An African Dream

2012-02-20T21:16:00.000Z

Trustee Trip to Kasese District:

Feb 24th – March 13th 2012 - Proposed Schedule

Friday – Feb 24th

Flight to Entebbe, Rob and Liz meet up with Dennis and stay at Adonai Guesthouse in Kampala

Sat Feb 25th

Driver pick up at 9am – Get shillings and Reading books and drive to Ibanda Rwenzori Basecamp Guesthouse.

Meet with Lumika and Rebecca at the guesthouse to greet them and give brief outline of our mission.

Sunday Feb 26th

Go to Maliba Church for service with Lumika and Rebecca – to include meeting Neckson, Joshua and Wilson.

Later in the day meet with the full executive team, including Neckson and Joshua to discuss our Mission and moving forward concept.

Monday Feb 27th

Liz and Rob School review and /Seminars, Dennis Accounts/Health issues

Tuesday Feb 28th

Liz at St Mark’s School for seminars etc

Rob and Dennis to Kasese – Slates if nec. etc including meeting with manager of ‘Five Talents’ in Kasese.

In the evening, supper with Rebecca, Lumika and Yeghe the school Bursar- to continue discussion of Mission and Moving Forward etc

Wednesday Feb 29th

Rob and Liz – ‘A Day in the Life’ Video and clothes distribution to orphans with photographs at Lumika’s House.

Thursday March 1st

Kevin Duffy Health Visit at St Mark’s School and Chapel at School. Later Kevin and Dennis to visit Khanya Village to meet with the village Chairman. Liz and Rob working at School and doing video.

Friday March 2nd

Lois Pre-Wedding Ceremony and later team to continue with charity business.

Saturday March 3rd

Dennis leaving with Kevin. Rob and Liz to Lois Wedding Ceremony.

Sunday March 4th

Rob and Liz Church at Maliba and Visit widows/new pig photo (Video). Update list of widows with Rebecca. Get news of pigs and piglets etc

Monday March 5th

Liz and Rob - Orphan letters to sponsors and letters to pupils in the UK.

Liz P7 Leavers Questionnaire

Tuesday March 6th

Liz to hold seminars with teachers at St Mark’s School, to review school policies for discipline and special needs. Rob reviewing structural developments and on going concerns. Later Rob and Liz visit King Jesus College for news of orphans.

Wednesday March 7th

Liz and Rob go to Dave and Dani Renno

March 13th – Liz and Rob back to UK

Please pray with us as we prepare for our trip and during our time in Uganda. Claire Newby has written the prayer below.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We pray for our brothers and sister, Dennis, Rob and Lizzie, carrying out your work in East Kasese, Uganda with An African Dream.

We ask that your give them safe journeys, just as you walked alongside the disciples on the road to Emmaus - accompany them on their journey too.
Lord be their wisdom, grant them the gift of knowledge, allow them to have spiritual eyes to see the truth, and where needed, give them insight to know what to do if problems arise.

Help them to be your ambassadors; allow them to shine bright as we are called to be 'salt and light to the world'.

May they be bringers of love, joy, grace and mercy to all those that they meet.

Bless all those which they will encounter; the children, young people, parents, teachers, widows, church members, and the church leaders.

May Dennis, Rob and Liz know that they are your servants; your hands, feet and voice to all those who they meet, and may they radiate your love to all.

In the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ we pray.

Amen

Trustees Update

2012-02-11T21:07:00.001Z

We are pleased to announce that Trish Harding has taken on the role of Treasurer. This has allowed Dennis Preston to move to the post of Chairman taking over from Rob Turner, to whom our thanks go for his erudite leadership and incisive wisdom during his time in the chair and as a Trustee prior to that. We wish him well with his growing church and family responsibilities.

Please pray for the new leadership in the coming months. (In Picture: Rebecca; Rob; Dennis; Lumika)

Our next visit to St Mark's - Feb 2012

2012-02-08T11:50:00.000Z

Liz, Rob and Dennis are very much looking forwarded to their trip to St Mark's & the community this month.

News for the New Year!

2012-01-12T14:02:00.000Z

So much has happened its hard to know where to begin.

We were able to bless 121 widows in the East Kasese community with a gift of meat and rice at Christmas time.

There have been a number of conferences taking place in Uganda including one for married couples
27th.-31st Dec 2011.

