions from GiveMeaning (they check that your organisation is real etc). Once this is done, the project is online for donations. I think it stays on the site for six months.

However, the majority of projects raise relatively small amounts of money - a few hundred dollars. So I would not suggest putting the dormitory construction on there. But you may be able to use it as a fundraising method for a smaller-scale project.

Jennifer - what do you think based on your experience?

Mary

I agree completely, I do not think either one of those methods are going to be effective for raising the type of large scale funding you are looking for. I would really encourage you to work on local fundraising efforts. These really serve a great purpose for the school because it builds the support of the local community. The more your local community supports you the better.

GiveMeaning.com is intended as a fundraising tool. It is not a fundraising solution. I can chat with you more about it if you'd like, but again I think your best option for raising funds to support the school will come from your efforts at the local level.

Maybe you could consider something like a school play or choir concert for members of the local community put on by children at the school? You might also consider a community "open-house" to invite local government leaders to the school to see the work that you are doing which may help you gain and/or sustain their support.

Jennifer

Hello Jennifer,
Thank you for the contribution.
Iam printing this message,so that we can descuss it over with Headteacher/teachers.
But its very good.
Again ,l wrote here that we now planning for a charity walk,with a mission to making some fundrising locally