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Source:www.exchange-rates.org
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Source:www.exchange-rates.org
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A Record Breaking Year for ACE in 2010
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ACE's financial year finished on 6th September 2010 and the treasurer announced that we raised £46,955.52 during the year. This a record for ACE and brings the total raised so far to £157,623. The trustees thank everyone who has helped to make this possible. Please keep up the good work. Figures for each year are on the Fundraising page. |
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Christmas
Appeal and ACE's Next Project
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The ACE Christmas Appeal 2010 raised £738, plus Gift Aid of £179.95. This makes a total of £917.95. Thank you to everyone who joined in. When we began the ACE Christmas Appeal we were looking to raise the remainder of the money to complete the new classrooms at Gitenderi but, due to the generous grant we received, we had enough funds to finish that project. So we decided to use the funds raised from our Christmas Appeal for our next building work at Rukongi. |
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Visitors from Uganda
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We recently had two visitors here from Uganda. You can check out news of their visit by clicking here |
ACE Cream Tea
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The annual ACE Cream Tea took place in Newmill on Sunday 3rd October, with William and Augustine present. For more information and pictures click here. |
ACE Student Sponsorship as Wedding Gift
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For their wedding in August 2010, Tom and Marta Gunkel requested that guests wanting to give them something should make a donation to ACE. They set up a page on the JustGiving website and agreed with ACE that the money raised be used in the Student Sponsorship Scheme. Thanks to the generosity of their guests, they have raised the magnificent sum of £4,390. They are hoping to sponsor two students through the whole of their secondary education. They visited
Cornwall in September and met with the ACE trustees. |
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R
to L: Angela Peake (ACE Chairman), Bette Drew (ACE Treasurer), Tom,
Marta, and Janet Pye (ACE Sponsorship Secretary)
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Coincidentally, we had just received a message from Dan Mbabazi, the principal of Kisoro Vision School, telling us of an extremely bright 2nd year student who, due to the poverty of his family, was going to have to leave the school. His name is Herbert and he was the top student in the second term, scoring 85% average. (The second highest student scored 69%). When they heard about his situation, Tom and Marta agreed to become his sponsors, meaning Herbert's education is secured. |
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Tom and Marta said, "Sponsoring a child through school is bringing us huge happiness, and we are very glad we chose to do this for our wedding. We researched very carefully which charity to support, and feel that ACE is where our support could make the biggest impact. We hope other couples will consider this in the future." |
easyfundraising
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The last quarter of easyfundraising payments were one of the lowest since we started using the scheme. Please remember to use it if you are buying gifts online in the run up to Christmas.... ..... or, especially, if you are buying insurance. For more details click the easyfundraising logo. |
First Honey Produced at an ACE School
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The first honey has been produced and sold by an ACE school. Click here for details, then click Latest News. |
Repairs and New Cupboards
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On his recent visit to the schools, David Epidu, reported the progress being made with improvements to Rukongi school. Golders Hill School in London have formed a link with the school at Rukongi. They have already raised £700 and some of the money is being spent on new cupboards for classrooms. This will enable books to be safely stored at their point of use, rather than having to be collected from a store. |
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The headmistress asked if some of the money could be spent on a new floor and repair to the walls in this classroom. (see below) This has now been completed and has made a big improvement. David wrote - Rukongi repairs are finished and the classroom now looks very good and much smarter than it was before. The community and the parents are very happy with ACE for the work they have done. |
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At
the time he visited, cupboards were being delivered to several schools.
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These are all ready, but some are still under varnishing and will be delivered as soon as they finish them. I delivered some to most of the schools apart from only three schools which will get theirs any time (these are Kabami, Mukibugu and Bukazi which have not yet got them). These were being delivered to Nyakabaya ..... |
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and this one was placed in a classroom at Gitenderi.
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David's July Report
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ACE's representative in Uganda, David Epidu, has just completed a tour of the primary schools and also visited the sponsored students at Kisoro Vision Secondary School. He makes two visits each term and sends a report to the ACE trustees. He particularly mentioned how clean and tidy the classrooms were at the primary schools. This was something that we had asked the headteachers to address and they had really improved things. School inspector, William, had also been following this up. |
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David
found that the new 3-classroom block at Rurembwe
Primary School, which was officially opened in February, was
looking very smart.