25 new believers were baptised last weekend following teaching at the seminars and crusades which took place over Christmas and New Year.

Pastors have just begun another month of Bible training and 22 pastors will graduate in July this year. 10 pastors are already waiting to begin training later this year.

3 Teen conferences will take place between 16th and 21st January

St Mark's School will begin a new school year in February with new orphans joining the school - please get in touch if you could sponsor one. We will also soon hear the results of exams taken in November.

A team will be going out to Uganda in February to see the ongoing work including a new tank and guttering installed at St Mark's and also other building developments which has taken place.

We are continuing to support congregations who have begun to build new churches but are unable to complete the roofs.

We have recently been reminded of the fragility of life when we heard news that the bursar of St Mark's school (who is also a pastor and evangelist) lost his wife, he now cares for his 7 children alone.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Fundraising this autumn

2011-12-05T11:57:00.001Z

A joint fundraising day on October 22nd for Macmillan Cancer Support and An African Dream raised a fantastic total of £979, of which £464 went to AAD.
Two weeks later Liz and Rob held a coffee morning and sale at Bishops Cannings raised another £220.
Every little helps! (to quote an old friend!)

News from St Mark's school

2011-12-01T11:46:00.000Z

All the children at St Marks school in class P7 passed their Nov 11' PLE (Primary Learning Exams.)

Liz and Rob's Coffee Morning

2011-11-06T11:41:00.000Z

We made £220 for the charity at a coffee morning in Bishop's Cannings Village Hall yesterday. It was a great success and we are thankful for the support of those that attended.

Vision Day - how it went!

2011-10-21T13:14:00.002+01:00

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:

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!

2011-10-21T13:11:00.001+01:00

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

Vision Day Sat 8th October 2011

2011-09-28T13:12:00.002+01:00

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!

2011-09-28T13:09:00.002+01:00

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/

Health Day and improvements to St Mark's school site

2011-08-15T15:15:00.004+01:00

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.

Claire is home

2011-08-15T15:12:00.001+01:00

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!

· Young Leaders and Teens Ministry

§ 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.

Funds from a fair!

2011-07-11T12:41:00.001+01:00

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

2011-07-11T12:33:00.003+01:00

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.

Liz and Rob Smith visit St. Marks School April 2011

2011-06-12T15:35:00.011+01:00

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.

News from Claire!

2011-05-12T11:22:00.000+01:00

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

St Mark's term ends ...

2011-04-30T13:42:00.003+01:00

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.

Latest News!

2011-03-02T11:38:00.003Z

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.

Christmas news!

2010-12-14T19:26:00.002Z

So much has happened over the last few months - the team had an excellent visit in July which included a sports day for several classes at St Mark's School. Term has now ended for St Mark's and the results of the November exams are eagerly awaited in the New Year.The pastors, their assistants and all the wives thoroughly enjoyed three and half days brilliant bible teaching which really encouraged them. The widows project has been a great success and nearly all widows have now been supplied with a piglet or pig. Recently one widow has bought herself some iron sheets for her house after selling a piglet or two.

Another fantastic craft sale took place in November raising £4000 - thank you to everyone who supported it.

Another team are off to Uganda ...

2010-07-16T19:34:00.004+01:00

Please pray as tomorrow 9 team members will leave for Uganda, including 5 children and we will be joined by another 9 people for the first week. During that time three team members will lead a Bible teaching conference for Pastors, their assistants and all the wives based around Matthew 5 The Sermon on the Mount.
The other team members will be based at St Mark's primary school involving the children and staff in sport, craft, Bible stories and healthcare teaching. Its going to be lots of fun.
However please do pray and remember the team as we travel on long journeys and for good team dynamics.

Another opportunity not to be missed! This Friday 11th June

2010-06-07T20:29:00.003+01:00

Let's Go Italian is holding a Charity Shopping Day on Friday 11th June, 9.30-2.30 at 31 Sixty Acres Rd, Prestwood. 10% of sales will be donated to local charity, An African Dream. If you can't make it along, mention AAD in the additional info box at the checkout online and 10% of the value of your order will be donated to this worthwhile charity.
See http://www.letsgoitalian.co.uk/ for details of their products.

Come and enjoy browsing the delights of Let's Go Italian whilst raising money for AAD.

