Thursday, December 1, 2011
News from St Mark's school
All the children at St Marks school in class P7 passed their Nov 11' PLE (Primary Learning Exams.)
Friday, October 21, 2011
Vision Day - how it went!
The Vision Day on Saturday 8th October went really well - thank you to everyone who prayed for the day. Around 20 people came to hear what has been happening over the last 18 months and to think ahead to the future.
Some of the areas we will be looking to develop further are:
Some of the areas we will be looking to develop further are:
- Building life skills so that young people can fulfil their potential.
- Increased emphasis on theological training –not just pastors but also for Sunday school teachers and other church leaders
- Sustainable micro-enterprise projects by supplying widows more quickly with pigs rather than them having to wait to receive one
Support An African Dream when you buy your Christmas Cards!
This is just to let you know that Just Cards now have in their printed Christmas cards and there are 8 great new designs, all in packs of 10. Check them out at http://www.justcardsdirect.com/cards/christmas.html
As usual they will donate 10% of the value of your order to An African Dream when you select us at the checkout. Last Christmas they donated a total of around £10,000 to their partner charities. It's a great way to support us!
They also have some lovely banana leaf Christmas cards, now upgraded and available at the larger size of 17x12cm, priced at £2.50. You can see those at http://www.justcardsdirect.com/cards/christmas/handmade-in-africa.html
As usual they will donate 10% of the value of your order to An African Dream when you select us at the checkout. Last Christmas they donated a total of around £10,000 to their partner charities. It's a great way to support us!
They also have some lovely banana leaf Christmas cards, now upgraded and available at the larger size of 17x12cm, priced at £2.50. You can see those at http://www.justcardsdirect.com/cards/christmas/handmade-in-africa.html
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Vision Day Sat 8th October 2011
A great deal has happened since the last Vision Day we held in April 2010!
You are warmly invited to join us for another Vision Day on Saturday 8th October 2011 to hear all that God has been doing and to seek His guidance for future planning and strategy of An African Dream. As you will see from the website, www.aaduganda.org, the work continues to grow and the Trustees are keen that the future of AAD continues to be God led.
Once again, the day will be led by The Rev Malcom Duncan and will be held at Gold Hill Baptist Church, Gold Hill East, Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks, SL9 9DG between 9.30 - 3pm.
Please get in touch via the website to let us know you're coming - it would be great to see you.
Come and support us at Cafe Africa in Amersham!
An African Dream is the Charity of the month at Cafe Africa in Amersham in October. Please come and support us - this Saturday 1st October is our launch day so please pop in and talk the team.
You can find out more here: http://www.cafe-africa.co.uk/
You can find out more here: http://www.cafe-africa.co.uk/
Monday, August 15, 2011
Health Day and improvements to St Mark's school site
A very successful Health Day took place at St Mark's school on 5th August 2011 in conjunction with a team from the International Medical Hosptial - see some photos from the day at http://blog.suubitrust.org.uk/.
Pupils and parents were tested for HIV and malaria - of the 245 people tested for HIV only 4 were found to be positive - they were started on treatment and referred to other centres for continuous care. Of the 93 pupils tested for malaria 13 were found to be positive - they were also treated.
A summary of the day concluded that most of the children were found to be in good health and no major illness was suspected in any of the pupils. Majority fo the pupils were suffering from minor infections mostly fungal and upper respiratory tract infections. Most of the pupils were dewormed.
Further plans are being developed as to how the health of the children, staff and parents linked to St Mark's school can be improved possibly through regular visits to the school by a medical team.
In addition, a new water tank and guttering have been installed and we also look forward to the completion a new school gate over the summer holidays. A school sign has also been commissioned following a kind donation from Prestwood Infant School. Many thanks to the staff and pupils who donated money.
Pupils and parents were tested for HIV and malaria - of the 245 people tested for HIV only 4 were found to be positive - they were started on treatment and referred to other centres for continuous care. Of the 93 pupils tested for malaria 13 were found to be positive - they were also treated.
A summary of the day concluded that most of the children were found to be in good health and no major illness was suspected in any of the pupils. Majority fo the pupils were suffering from minor infections mostly fungal and upper respiratory tract infections. Most of the pupils were dewormed.
Further plans are being developed as to how the health of the children, staff and parents linked to St Mark's school can be improved possibly through regular visits to the school by a medical team.
In addition, a new water tank and guttering have been installed and we also look forward to the completion a new school gate over the summer holidays. A school sign has also been commissioned following a kind donation from Prestwood Infant School. Many thanks to the staff and pupils who donated money.
