What an amazing day ...!

I am sorry if you missed out on the craft sale - it was a brilliant day. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed in anyway to the craft sale to raise money for An African Dream - so many people made lovely and unusual crafts and cards, baked delicous cakes and biscuits, served refreshments, washed up and of course came and bought and also prayed! The whole house was beautifully laid out and a great deal of care had gone into the presentation of every item. There was a wonderful peaceful atmosphere throughout the day with around 150 -200 people coming to enjoy.

It was a great success and around £4000 was raised - an extraordinary amount - thank you to all who came and generously bought. :-)

Your support is hugely appreciated - two trustees are presently in Uganda and will no doubt return with fresh ideas as to how the money can be spent.

Exam season has arrived!

Today Primary 7 pupils at St Mark's will begin exams - we are hopeful that the good education that they have been receiving throughout the year will give them all a great opportunity for success.

The government school inspector will be visiting St Mark's School on Wed 11th November - we will keep you posted on the outcome of his visit

Two trustees of An African Dream will be visiting the work this month and following up developments and progress.

What's been happening ...

What a lot has happened in the last few months - the team had a great visit in July - please see their full reports on the website www.aaduganda.org. A brief summary is below.


St Mark's has begun the last term of the school year. I was thrilled to see the new water tank in place and connected to the guttering. The new administration block which will include a staffroom is making great progress with the roof on already which is amazing as only the foundations had been dug when we visited in July.


The pastors' graduation was a day of great celebration with speeches and ceremony abounding!




We visited several widows who had received piglets last summer through An African Dream and we were thrilled to see the first batches of piglets. The widows were delighted and had varied plans for the money which selling their piglets would raise, such as paying school fees and buying another plot of land.

London Marathon Triumph!

A massive thank you to Mark Olsen who ran the London Marathon in aid of An African Dream and raised an incredible £509 - thank you to everyone who supported him - what a fantastic achievement.

Team preparations are progressing .................

As you will have seen a team of 8 are preparing to go to Uganda on July 1st - last week they met up for final planning. Vaccinations are being updated and visas are being processed this week. Here are some comments from two members of the team who are going for the first time:

It is a huge privilige and a thrill to be a part of the team. I'm looking forward to meeting people who's experience of God and of life is so very different to my own. I hope our trip and the activities we have planned will be of value to those we encounter, and that it will begin to shape my understanding of Gods plan for my future.
Helen

From the moment God touched my heart to care for those less fortunate than myself, I wanted to do something tangible to help. In my daily life I deal with people who have so much material wealth, but it seems, are not as happy as those with so much less. Under God's guidance, I cannot wait to make a small difference where I can to the lives of those in Uganda, and in particular the school children.
Trevor

Youth conference ......

Last week a conference for youth took place (that's basically anyone who isn't married!) - over 300 people attended to hear the gospel being preached and were encouraged in their faith.

Garage Sale coming up - don't miss out!

Please pray for sunshine on Sat 6th June when a Garage Sale will be held at 33 Lodge Lane, Prestwood, Bucks 10 - 2pm to raise money for An African Dream - last years support for this event raised £700. Please come and support this year and see if we can do better. Do come and have a drink and a slice of yummy cake we'd love to see you!

3 Peaks Success ...

A huge thank you to the team of climbers from Little Kingshill School who successfully climbed the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales all in 24 hours and in the process raised an extraordinary £1000 for An African Dream - thank you so much.

A graduation approaches ....

17 Pastors of the Full Gospel Church have now completed their Bible training and will graduate on the 4th July. The team of 8 from the UK going out will be guests of honour at this event which will very likely last a whole day and consist of lots of speeches and a big meal to celebrate at the end.


Rugendabara Full Gospel church now has a new roof which has been long awaited and was completed before the rains came which was perfect timing!

London Marathon

The amazing Mark Olsen is running the London Marathon on Saturday 26th April to raise money for An African Dream - please do go to his webpage and sponsor him - thank you.

www.justgiving.com/markolsen1

Come to this Quiz night to raise money and have fun!

There are 8 people preparing to go to Uganda to visit the work of An African Dream in July - two of them Rebecca and Alicia are organising a fundraiser -

"Quiz Night with puddings and dancing!"