You can also raise funds for AAD by buying cards, buy them at Just Cards Direct and An African Dream will get 10% http://www.justcardsdirect.com/

Prestwood 10k

2010-06-07T20:14:00.004+01:00

A fantastic team of 6 took part in the Prestwood 10k on Sunday 16th May raising funds for An African Dream - the final figures are yet to come in as sponsor money is still being collected but the total so far is over £355 - a big thank you to Rick, Alex, Chris, Sharon and Richard. And also to Dennis who did it just for fun!

May was an incredibly busy month!!

2010-06-07T20:07:00.004+01:00

Only just catching up with all the events of last month, closely following the success of the Spirit of Prestwood was the now famous garage sale - mainly famous for the shocking weather it tends to produce! There was no rain (which was what I prayed for!) however considering it was in May it was freezing but having got past the cold weather an awesome £600 was raised on the day and a further £240 at subsequent toddler groups where I lugged the large amounts of left overs!! - thank you so much to everyone who supported the event both by donating and buying!! The money will go to support the team of 18 people visiting the work of An African Dream in July.

Spirit of Prestwood Fete

2010-05-03T20:46:00.002+01:00

Today saw Sophie looking rather windswept on Prestwood Common manning a stall for An African Dream. It was a great opportunity to meet and greet local Prestwood residents and talk to them about the work of An African Dream. Two amazing girls from Little Kingshill Baptist church face painting all afternoon and together we raised £133 - an afternoon well spent.

It's garage sale time again! Sat 8th May 10am - 2pm

2010-04-27T13:50:00.000+01:00

Following the success of previous years there is another garage sale on the horizon. Saturday 8th May at 33 Lodge Lane - please come and support this event which will raise money to support the team of 10 people going out in July to visit the work of An African Dream. It poured heavily with rain from beginning to end last year so please pray for warm spring sunshine this year. If you would like to donate any items please bring them on the morning of the sale - thank you so much.

Find out more about An African Dream!

2010-04-27T13:43:00.003+01:00

On Bank Holiday Monday, 3rd of May, An African Dream will be doing face painting amongst other things at the Spirit of Prestwood Fete (Prestwood Common, off Nairdwood Lane). There will also be lots of other attractions to enjoy including:

‘May Queen’ • Hog Roast • Live Band Hip Hop dance
• BMX Play Zone Beer Tent • Teas • Coffee • Raffle • Games

So if you are local to Prestwood do come and join in and say hello.

Vision Day

2010-04-27T13:40:00.001+01:00

Last Saturday morning around 30 people gathered to discuss and think about the vision for An African Dream. The morning was led by the Rev Malcolm Duncan and proved to be very challenging and thought provoking - it is likely there will be another day in the future to see where God is leading this ministry.

She did it!

2010-04-27T13:37:00.003+01:00

The amazing Tracy did a phenomenol abseil 200ft down the Avon Gorge in Bristol on Sunday 18th April in memory of her little boy Charlie and in the process raised over £400 for An African Dream - thank you to Tracy and to all those who sponsored her.

Pastors attend Leadership Seminar

2010-03-16T19:49:00.002Z

Last week Pastor Lumika and his wife Rebecca together with two other pastors attended a two conference on leadership and ministry that took place at Jinja. Pastor Lumika was absolutely delighted and telephoned to say that they had learnt lots and were keen to hold a seminar for other pastors in order to pass on what they had learnt.

An amazing woman is doing an amazing abseil ....

2010-02-11T09:19:00.002Z

On 18th April my friend Tracy will be abseiling 200ft down the Avon Gorge - what a brave girl.
If you would like to find out why and/or sponsor her please take a look at her just giving page:
http://www.justgiving.com/Tracyabseilafricandream

Please do support her doing this incredibly brave event - thank you so much.

Developments on St Mark's site

2010-01-12T19:44:00.002Z

Dennis and Rob who visited the work of An African Dream in November found much to be encouraged about. The long awaited administration block is now up with its roof on - it had certainly come a long way since we saw the foundations only in place back in July.
Also the dining room has now got a roof so that orphans can eat in a sheltered out of the sun or the rain.