Claire is home
Its great to have Claire home safely after 5 months away in Uganda - the highlights from her time in Uganda in her own words are below:
The highlights of my the final two months in Uganda are in bullet form as I would be here for days if I wrote about them in full! · § Seven of the young leaders were presented with their own bibles on the final leaders session with me as a reward for being committed to the work of Teenagers ministry and for showing dedication to their responsibilities. § Amazingly God has provided the ideal person to hand over the work of the teenagers to, appointed Wilson (a local primary school teacher), a God given man as the leader of the Teenagers Ministry and he will move it forward with the support of the team which we built up during my time there. § We had another day Teens seminar where we looked at the final gospel, John and learnt that John’s message within the gospel is that ‘Jesus is God’ and that with Jesus, nothing is impossible! · We (myself and some of the young leaders) visited and spoke at the local Compassion Project in Maliba, we lead the morning devotions and bible studies for the teenagers, 12 made commitments to Jesus that morning. · I managed to complete the Life skills Programme at St Mark’s school – including Assertiveness, Self Esteem and Goal setting with the years six and 7. Please pray that the new concepts which were taught to them will really impact their lives over the coming months and years. · One Sunday morning I was invited to lead the Teenagers at , a church about an hour away from where I have been based –over 50 became Christians for the first time or made recommitments that morning - It was amazing! · I did some preaching at some of the local churches, over the final few weeks being in the hills, which was a huge challenge and privilege. · My friend Jo Withers visited for about 8 days at beginning of July. We had a fun week together, visiting Queen Elizabeth National Park for the day with Hillary and Wilmon, visiting many local people for lunch and making Jo tag along to all the teenagers and school stuff that week. · A team from Onelife came out and was with me for the final week of being in the village. We then went to Mbale in the east of Uganda for the final week. We did some awesome stuff which included running a Onelife conference for over 200 young leaders, leading seminars, visiting local projects, including the local Children’s ward to pray for the sick children and a street kids project working with over 700 street kids. We visited the amazing work happening in some of the slums in Kampala. We also saw God answer our prayer for a small girl who had been missing from home for a day in an area where 40 children go missing or are kidnapped every month. |
Monday, July 11, 2011
Funds from a fair!
Many thanks to Rob and Liz who raised £83 for An African Dream at a stall at their local fair in Bishops Cannings, Devizes last Saturday.
A very big thank you to the children of The Priory School, Christchurch
I have now been to talk to the children of Class 3JS a couple of times, and the children wrote letters to the St Mark's school children and recently got some replies back. Class 3JS have acted again kindly sending letters, photos, pencils, sweets and other stationary equipment as well as donating money to buy a pig for one of the orphan families. Another team leave for Uganda on Thursday so the gifts will soon be arriving at St Mark's - thanks everyone.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Liz and Rob Smith visit St. Marks School April 2011
Rob and Liz Smith went out this April to see the work of An African Dream for the first time. The mission went very well and they were able to cover many aspects. They met with Lumika and his team to discuss Health issues, ongoing needs, new developments and to receive a report from the local church leaders. They visited St Mark’s School reviewing repairs and improvements to the buildings. Liz worked with teachers to develop ideas for ‘Slate Use’ within the curriculum. They were also able to spend time with Claire Newby, who has been working with An African Dream in Uganda since March 2011. Claire helped them to distribute gifts to the orphans and to organise letter writing sessions with the pupils to children in the UK. Claire also joined Rob and Liz to visit several local widows. The Smiths also attended the Widows Conference at Maliba Church on Friday April 15th and addressed the congregation.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
News from Claire!
Claire writes:
It’s week 7 in the hills and the time here is going quite quickly. It’s only seems the other day I wrote the last news letter – but that was nearly 6 weeks ago!
So much seems to have happened in that time and it’s hard to think were to start.
In my last letter we were going to have the first Teenagers seminar to chose the young leaders, in the end we had two, one day seminars with over 300 teens coming along and we were able to chose 16 young leaders. Some of the parishes have such big numbers of teens that we chose three leaders for that parish rather than two. We have started weekly meetings with these young leaders to train and inspire them in leading their groups back in their own churches.
I have also started the Life Skills sessions at school for the year 6 and 7’s. So far we have looked at; Godly values, Setting our own values for our life and also Peer groups and peer pressure. It’s been a challenge as I don’t have an interpreter for these sessions and so the young people don’t always understand the concepts fully and thinking for themselves seems to be a new thing for them also. I am trying to think of creative ways to help teach these sessions so there is less writing and more chance for them to think and apply.