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Cupboards for storing books in the classrooms of all the schools are currently under construction in Paul Ndahiriwe's workshop in Kisoro. David and William were loaned the education authority's pick up, and Mandela the driver, and they delivered six cupboards to Nyarusunzu Primary School. As it is the furthest away, Nyarusunzu got the first ones whilst the transport was available. The other schools will get their cupboards as they are made and Paul is hoping to complete the whole order by the end of August. |
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David visited the ACE sponsored students at Kisoro Vision Secondary School and delivered some gifts which had been given by sponsors. He reported that all the students need new shoes and school uniforms. Currently they only have one school uniform each and, as they wash them every day, the uniforms are getting very worn. |
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David also checked up on the ACE Honey Project. The trustees had authorised him to purchase some more hives. He wrote - At the time I was there, there were no beehives readily available, and those people were charging me more, so I decided to talk to Paul to see if he could make them for me. He told me it was easy for him, so by now the beehives must be ready for delivery, coz the last time I talked to him last week, he had already made ten of them. This is a good example of how David gets us good value for the money. This picture shows the site at Gitenderi School, prepared for its beehives. |
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Schools Raising Money for ACE
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On 1st July we received a cheque for £1,170 from St. Hilary School. This brings the total raised for ACE by St. Hilary to £5,370 and we are very grateful to them for their continued support. Their donation of £4,200 in 2008 was used to pay for a new classroom at Nyarusunzu School. This donation will be put towards the new classroom block at Gitenderi School. (See below) |
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We have also recently received a donation of £210 from St. Erth Primary School. This picture shows Angela Peake receiving the cheque at the school. We have also been given £268 by Longwood School & Nursery, Bushey, Hertfordshire. Thank you all for your efforts on behalf of the primary school children in the ACE schools in Uganda. Your gifts will also go towards the cost of the new classrooms at Gitenderi. |
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From the Trustees
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The ACE trustees met on 27th June and some important decisions were made. The next building project will be a 4-classroom block at Gitenderi School. The school is in desperate need of new classrooms and the block will cost about £16,000. We are putting the proceeds of our Open Gardens Day towards it and, with money already raised, we have about half of the cost. We will need to raise about £8,000 more before we can start.
The Bower Trust have given ACE a grant of £600 for textbooks and the trustees decided the books should be given to Bukazi School. This is the second grant ACE has received from The Bower Trust and we are very grateful to them. We are hoping that two representatives from our schools will visit Cornwall during September. One is William Balibutsa, the local school inspector, and the other is Augustine Mbonigaba, the former headmaster of Mukibugu School. They will be based at St. Hilary Primary School, looking at school management and organisation, as well as general school practice. With the help of UK teachers, they will put together a workshop to implement with the rest of ACE heads and teachers when they return home. They will also visit clubs and schools who have supported us in the past to tell them what ACE money has done. |
Newmill Open Gardens 2010
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The treasurer has reported that the provisional figure for the profit at the Garden Day on Sunday 20th June is £3,311. The quilt, made and donated by Janet Pye, was won by Edris Stratford. You can read more, and see pictures, by clicking here |
ACE Awarded Grant for Honey Project
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Following the feasability study carried out by Toby Martin, the first beehives were placed at Kabami school. ACE has now been awarded a grant of £1,331 from The Waterloo Foundation to enable us to continue to place hives at other schools and to provide beekeepers' equipment. We are very grateful to The Waterloo Foundation for their support. Click on the bee for more information. |
easyfundraising News
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The total raised by ACE supporters using easyfundraising now exceeds £1,000. Click here for more information. |
ACE Honey Project
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Following Toby Martin's feasability study, and preparation work, the ACE Honey Project has now begun. We hope this will enable some of our schools to start to raise their own funds. Click here for information and pictures. |
Never Too Young
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You are never too young to be an ACE supporter! The Futerman family from London have become interested in ACE and their two older boys, Alfie and Gideon, decided to raise some money. They decorated the family car with homemade ACE posters and went to a carboot sale. The result of their efforts was a donation of £303 for ACE. They are trying to get their school interested in ACE and hope to raise even more in the future. Well done, boys, and thank you. |
London Marathon 2010
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For London Marathon news, click here |
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Fundraising and Donations
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. |
Novelty Dog Show
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A Novelty Dog Show, in aid of ACE, took place on Sunday, 28th February 2010, at Marazion Community Hall. For details and pictures click here |
2010 Visit to Uganda
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A 6-strong party from ACE has 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 and Chloe, who both 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. |
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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.