A new year, a new term for St Mark's

2010-01-12T19:38:00.002Z

January 2010 marks the beginning of the 4th year that St Mark's has been open. Term begins on February 2nd and we anticipate that there will be at least 35 new orphans starting at St Mark's this term. Also we await the results of the Primary 7 pupils exams which were taken in November.

Married couples seminar

2010-01-12T19:32:00.001Z

120 couples attended a 3 day conference at the end of December to encourage them in their married life - this is an annual event Bishop Lumika writes 'They enjoyed very much the teaching and eating'. An African Dream was delighted to support this event by providing funds for those attending to eat - many travel long distances to seminars bringing their bedding with them and sleeping in a church during the days of the seminar.

What an amazing day ...!

2009-11-20T21:10:00.005Z

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!

2009-11-03T21:10:00.003Z

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.

Come to the Craft Sale!

2009-10-11T19:41:00.000+01:00

Following the success of last year's craft sale another one is being held on Thursday 12th Novemeber 9am - 7pm at Pipers Cottage, Pipers Lane, Great Kingshill - please do come and support the work of An African Dream. There will be Ugandan crafts and handmade UK crafts too - plus plenty of delicious refreshments.

What's been happening ...

2009-09-09T10:03:00.007+01:00

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!

2009-06-24T20:18:00.001+01:00

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.

Garage Sale Success even in the pouring rain!!

2009-06-09T20:08:00.003+01:00

Are the Brits ever worried by rain? - despite it pouring persistently throughout the morning the garage sale went ahead regardless last saturday - troops rallied with gazebos and tarpaulin and string abounding!! It seemed that nearly every punter brought donations to swap with their purchases and willing parted with their money for our friends in Uganda.
So far £795 has been raised with a few pennies (and maybe pounds!?) to come - thank you so everyone who supported the event.

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

2009-06-09T19:56:00.002+01:00

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 ......

2009-05-28T20:36:00.003+01:00

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!

2009-05-21T20:55:00.001+01:00

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 ...

2009-05-21T20:52:00.001+01:00

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 ....

2009-05-21T20:45:00.003+01:00

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!

Fun, food and tricky questions!!

2009-04-23T13:46:00.001+01:00

A huge Well Done to Becca and Licy for organising a fantastic Quiz night on Saturday 18th April. The superb questions, delicious puddings and dancing to work of the extra calories indulged in made a brilliant evening. Thank you so much to everyone who came and supported - £300 was raised for An African Dream whilst Becca and Licy raised £150 each towards their flights. Well Done girls!

London Marathon

2009-04-18T16:24:00.001+01:00

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!

2009-03-10T19:22:00.005Z

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!

2009-03-10T19:15:00.005Z

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!

2009-03-09T11:35:00.003Z

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!

2009-02-07T19:57:00.004Z

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

2009-01-24T20:50:00.003Z

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 ....

2009-01-24T20:44:00.004Z

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

2009-01-07T19:43:00.002Z

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.

Craft Sale Extravaganza ...

2008-11-13T12:30:00.003Z

Thursday 6th November saw a day of hard work, fun and awesome fundraising - Jan Wynter rallied her creative friends and laid on a feast of handicraft, hospitality and Ugandan gifts to raise money for An African Dream and £1961.54 was donated - thank you so much to everyone who came and supported.

Thank you .................

2008-11-13T12:28:00.002Z

Thank you to everyone who sponsored Abbie to do her amazing sky dive - she raised an incredible £1600 for An African Dream - absolutely fantastic - thanks Abbie!!

Abbie's back on the ground .................!

2008-10-21T15:46:00.009+01:00

I am delighted to let you know that Abbie has successfully completed her incredible skydive - below she writes about how it went:

"Well I have now undertaken the most exhilerating thing I have ever done in my life.  Jumping from a plane some 12,500 feet up was the most amazing thing ever and not being one who feels particularly confident flying I'm so chuffed that I managed to do it.  So going up in the plane had to be the scariest part for me and my nerves really kicked in when they opened the door for us all to jump out!  Seconds before it was my turn to hurtle myself from the plane and freefall, for what seemed like ages, a slight feeling of doubt crossed my mind but there was no turning back.  With my whole body shaking and my heart pounding, I managed to give my camera man a wave and a smile before leaping into the great expanse of sky in front of me and all around me.  From that moment on it felt like I was dreaming.  Words cannot describe the next 45 seconds or so.