One of An African Dreams trustees, Liz and her husband Rob came for a week. It was a great week and lovely to be able to talk to someone about what I am doing here. They brought gifts for the orphans so we spent the afternoon distributing them and also they had a huge list of jobs and fact finding for the charity, which amazingly was completed!
But I write this letter after the most brilliant and wonderful week so far. Yesterday we finished the very first Teenagers Conference. It was a great three days! We had 334 teens who registered, we had teaching, all around the theme of: Jesus: Impossible is Nothing! My teaching was an overview of who Jesus is in the first three gospels. With the overall teaching being; Jesus is the King, the servant, the friend of sinners and the perfect human. (The overview of John will come at a later date). We also had some great times of praise and worship (African style of course), small group bible study and a football match! The amazing thing is that Jesus showed up and met the teenagers in their own need, just as was for Blind Bartimaeus, whom Jesus asked ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The young people prayed, knowing that Jesus is asking them the same question. We had 55 teens make commitments to Jesus which is just totally amazing!! The teenagers really gained from the conference with many, I believe, leaving with a new understanding that Jesus is for them, and He can do the impossible! The conference for me was a brilliant fulfilling of the vision which I had, that the teenagers would be valued and taught at a level they can enter into. I’ve been blown away by the amazingness of the young leaders we have chosen. They worked really hard during the conference, being in charge of the dooms, the teens from their parish, leading worship times, helping with translation, serving the food, organising the football and leading the small group bible studies! Wow!! Just totally awesome how they have got the whole servant leadership idea sorted from the word go!
As it’s currently the school holidays we will continue to meet up with the young leaders more regularly and next Saturday we have an inter-parish Football and Netball competition! We will also hold another one day seminar at some point so that the young people can have the complete picture of Jesus, using the teaching of John’s gospel, and that Jesus is God!
Prayer Requests:
1. Praise that provision for the conference was received and that we now have bibles to give to all the young leaders so that they can be fully equipped to teach others God’s word.
2. For wisdom and discernment to know how to continue and work with the local people and pastors.
3. That I’ll know where I am best to use my time and resources while I am here .
4. For patience, and for the ability to learn some of the local language.
Thank you for all your prayers and support , Love and Blessings Claire x
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
It’s week 7 in the hills and the time here is going quite quickly. It’s only seems the other day I wrote the last news letter – but that was nearly 6 weeks ago!
So much seems to have happened in that time and it’s hard to think were to start.
In my last letter we were going to have the first Teenagers seminar to chose the young leaders, in the end we had two, one day seminars with over 300 teens coming along and we were able to chose 16 young leaders. Some of the parishes have such big numbers of teens that we chose three leaders for that parish rather than two. We have started weekly meetings with these young leaders to train and inspire them in leading their groups back in their own churches.
I have also started the Life Skills sessions at school for the year 6 and 7’s. So far we have looked at; Godly values, Setting our own values for our life and also Peer groups and peer pressure. It’s been a challenge as I don’t have an interpreter for these sessions and so the young people don’t always understand the concepts fully and thinking for themselves seems to be a new thing for them also. I am trying to think of creative ways to help teach these sessions so there is less writing and more chance for them to think and apply.
One of An African Dreams trustees, Liz and her husband Rob came for a week. It was a great week and lovely to be able to talk to someone about what I am doing here. They brought gifts for the orphans so we spent the afternoon distributing them and also they had a huge list of jobs and fact finding for the charity, which amazingly was completed!
But I write this letter after the most brilliant and wonderful week so far. Yesterday we finished the very first Teenagers Conference. It was a great three days! We had 334 teens who registered, we had teaching, all around the theme of: Jesus: Impossible is Nothing! My teaching was an overview of who Jesus is in the first three gospels. With the overall teaching being; Jesus is the King, the servant, the friend of sinners and the perfect human. (The overview of John will come at a later date). We also had some great times of praise and worship (African style of course), small group bible study and a football match! The amazing thing is that Jesus showed up and met the teenagers in their own need, just as was for Blind Bartimaeus, whom Jesus asked ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The young people prayed, knowing that Jesus is asking them the same question. We had 55 teens make commitments to Jesus which is just totally amazing!! The teenagers really gained from the conference with many, I believe, leaving with a new understanding that Jesus is for them, and He can do the impossible! The conference for me was a brilliant fulfilling of the vision which I had, that the teenagers would be valued and taught at a level they can enter into. I’ve been blown away by the amazingness of the young leaders we have chosen. They worked really hard during the conference, being in charge of the dooms, the teens from their parish, leading worship times, helping with translation, serving the food, organising the football and leading the small group bible studies! Wow!! Just totally awesome how they have got the whole servant leadership idea sorted from the word go!