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 -
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Here are 16 of ACE sponsored students at Kisoro Vision School in their new uniforms. Whilst the ACE party was in Uganda in February they enrolled another student into the scheme, so we are now supporting 18 students. The latest addition is Rosemary who was educated at Bukazi Primary School and got a Grade 1 in her leaving examinations.
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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. |
Cape Cornwall School
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At the end of November 2009, Angela attended Cape Cornwall School, St. Just, to receive a cheque for ACE. The school had spent a year fundraising with various activities, including a sponsored walk carrying water. The total raised was £1,772 and ACE is very grateful to the pupils for all their efforts. |
Three New Classrooms for Rurembwe
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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. |
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Paul sent us these pictures of the work in progress on 16th December. It looks like the whole village is helping. David Epidu went to check on progress and sent us this report - |
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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. |
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Each window burglar is costed at Shs 35,000/= (about £12) including transport to the site and there are about 21 windows in a three classroom block, That means that we need 735,000/= more for the burglar proof. You asked me if the contingency money would be used for the same, but it is not possible as the contractor forgot to include the quote for the RIDGES in the Bill of Quantities so the contingency will not cover such shortages. | |
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Otherwise ACE has done a lot of construction in Kisoro Schools and all those who have benefited are so happy with what the charity has done in there schools. Most of the latrine work has been done this year, and latrine is not such a big problem at the moment though we could have some few which need attention. To say the truth ACE has made a big impact in Kisoro as a district and many people now know about the charity's work. I wish to thank Angela Peake and all those who have contributed to ACE activities in Uganda. |
| Everybody in Kisoro now is waiting for the coming of the ACE group in February, Please you will be very welcome to Uganda, by all those who have heard about you. Hope this report is fine for you and in case of any thing you need to know from me please don't hesitate to ask. |
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On
8th January 2010 David sent the following pictures and message -
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Dear Angela and all the trustees - Greeting to you all and wishing you luck in the new year. Please I really feel great when I see whatever I am doing going well. Just see the pictures. It has made a good beginning of my year and needs no words. Great people always do great things, that is why Paul becomes one of the greatest people for ACE project. |
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Just look at the picture. It is good to deal with trusted people, because they always make others happy. I thank Paul for the the great job he does for ACE, and I thank those who have contributed funds for this project. Hope this will make every one happy please. David |
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When the visiting ACE team arrived in February the finishing touches were being put to the classroom block.
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This picture clearly shows the new window system we have adopted to add security and prevent breakage of glass in the windows by footballs. | |
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The
ACE team were given a warm welcome at the handing over ceremony.
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Angela
addressed the crowd and there was singing and dancing.
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There
was an official ribbon-cutting ceremony ....
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....
and the handover was complete.
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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. |
2009 - The Year of the Latrine
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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. |
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Renovated Latrines at Bukazi School |
New Ecosan Latrines at Kabami School |
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However, there is always more work to do. At Kabami school there is a partly-constructed latrine block. It was started by the parents but they have run out of money. David estimates it will cost about £550 to complete it and we have now sent the money to pay for it.. At Nyakabaya school the curtain wall round a latrine block is partially collapsed. We are currently getting an estimate from Paul, our local builder, for its repair or replacement. |
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Kabami Latrine Needs Finishing |
Curtain Wall at Nyakabaya Needs Rebuilding |
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To give an idea of the size of the excavations required for a new latrine block, this picture shows the pit being dug for a new set of latrines at Nyarusunzu school in 2008. The work cost about £5,400. |
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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.
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Sponsored Walk
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Cream Tea
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Angela and Vic Peake hosted a cream tea, in aid of ACE, at their home, Chynoey, Newmill, on Sunday 6th September 2009. Click here to see how it went.