Once the parachute had opened and we were floating down to the ground, I took a sneaky peak directly beneath me and the view was breathtaking.  I caught my breath, took in the sights around me and after a few minutes landed carefully and softly thanks to Andy, the skydiving pro who had to listen to my ear piercing shrieks the whole
way down.....poor chap!  ;o)

WOW!!!!  What a rush."

Thank you to everyone who supported her.

Would you be mad or brave enough for this?

2008-09-23T19:48:00.004+01:00

On Sunday 19th October, Abbie, the sister of my friend Vanessa, is going to do a tandem skydive to raise money for An African Dream - if you would like sponsor her or to know more, please contact her at abbieatanafricandream@wynter.org.

Pimms cakes and girls

2008-09-23T19:41:00.002+01:00

Last Saturday Sophie had the pleasure of attending a ladies event which involved drinking Pimms, eating delicious scones and meeting new people all the name of fundraising. After giving a brief talk on the work of An African Dream £90 was kindly donated by friends of Julia who hosted us a fantastic afternoon in the sunshine. Thanks girls!

Finance Training Course

2008-09-23T19:39:00.003+01:00

Today Pastor Lumika and his friend Pastor Yeye, who also the bursar of St Mark's school have commenced a five day course in financial training in Kampala. It is anticipated that this will equip them both to manage their responsibilities more readily as An African Dream continues to develop and grow.

Report on visit to Uganda in July 2008

2008-08-26T21:41:00.009+01:00

This time we were a smaller select group of five and after a slow start at Heathrow with a 2 hour delayed departure and a certain amount of anxiety about whether we would miss our connection in Dubai we arrived only an hour late at Entebbe and spent a comfortable night at a guest house before our 6 hour bus journey west to Kasese.

We were met at the roadside by Lumika and a pick-up filled with the church choir who carried us home – boys comfortably in the front of the vehicle while the girls travelled in the back singing along with the choir inhaling a lot of dust and waving greetings to a million children along the way.

Saturday - We spent most of the day in Kasese buying cups and plates to equip the new kitchen at St Marks School, funded by enthusiastic face painting by our church youth group at Little Kingshill School fete.

Sunday – Kirsty and I travelled by motorbike to Bulindiguru Church – in fact as it had rained we walked the last 20 mins on foot up an unsurfaced road gathering thick layers of red mud on our flip flops. At the top of the hill we were met by church elders and once inside the church I quickly realised my carefully prepared notes would be no use to me at all as it was completely dark due to the new church being built around the present one and blocking out all the light – Plan B came to the fore (blagging it!) This was my first visit and as ever I was enormously humbled when each member of the congregation wanted to shake my hand in the service and brought a monetary offering amounting to approx £2.60. (£2.60 is approximately what a pastor might expect to receive as his salary in a month.)

Monday – involved a long day at St Mark’s for the parent teacher meeting with speeches and entertainment from pupils doing drama, singing, dancing, reciting poems and reports of the school’s progress. It was a special joy for me to see the school kitchen now not only completed but fully functional.

Tuesday – having sent Paul and Andy off to Kasese with Lumika to buy barbed (!) wire for the school perimeter fence, Liz and Kirsty went to see the 10 piglets purchased byAAD to support very poor widows and help them to get an income. Prior to our visit a meeting had been held to which 67 widows from only half of Lumika’s diocese had come who were apparently very excited and encouraged about the pig project being developed. It is hoped that we will be able to arrange training for them in pig keeping from the Send A Cow charity, which has a base at Fort Portal about one and a half hours from Lumika. Kirsty and Liz then went around the classes at St Mark’s to observe the teachers and participate in the lessons. I spent the morning establishing the names, ages and classes of all 100 or so orphans most of whom I had photographed during the April trip.

Wednesday and Thursday – were spent at Nyambuko church about 1 hours walk from Lumika’s house. It was great to see the church completed as funding had been sent to finish the church roof in Oct 2007??? We had been invited to speak and to encourage the church regarding marriage and parenting – we all did our bit quite capably, though none of us felt that Bible teaching was perhaps our natural forte!! I was presented with a noisy goat (my first!), which was later sold and provided funds for two pig pens. By the end of the second day and having visited both Rebecca’s parents and several orphans’ homes on our way back, we were ready for a break with my friends Dave and Dani who live in the next valley about 1 hour away by car.