As it’s currently the school holidays we will continue to meet up with the young leaders more regularly and next Saturday we have an inter-parish Football and Netball competition! We will also hold another one day seminar at some point so that the young people can have the complete picture of Jesus, using the teaching of John’s gospel, and that Jesus is God!
Prayer Requests:
1. Praise that provision for the conference was received and that we now have bibles to give to all the young leaders so that they can be fully equipped to teach others God’s word.
2. For wisdom and discernment to know how to continue and work with the local people and pastors.
3. That I’ll know where I am best to use my time and resources while I am here .
4. For patience, and for the ability to learn some of the local language.
Thank you for all your prayers and support , Love and Blessings Claire x
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
Saturday, April 30, 2011
St Mark's term ends ...
St Mark's school has ended its first term of the year and since the end of term a conference for young people has taken place for 335 youth. Report on this to come.
Also Liz, one of our trustees, and her husband have just returned from a visit to St Mark's - full report to come soon. Over the past few months we have been working with Education Uganda (www.educationuganda.org) to see the introduction of slates in the classrooms at St Mark's. During Liz's visit 150 more slates were purchased and Liz reports that they are already being used by all staff at least twice a week which is a good start. Liz did the ‘Slate Use’ DVD to the lower school staff (Baby – P2) because it was more geared to that age range and the other staff were quite busy with marking exam papers. Liz held a group session with P3 – P7 staff to encourage them to share their ideas on ‘Slate Use’ and to continue developing a creative approach around the various topics with older children. Lots of useful ideas came to the surface and they all seemed keen to use slates on a regular basis. They were delighted to hear about the purchase of more 150 slates. Liz says that she believes that slates will be used even more regularly now.
Also Liz, one of our trustees, and her husband have just returned from a visit to St Mark's - full report to come soon. Over the past few months we have been working with Education Uganda (www.educationuganda.org) to see the introduction of slates in the classrooms at St Mark's. During Liz's visit 150 more slates were purchased and Liz reports that they are already being used by all staff at least twice a week which is a good start. Liz did the ‘Slate Use’ DVD to the lower school staff (Baby – P2) because it was more geared to that age range and the other staff were quite busy with marking exam papers. Liz held a group session with P3 – P7 staff to encourage them to share their ideas on ‘Slate Use’ and to continue developing a creative approach around the various topics with older children. Lots of useful ideas came to the surface and they all seemed keen to use slates on a regular basis. They were delighted to hear about the purchase of more 150 slates. Liz says that she believes that slates will be used even more regularly now.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Latest News!
Claire Newby has just arrived in Uganda to work with An African Dream in particular working with the youth of St Mark's school to disciple them in godly living and also provide a programme of life skills.
The staff and pupils at St Mark's school have been greatly encouraged by more good exam results this year. More news next month after one of our new trustees has been to visit.
Pastors' training takes place again this month - 22 pastors are gaining Bible training in order to disciple and care for their congregations better. In January a new church was planted so this vital work of training pastors is key to supporting the ongoing spiritual life of the community.
Widows now number 111 and the pig breeding project continues to be a success. Widow Irene Sarambi was able to buy 8 iron sheets to roof her kitchen after selling some piglets that she had bred and another widow Beatrice paid for her sons secondary school fees with funds raised from selling a pig. It is fantastic and enouraging to hear how lives are being changed day by day.
The staff and pupils at St Mark's school have been greatly encouraged by more good exam results this year. More news next month after one of our new trustees has been to visit.
Pastors' training takes place again this month - 22 pastors are gaining Bible training in order to disciple and care for their congregations better. In January a new church was planted so this vital work of training pastors is key to supporting the ongoing spiritual life of the community.
Widows now number 111 and the pig breeding project continues to be a success. Widow Irene Sarambi was able to buy 8 iron sheets to roof her kitchen after selling some piglets that she had bred and another widow Beatrice paid for her sons secondary school fees with funds raised from selling a pig. It is fantastic and enouraging to hear how lives are being changed day by day.
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