Last year ACE was approached by Toby Martin who wanted to do volunteer work for the charity.

It was decided that he work on a project that had been waiting for while - the possibility of setting up bee hives as a way of earning an income for the schools. The income would be spent on whatever the school needed - maintenance, stationery, latrine emptying.

It would also train the older children so that if they left education they would have learned how to earn an income.

A 6-strong party from ACE has just returned from a visit to Uganda. They flew to Entebbe where they were met by ACE representative, David Epidu. They also meet up with Will and Angie Laarakker from our Dutch partner charity, You4Uganda, and they travelled to Kisoro together. The trip represented the tenth anniversary of the two charities working in the area during which time they have contributed over £0.5 million of aid.

During the visit the various members of the party initially made some visits together and then each had individual projects -

Angela and Vic Peake visited all of the ACE-supported primary schools in the area. At each school they spent time with the headteacher and staff and met the pupils. They checked that the work carried out by ACE since their last visit in 2008 had been satisfactorily completed and is being well maintained. They also carried out an assessment of each school's needs for the future.

They visited Kisoro Vision Secondary School and met with the pupils there who are being sponsored through ACE. They have obtained personal details about each pupil in the scheme and taken photographs. This will enable us to give each sponsor an information pack about 'their' child. We will distribute these in March.

The highlight of the tour was the official opening of the new three-classroom block built by ACE at Rurembwe (see below).

Toby Martin has volunteered to work for ACE in Uganda for three months. He spent the first two weeks visiting the schools with Angela and Vic and making himself known to the headteachers. His other task during their visit was to take video footage so that Angela will have a new and up-to-date presentation to give to ACE supporters and friends on her return. During his remaining time there he is investigating new ways in which ACE can make progress in the future. One project he is looking into is the possibility of setting up beehives at the schools so that they can make money by selling honey.

Janet Pye has recently volunteered to coordinate the Student Sponsorship Scheme. She visited the students who are in the scheme and also visited the primary schools. There she undertook some teaching, particularly concentrating on reading and telling the time.

Luke Pye is Janet's son and the brother of George, who previously visited the schools with the party from Mounts Bay in 2006. During this trip Luke carried out repairs on the playground equipment which ACE has provided. He also taught some lessons - English and games.

Judith Nicholls is the mother of Charlotte, who also took part in the 2006 visit. Judith visited the schools and did some teaching of reading to small groups of children. She was also checking on provision for pupils with special needs.

January each year is a critical period for our Student Sponsorship Scheme. This was especially so in 2010 as we made changes to the way we operate.

When we started the scheme the pupils were at different schools, some boarders and some day-pupils. There was no doubt that the boarders were doing better. The day-pupils had to walk such long distances each day, and carry out household tasks when they got home. This made it impossible to keep up with their homework. So the trustees decided that all our sponsored pupils should board at school.

We have also been able to assess the different schools. We have decided that the best school in Kisoro for our pupils is Kisoro Vision Secondary School and this term we are moving our sponsored pupils who were at other schools to this school. Although the school buildings at Kisoro Vision are not as good as some other schools, the academic standard is the highest in the area. ACE representatives who have visited the school said that the pupils are very happy there and particularly commented that there is no bullying at the school.

In mid-January wereceived the primary school examination results which told us which of the pupils at the ACE schools achieved Grade 1 or a high Grade 2, making them eligible for secondary school sponsorship.

We also liased with David Epidu, ACE's Ugandan representative, and Mr. William, the local school inspector. They helped us to decide which of the high-scoring pupils had the greatest need and would benefit most from support from our sponsors.

On Sunday 24th January the ACE trustees, together with Sponsorship Coordinator, Janet Pye, met and discussed the allocation of sponsorship. It was decided to offer ACE sponsorship to 10 pupils this year. At the time we had 8 sponsors waiting to be allocated a child. We will support the other two, using a grant of £500 which we received from the Cumber Family Charitable Trust. We will allocate personal sponsors to these two pupils as soon as we have them.

The 10 pupils chosen for sponsorship have come from a good spread of ACE schools. There are 3 from Bukazi, 2 from Rurembwe, 2 from Nyarusunzu, and 1 each from Rukongi, Mukibugu and Kabami. Unfortunately, they were not so evenly distributed between the sexes - there are 8 boys and 2 girls.