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Latest Reports From Our Schools
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Eden Quayle |
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Eden Quayle has spent his vacation from his teaching job in Japan revisiting the ACE schools, where he worked for nine months in 2007-2008. He arrived in Uganda at the end of July 2009. He soon sent us reports on all of the eight ACE schools in the Kisoro region, checking on the general performance of the schools and the work that needs doing. You can read his reports and see the latest pictures of the schools by clicking on the individual links below - Bukazi |
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He was present for the opening of The Rainbow Room at Gitenderi School. You can read more about it and see more pictures by clicking here. The new classroom was constructed mainly with money raised by Rainbow, a charity started by Eden in Japan. Scroll down this page to read how they did it. |
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Eden has also been sending regular illustrated blogs about his visit. Here you can read about - Destination
Kisoro You can also watch two videos which were made by Eden - |
ACE Fundraising
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The treasurer recently calculated that, since registration in 2005, to 31st July 2009, giving to ACE has amounted to £113,323. We are very grateful for your support. |
Newmill Open Gardens 2009
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Our annual Open Gardens fundraising event took place on Sunday 21st June 2009. Click here for more information and pictures. |
Grant to ACE
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ACE has been awarded a donation of £1,000 from The Angela Gallagher Memorial Fund. The money is earmarked for the purchase of textbooks for Kabami School. We are very grateful to the Fund for their generous support. |
From Our Japan Correspondent
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Following his nine months spell of teaching at the ACE schools in Uganda, Eden Quayle is now teaching in Japan. His enthusiasm for the ACE projects and the Ugandan schools is undimmed and he recently organised a fundraiser at his school. He has also tried to organise a pen pal scheme. He writes - |
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The pen pal scheme started in Autumn of last year after I taught a few lessons on Uganda to the students of Minami High school and Shougyou High School both are in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, south-west Japan. There were about 45 students involved in the exchange. The Japanese students introduced themselves, their school, their area and aspects of Japanese culture. |
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| One student even made handkerchiefs for the students in Uganda, other students made origami. The letters took 9 weeks to arrive in Uganda. |
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Because the letters took so long to arrive, the students who wrote the letters have now graduated from school as they were in their final year of high school. They never received a reply. The school involved on the Ugandan side is Mukibugu. This is Median, who is 14 years old and in P7. She is very good at Japanese. |
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I have now moved schools as I will be working in Fukuoka City but I hope that a few students will carry on with the exchange. I will ask the Japanese teacher of English if this will be possible and help them as needed. |
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Eden has organised two fundraising events for ACE. The first was a beach marathon which will took place on Sunday 24th May on Niji-no-Matsubara Beach in Karatsu City. The marathon of 7km along the beach was called 'Rainbow Run'. Eden has built a website which you can go to by clicking here. You can watch a promotional video about the Rainbow Run by clicking here and another video Eden has made about Uganda by clicking here. |
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Then on Sunday 12th July he organised a sponsored Rainbow Walk along the river bank in Karatsu. This was be aimed more at school children and the local population. He reported that, after the walk had finished, they turned the event into a mini village fete, with dance performances from Uganda and Japan. He thinks they have raised over £500 for ACE. |
Dog Show
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Click here for details. |
Cape Cornwall School
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We are delighted that Cape Cornwall School at St. Just have adopted ACE as a focus for their charitable fundraising. Two of their staff and three students assisted at the bucket collection at Morrisons supermarket on 21st and 22nd November 2008, when £579 was collected. Now they are planning 2 fundraising events -
Further details will be published here as we get them. |
Serendipity
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Grantley Curnow is the owner of a shop called Serendipity in Fore Street, St. Ives. He previously visited the ACE schools in Uganda with Angela in 2006. Since then he has supported the charity by selling handicrafts made in the ACE villages in his shop. This has a double benefit - the villagers get paid for their work and Grantley donates the profits to ACE so that the money is returned to Uganda. In February 2009 he flew out to Uganda to try to further this relationship. He toured the villages with David Epidu and he met up with craft teachers and craft makers. He took ideas and pictures with him to show what type of things he can sell. He also monitored quality whilst he was there, then handed this over to the craft teachers. He will continue to employ them for a while, as they will be his quality controllers and will also be responsible for sending the crafts back to St. Ives to be sold at Serendipity and sold wholesale to others. It is an excellent way of getting money back into the communities. You can visit the Serendipity website by clicking here. |