Friday - Paul and Liz headed for a break in Jinja via Kampala and would meet us at the airport for our return journey. Kirsty, Andy and I went with Dani to Queen Elizabeth National Park for the day seeing some incredible wildlife including lions, elephants, hippos, buffalo, Uganda cob, warthogs, crocodiles, lizards and numerous beautiful birds.

Saturday – We made our way back to Lumika’s to prepare for Sunday and to greet the orphans families who came to see us.

Sunday – spent at Maliba church followed by visits to two orphans families who both blessed us with chickens and pineapples.

Monday – this was a long and exhausting day spent going a short distance by car, then motorbike and then a lot further on foot. Over the day we visited 17 orphans’ homes. Most of these were high and dry! Families have to walk about 2 hours each way to collect water and the children walk up to an hour each way to school. In several homes I was given gifts – e.g. chicken, eggs, rice, and sometimes a gift for the UK sponsor. Families we visited were caring for between 6 and 14 children per household.

Tuesday – the morning was spent in a meeting with Lumika and Rebecca to discuss the work of An African Dream and our vision for its future and how things are run. We also made a final visit to St Mark’s to see the fence very much underway (now completed) and lunch for 100 orphans in full swing.

Wednesday – an early rise saw us catching the 6.30 bus back to Kampala and a smooth journey brought us safely to the guest house. We were privileged to be taken to Alpha and Omega School, run by my friend Robinah who owns the guest house, where we were entertained by an amazing group of children who sang and danced and played a wide variety of musical instruments (similar to the African Children’s Choir). It was vibrant, uplifting and very moving.

Thursday – we whiled away the morning at the craft market before meeting up with Paul and Liz at the airport.

Friday – home at last – a successful and happy trip from my point of view, both in terms of friendships being developed with those on the team, and in Uganda, and the progress made at St Mark’s and with the start of the micro-enterprise pig project.

On behalf of the team we want to thank you for your prayers and financial support. We had good health, safe travel and significant progress was made as I hope you have seen from this report.

Oli Griffiths and Hannah Kramers write...... after their first vist to Uganda

2008-06-24T19:08:00.004+01:00

Oli writes:
As first time visitor to Africa, the trip to Uganda was amazing but definitely overwhelming. Our culture and theirs are so different, the way people think, the way they come to decisions, family life, everything. A few things have stuck with me since i have come back, firstly the number of children. Everywhere you go there are children who are largely neglected and shown very little love, their only hope for transformation in their lives is our Lord Jesus and the love he has for them. Also, i've been struck by the enormity of the problems there, social and economic. It would be far too easy to see these problems as a mountain that can't be moved, but nothing is impossible for our God, he told us that faith the size of a mustard seed would move mountains. If this sort of work of God is needed anywhere, its Africa!

Hannah writes:

We put on a church conference for leaders from the surrounding area. One of the most powerful moments for me personally, was when we taught them the song 'Our God Reigns' and were worshipping Jesus together. To be in a room full of people who were unified in their desperation for God was very stirring...It opened my eyes to what it means to belong in the body of Christ and made me praise God all the more!

Garage Sale Success!

2008-06-24T19:03:00.003+01:00

Saturday 14th of June began bright and sunny and with a very cluttered driveway. But between 10-4 a constant stream of visitors came, spent their pounds and reduced the piles of books, clothes, and toys to mere heaps and in the process raised £700 for An African Dream. Many thanks to all those who helped set up and sell up and clear up.

Report on Trip to Uganda April/May 2008

2008-05-26T20:03:00.001+01:00

Well for those of you who kindly read and took in my itinerary you will know that I have been back from Uganda nearly 3 weeks and as my next trip is in less than 8 weeks I thought it was high time I let you know how we got on. As always the best place to start is with a thank you for all who remembered the team and I and prayed for us while we away. We had a brilliant time and on a practical level it all went very smoothly –Godfrey (who we had not met before) kindly came to collect us from the airport and drove us all over Uganda without incident – we only had one stop to repair four punctures in one tyre but fortunately no accident took place!