Half of the proceeds are going to 'An African Dream' and the other half towards their flights!! They hope to see what has been achieved with the money from the Christmas Tree Collection and also to experience first hand some of the inspiring stories Sophie brings back from every visit!

Please come and show your support by coming to this fantastic evening of entertainment!!

When: Saturday 18th April 7.30-11pm

Where: Great Kingshill Village Hall

Tickets: £10 (£8 concession)

Bring your own drinks (and glasses!)

We're not being too strict about teams - there will be tables of tenish (with appropiate team names etc!) for you to join! So come in a team or come and join a team - it doesn't matter!!

Contact: anafricandream@wynter.org for further details

This is no walk in the park!

Three Peaks Challenge
On the 2^nd of May, an intrepid team of Teachers and Parents from Little Kingshill Combined School are undertaking the National Three Peaks Challenge. This involves climbing the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales. These are Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Snowdon respectively. To complete the challenge you must ascend and descend all three peaks, and driv e (or be driven) between them, within 24 hours.

The team will start with Ben Nevis at 4pm on Saturday the 2^nd and aim to have completed all 3 peaks by 4pm on Sunday the 3^rd of May.

This is no walk in the park!
The money we raise from sponsorship will be split between
Little Kingshill School and “An African Dream”

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Don’t worry you don’t have to walk up a mountain!!!

Please visit www.justgiving.com/lks3peaks and make your donation.

Thanks for your support.

Latest news!

I am delighted to report that the guttering is now indeed attached to a water tank and both staff and pupils are enjoying the benefits of having water on the school site.

9 orphans who completed and passed primary education at St Mark's have now begun their secondary education at a school nearby.

After nearly a year of constant wear the uniforms of the 105 orphans are both too small and worn out so funds to replace them with new bigger uniforms will soon be sent out.

A team of 8 people are now booked to visit the work of An African Dream from July 1st to 12th to encourage those working there full time and see how the work is progressing.

Textbooks and Water!

After many long discussions textbooks for St Mark's School have finally been purchased in Kampala and taken 5-6 hours to Pastor Lumika where they will be put in new cupboards which have been built in the classrooms. It is anticipated that these will be a great blessing to both the teachers and pupils. Thank you to those who gave generously to the Christmas tree collection.

Also there is great news in the form of water! Guttering on the classroom roofs has now been completed to enable rain water to be collected. This means there will be water on the school site and it will no longer need to be collected in jerry cans from the river 6-8 minutes walk from the school. The final piece of the jigsaw will come with the news that the guttering has been connected to the water tank - watch this space!

PA Pastors and Widows

Following a very generous donation we have been able to provide PA equipment for Pastor Lumika and his district - Lumika writes:
"I have bought the equipment which is very powerful. Thank you so much. God bless you. Yesterday we had the district executive they were so happy and thanked the Lord together"
"Onice again I would like to thank you the instrutments the district executive were also happy and lifted up they hands and prayed for you for such wonderful PA thank you so much"

Christmas was clearly a busy but happy time for Pastor Lumika:
"Am happy to inform you that Christmas was so wonderful, we had so many christains over 400 which was amazing praise God, we hard some dramas in the church by the youth so the service was so wonderful. From 4:00pm to 7:30pm we had a powerful crusade whereby different people believers and non believers attended, I invited the speekers from different district and others from Northern Uganda and ended on 1st 2009. We also had a youth seminer from 26 -27th whereby many people attended they were very happy and 29th - 30th we had a big seminer for married couples whereby there were very happy with seminer. Reports have started coming from out that there is great changes in their families praise the Lord thank you for your contant prayers".

In addition, 51 widows have recently attended a seminar to encourage them and teach them - some have been given piglets already though many are still waiting.

12 Pastors will be coming for Bible training on 26th January - some will be graduating this year after completing 2 years part time studies.

A new term begins ....

On Monday 26th January, St Mark' School will begin its 3rd year! We have just heard that P7 pupils who took exams in November all passed which is great news.

It is anticipated that the water will soon be available on the school site once guttering is finished and connected to the water tank - this will be a huge improvement on having to go down to the river to fetch water.

Awesome Christmas Tree Collection

On January 4th, a bright but very cold Sunday afternoon, an amazing team of 30 volunteers from Little Kingshill Baptist Church helped to collect Christmas trees from 3 villages in order to raise money for An African Dream. An incredible £930 was raised and will be used to buy textbooks for St Mark's School.