Commemorative Plaque Fixed at Nyarusunzu School
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Grantley took with him a commemorative plaque which has been placed at Nyarusunzu School. For further information click here. |
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From the Trustees Meeting, January 2009
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At their meeting on Sunday 18th January 2009, the ACE trustees discussed and approved -
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ACE's First Borehole
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We have been concerned for some time about getting a clean water supply to St. Joseph School at Mwangi. This school is north of Kampala in an arid area and there is insufficient rainfall to keep the water tank full. This is also dangerous for the children because, if the level in the tank is low, the water becomes stagnant and can cause illness. We have had a hydrogeological survey done by The Busoga Trust and are currently deciding how to poceed. Click here to get the latest information. |
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We have recently reached the fine total of £500 raised by using this scheme when buying goods online. If you shop online please register to raise funds for ACE at no cost to you. Click
here for further details. |
From the Trustees Meeting, November 2008
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The ACE trustees held one of their regular meetings on 30th November and discussed the next projects to be carried out. We are currently concentrating on the schools' sanitary arrangements because several schools had full latrines and would have been faced with possible closure without the problem being addressed. Emptying of the latrines at Bukazi school (see below) has been completed and new latrines have been constructed at Nyakabaya school. The latrine construction at Nyarusunzu school is still ongoing because of delays caused by very heavy rain making the ground waterlogged. The trustees have approved similar projects to empty the latrines at Rukongi school and Mukibugu school. This will cost about £300 at each school. The trustees have also approved, subject to acceptable cost estimates, provision of covers for the water tanks at Nyarusunzu, Bukazi and Kabami schools. This is to prevent insects from dropping into the tanks. All our other schools already have lids on their water tanks.
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Cash Prize Raffle
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The 2008 Cash Prize Raffle winners were drawn at the trustees' meeting. The winners were -
The raffle made a profit for ACE of £294. Thank you to everyone who took part. |
ACE's First Japanese Fundraiser
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Following his nine months spell of teaching at the ACE schools in Uganda, Eden Quayle is now teaching in Japan. His enthusiasm for the ACE projects and the Ugandan schools is undimmed and he has recently organised a fundraiser at his school. He wrote - The exhibition room looked great during the day with pictures of Uganda, statistics and information about Uganda in Japanese, paper cranes made by the students in Uganda dangled from the ceiling, and a video showing life in Uganda was running in the corner. The International Club members decided to first do their annual talk in front of the whole school on 'Ugandan schools vs. Japanese schools' and then pushed on and changed a whole room into a 'Schools in Uganda' exhibition for the school festival. About a thousand people turned up for the school festival and many passed through the room. All that passed through understood a little more about Uganda and how different life is there compared to Japan. |
| The girls worked hard and approached all who came through to give a little donation towards schools less fortunate than Minami High School. They walked around the whole day in fact asking for donations and I was amazed how committed they were to the task. As I walked around with them for support, they dashed here and there trying to talk to people or handing out fliers to elderly ladies who had probably never heard of Uganda until today. |
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They did a fantastic job and I was proud of them, all I had done was show them a video suggested a few ideas and they did the rest. Twelve students from Minami High School are also writing to Mukibugu school children as part of a pen pal project I have initiated here. A few of the students even talked to Median and Alan from Mukibugu on the phone in Japanese recently. Now that was a special moment, an international call from a distant land for the kids at Mukibugu and for the students here as Japanese came through the loud speaker all they could do was smile. It looks like ACE has a friend in the Far East. By the end of the day they had raised 29,373 yen, which equates to about £205 in sterling. |
Donations and Collections
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We have recently received several donations and money raised by individuals in various ways. A donation of £100 has been received from Penzance Lions Club. A grant of £500 has been received from the Cumber Family Charitable Trust in January 2009. Two local schools raised money for ACE at their 2008 carol services. Heamoor Primary School have donated £120 and Nancledra Primary School £447. Thank you all very much. Our collectors were out in Penzance, accompanied by 2 daleks, on a late night shopping evening. They collected £81. |
Concert at Gulval Church
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The Mounts Bay Singers presented a concert in aid of ACE at Gulval Parish Church on Saturday 8th November 2008. For details click here. |
Work in Progress
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David Epidu, ACE's representative in Uganda (left) has recently been visiting the schools around Kisoro and checking the progress of the work currently going on, As you can see it is the rainy season in Uganda. He was accompanied by his assistant, Mandela. (right) Mandela also acts as driver when ACE representatives visit. |