We reached Kasese (W Uganda) late on Sat 26^th and after a little sleep had a long service at Maliba Church we arrived around 10.30 when the first Sunday school session ended and we remained there all day til around 3 or 4 pm the time being filled with worship led by several choirs, various offerings, lengthy announcements, welcome visitors from other areas who all get a few words, followed by our team being introduced and Pete (my brother in law) speaking. We ended with the food offerings including sugar cane, avocados and bananas being auctioned off to raise more money!

The following 3 days Mon- Wed primarily consisted of the teaching conference for leaders of youth and around 450 people attended. The team from Chorleywood delivered some powerful teaching and there was opportunity to pray for people after each session. Despite the language barrier it was evident that lives were being touched and transformed. It is hard to articulate how encouraging these conferences are for men and women who serve in churches with mostly no training and no Bible even to help them. It is a joy to see so many enjoying hearing God’s message explained so clearly.

For me I had other ‘duties’ so didn’t attend all of the conference. I visited quite a number of orphan’s homes around 12 in total (some included siblings) – it is always humbling to see the deep faith of those who have nothing materially and are often struggling both with difficult family situations and significant illness. One lady Louda had seven children – her husband had been abducted in 1997 by rebels from Congo. He returned home in 2000 by died in 2002. By this time her eldest daughter had got married but to an alcoholic so had returned home to Louda with 5 of her own children. Louda’s son Charles is sponsored to attend St Mark’s school. He walks 2 hours each way to school usually with no breakfast – he has lessons for at least 2 hours before he gets a mug of porridge at breaktime. This kind of story is repeated on some level in every home you go to so when I am presented with a chicken as a gift (worth £3), which I was on two occasions, it is enormously humbling.

I also visited St Mark’s School,which was wonderful. The school had been painted since I was there last summer. I could see for myself the completed latrine block – not very glamorous but a very necessary part of school life with 300 or so pupils attending. Other completed buildings included a room for the night-watchman to stay in, a storeroom for food and a kitchen building. So all in all pretty amazing progress in the last 10 months.

Whilst at St Mark’s, a training session took place for those interested in starting their own business. A lady called Christine came from a charity called Five Talents who primary vision is to facilitate micro-enterprise initiatives. Around 40 people, men and women, came to hear her speak and I will be following up that beginning when I return in July.

Other developments ...

2008-03-27T14:08:00.002Z

Bishop Lumika writes from Uganda saying that "The Ministry is going on greatly with the hand of the lord. at week from Wednesday to Saturday 16 , we had a crusade and seminar for married coupes in Bunyamurwa Full Gospel Church. I took a team of 36 people. They preached from home to home and then crusade, the choir members inclusive, where by 150 believed Christ as their saviour and baptism took place."

The kitchen building at St Mark's school is now well under way.

A team of 9 from the UK who will be going out to Uganda on April 25th for 10 days will be visiting St Mark's school and also running a conference for young leaders.

We are now a registered charity!

2008-03-27T14:06:00.001Z

An African Dream is now a registered charity! No 1123231. Hurrah!

New school kitchen for St Mark's

2008-02-10T19:58:00.000Z

St Mark's school is in desperate need of a kitchen on the school site - the 100 orphans are presently still having to walk up a busy main road to a rented kitchen and sitting on a grassy bank beside the road to eat both breakfast and lunch. Further to several kind donations and some enjoyable fundraising in the form of a great drinks party with yummy nibbles the first installment of money to commence the building of the school kitchen has now been sent to Uganda.

St Mark's School - a new year commences

2008-02-10T19:53:00.000Z

St Mark's school has opened its doors for its second year now - 242 pupils have so far begun term and Primary 7 have now moved into the 8th classroom.

Christmas conference in Kasese

2008-01-06T17:07:00.000Z

Between Christmas and New Year Bishop Lumika held conferences for married couples, youth and the local community. 25 people became Christians and were baptised today.

Fundraising success!

2008-01-06T17:00:00.000Z

Today a team of around 20 people from Little Kingshill Baptist Church trawled several local villages collecting Christmas trees to raise money for St Mark's School. £611 was raised and will go towards the building of a school kitchen.

2007-11-28T20:44:00.000Z

A team of 8 people is now poised for action and have booked flights to visit Uganda in April to check out developments at St Mark's School and other projects in the surrounding area. The latrine block, long awaited at the school, is now almost complete.

Welcome

2007-10-28T15:43:00.001Z

This is the first post in many, to keep you up to date on news in Uganda . . . .