David then had about a week to get all the shopping required for our pupils to begin at the school when term commenced in the last week of January. You may be interested to see what a pupil requires. If so click here. You can use the currency converter on this page to work out how much things cost in British pounds.

David then met up with the new intake of pupils joining the ACE Sponsorship Scheme and did their shopping with them. He sent us these pictures -

We are currently assembling an information pack for each student which will be sent to their sponsors soon. It will contain a brief resumé and photographs and a letter from the student.

If you would like to sponsor a pupil please get in touch as soon as possible. Also, please send this information on to anyone else who you think might help.

In November 2009 ACE agreed to replace a very delapidated and unsafe block of three classrooms at Rurembwe School. Despite their dangerous state, the classrooms were still in use.

The main school holiday period in Uganda begins at the end of November and classes recommence at the end of January 2010. For that reason it was important that the building work started at the beginning of December and the new rooms built, ready for use next term.

So the ACE trustees took an unusual step and one they had never taken before. They gave the go-ahead for the building work, despite not having the whole of the estimated £13,000 cost in the ACE bank account.

This picture, taken by David Epidu, shows some of the parents beginning the demolition of the old classrooms so that Paul, our builder, could commence work as soon as possible.

Construction is in progress and the contractor is very busy as he wants to finish the block in as soon as possible. He wants that by the time Angela comes to Uganda in February they will be opening the new ACE classrooms at Rurembwe and Gitenderi officially.

The classroom block at Rurembwe was costed at about Uganda Shs 38,000,000/=. About Shs 29,450,000/=, has been paid to the contractor and the balance is now needed for buying iron sheet and windows and the finishing materials, ALSO MONEY FOR WINDOW BURGLAR PROOF is needed.

You can click here to see a short video of part of the celebrations at the opening of the new block.

This is a project that ACE can be very proud of. The trustees would like to thank all our supporters who made donations so that we had enough money to complete it.

ACE has been awarded a place for a runner in the Virgin London Marathon 2010. We intend to use this opportunity to raise a considerable amount for our schools through sponsorship.

You can sponsor Polly by clicking here.

We have recently received a donation of £1,500 from Penwith College. Also we have received £375 from the Barn Club. The management agreed to donate £1 each time a Penwith College student attends a Barn Club party. Fortunately for ACE, they attend pretty regularly!

We are grateful to Liz Eliot from Goldsithney for a generous donation of £500.

On Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October our collectors at Morrison's supermarket collected £700.66. This is the highest amount raised since we started these collections.

Our entrants in the Penzance Rotary Ramble on 20th September raised a total of £1,528. £1,146 has gone to ACE and £382 to the Rotary Club charities. Click here for more details.

Charlotte Nicholls (former Mounts Bay & Penwith College student) raised £53 from a car boot sale of her unwanted items.

Following talks given by Angela, ACE received a donation of £70 from Germoe & District W I, £60 from Coffee Mates of Crowlas and £31 from University of the Third Age.

The final Rosudgeon car boot sale collection for 2009 raised £31. During the year our collectors have raised £287.

The ACE trustees designated 2009 as 'The Year of the Latrine'. It doesn't sound as exciting as classroom building but is just as important.

Because ACE has improved the schools so much, more pupils are attending. So the latrines become filled more quickly. A bigger school roll requires new latrines to be built and old ones to be emptied and repaired.

Tha approximate cost of a 5-stance long drop latrine is £2,000 and a 5-stance Ecosan latrine costs about £3,000.

David Epidu has sent us these pictures of work carried out recently.

Renovated Latrines at Bukazi School

New Ecosan Latrines at Kabami School

Curtain Wall at Nyakabaya Needs Rebuilding

It is also possible for the existing latrines to be emptied. This picture shows this unpleasant task going on at Bukazi school in 2008.

The wall at the back of the latrine block was excavated and broken through. The contents were dug out by hand and the wall then rebuilt.

 

ACE's team of walkers completed the course in the Penzance Rotary Club Sponsored Ramble on 20th September.

Click here for more information.

You can see how our fundraising went by clicking here.