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One of the main problems facing the schools which ACE supports is with latrines. As we improve the classrooms, more children attend, so the latrines get filled faster. This picture shows the pit being dug for a new set of latrines at Nyarusunzu school. Our current work is costing about £5,400. New latrines are also being built at Nyakabaya school and teachers' accommodation is nearly completed at Bukazi. |
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It is also possible for the existing latrines to be emptied. The wall at the back of the latrine block is excavated and broken through. The contents are dug out by hand and the wall is then rebuilt. This unpleasant task is currently going on at Bukazi school. |
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At the recent ACE trustees' meeting there was a long discussion about latrines. The latrines illustrated here are the simplest type, known as 'long drop' latrines. They are literally a big pit with a building over the top to provide privacy. A newer type of latrine is called 'EcoSan'. This provides for the separation of urine and faeces. The solid matter is therefore drier to start with and it can be dried further quite quickly. Mixed with wood ash, it can be used as a valuable fertilizer. These latrines are much more environmentally friendly, but are more expensive to construct. We are proposing to construct our first EcoSan latrines - a block of three - at Rurembwe school. The project will cost about £2,000. It is important that the users of EcoSans are properly trained in their use. So there will be a trainer at the school and the block will be used for teaching pupils and teachers from the neighbouring schools when we build more in the future. If you want to learn a bit more about EcoSan latrines click here. |
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David has also been checking the schools' water storage tanks. This one, at Nyakabaya school, has had a new tap house installed with a locked door to prevent the water being stolen. |
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This is the teachers' accommodation building under construction at Bukazi school. When completed it will provide rooms for two teachers. |
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As
you can see from this report, there is more to ACE's work than just
building classrooms and putting desks inside.
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Record Giving to ACE
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The ACE financial year has just finished and we have received record receipts of £40,017.22. This was more than double the 2006/2007 total of £19,507. We are very grateful to all who have worked so hard and to all who have given. During the year we have spent £36,791.93 on our projects at the Ugandan schools. The balance in hand is awaiting further money for our next project. The biggest categories of expenditure were as follows -
The financial year 2008-2009 has started with a bang. Angela has collected another cheue for £2,000 from Penwith College and the cream tea held on 7th September raised £310. |
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ACE has moved well ahead in 1st place in the International Children's Charity section on the Charity Portal website. We are in 2nd place in the overall classification and have over 12,000 votes. In case you forgot to vote when you entered the site you can click on the orange button here. After you have voted, click 'Statistics' then 'Top 10 Voted' and you will see the Top Ten of all the affiliated charities. The next challenge will take a while. The charity in first place has over 25,000 votes so it will take a long time for ACE to become number one. |
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New Classrooms at St. Joseph School
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ACE has built a new double classroom block at St. Joseph School at Mwangi and carried out major upgrading of the school latrines. You can see pictures of the construction by clicking here. |
Classrooms Partitioned at Rurembwe
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We have recently completed the partitioning of a large classroom to make two smaller ones. You can see pictures by clicking here. |
Two Large Donations for Desks
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ACE has been seeking contributions from several charitable trusts who are known to support the sort of work we do. The first donation we received was £500 from The Calleva Foundation. We have now also received £1,000 from The Bower Trust. The donations are earmarked for desks for the schools and we are very grateful to the trustees of both trusts for supporting ACE. |
ACE Collection at Land's End
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ACE held a collection day at Land's End on Tuesday 5th August. This picture shows ACE trustee, Roger Drew, with a new member of the ACE fundraising team. |
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Newmill Open Gardens Day 2008
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The Open Gardens Day was held in Newmill on Sunday 6th July with a record 8 gardens on show. The rain held off for most of the afternoon although there were a couple of heavy showers. There was also an art exhibition in the Jamieson Library which benefitted ACE. The participating artists were Margaret Chinn, Meg Jenkins and Pam Furby. |
St. Hilary School Make Big Donation
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ACE founder, Angela Peake, recently attended a special assembly at St. Hilary Primary School to receive a cheque for ACE. The school had completed a two-year series of fundraising events and presented Angela with the magnificent sum of £4,200. St. Hilary are linking particularly with the school ACE supports at Nyarasunzu. The money is being spent on a large classroom block which is being built at this very isolated school. The project is also being supported by Penwith College. |
Angela Presented with Major Award
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Mounts Bay Rotary Club have awarded Angela a Paul Harris Fellowship. This award, named after the founder of Rotary International, is one of the highest awards given by the organisation. She received a medal and a certificate. The citation on the certificate reads - Angela Peake is hereby named a Paul Harris Fellow in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among the peoples of the world. Angela and her husband, Vic, were invited to the Rotary Club's annual President's Night by President Ed Bufton, who has been a frequent attender at ACE events in Newmill. The award, presented during the evening, was a complete surprise to Angela. The picture show Angela with Ed Bufton and two other award winners. The Rotary Club also donated the proceeds of the raffle at the event, over £400, to ACE funds. |
Building Project completed at Kabami
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Our latest building project has recently been completed. Click here for details and pictures. |
Open Garden Raises Funds for ACE
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We are grateful to Mr and Mrs Sandy of Wheal Darlington, Long Rock, who recently opened their garden to the public on two days, in aid of ACE. £414 was raised from admission fees and the sale of wooden garden items |
Work
Completed at Gitenderi after a Most Generous Donation
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In December 2007 we were delighted to announce that ACE had received a very large donation. The local donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, gave £5,000 to the funds. We were able to claim Gift Aid amounting to £1,400 on the donation, boosting it to £6,400. We are extremely grateful to the donor and the trustees decided that the money should be spent at the Gitenderi primary school. The school had a partially-built double classroom block. The building was originally funded by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, but has been standing unfinished for some time because the builder went off with the money. Nothing could be done to complete it for a while because it was the subject of litigation. When our builder, Paul, completed the new classrooms at Nyarusunzu (see below), we moved him and his team to Gitenderi and they commenced work. He takes his own craftsmen but uses local village labour. It cost about £4,000 to complete the project, which required provision of windows and doors, plastering and painting. They made good progress and project was finished during April 2008. The school also needs another double classroom block to be built. |
The partially-built classrooms at Gitenderi before the ACE project began
The completed classroom
To read more about Gitenderi school and see more pictures, click here |
Dog Show
For
information about thedog show, in aid of ACE, held on 16th March, click
here.
Penwith College Becoming a Major Sponsor of ACE
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ACE is delighted to announce another very generous gift from the students of Penwith College. They have recently donated £2,000, bringing the total they have raised to £7,000. |
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When asked how they are raising so much money, George Yates, from the College, replied - Our money comes solely from one source, namely the parties that the Student Association hold at Club 2K. These are usually have a fancy dress theme and, even though we charge a low entry fee and give away hundreds in fancy dress prizes, we still manage to make a fair amount of money from them. This is partly because the owner of Club 2K, Viv Evans, has been very generous in regard to the financial terms upon which she hosts the parties. So, we've got a partnership comprising ACE, Penwith College Student Association and Club 2K - three small organisations combining to add to the sum of human happiness! Incidentally, four of our students - Imogen Rutherford, Charlotte Nicholls, Chloe Nicholls and Rebecca Tonkin - have been to Uganda and worked with ACE. I hope you know that at these parties I'm taking the money on the door and have to put up with a lot of argy bargy and don't get to bed till 4am - and sometimes afterwards am at College at 9am. As it happens, I don't mind late nights! We are most grateful to George and the students, and to Viv Evans, and glad to hear that they all have fun whilst raising the funds. The students he mentioned went on the visit to Uganda in 2006 when they were pupils of Mounts Bay School. |
Angela and Vic Peake Visit the Schools
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Angela Peake, the founder of ACE and chairman of the trustees, made a trip to Uganda with her husband, Vic, in February 2008. Eden Quayle's mother, Sachiko, went with them. This picture shows (left to right) Vic and Angela Peake, Eden Quayle and ACE's representative in Uganda, David Epidu. |
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They had a busy programme, visiting all the schools which ACE supports. They were checking the work that has been carried out and assessing the needs for the future. They took a large amount of material for the schools. Also, each school was presented with a Cornish St. Piran's flag. |
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| Here Angela and Vic are seen at Rukongi school with the headteacher, Victoria Nyibagwiza. |
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Fast Work at Nyarusunzu
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In autumn 2007 ACE received three very generous gifts. Penwith College donated £1,000, Hayle Lions Club £500 and Penwith One Percenters £500. Several local schools also made donations from various events. At the October meeting of the ACE trustees it was decided that we now had enough money to commence work on the new 3-classroom block at Nyarusunzu school. The building cost was £9,500. This has enabled the classroom shown here to be replaced. |
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This picture shows Eden Quayle with pupils at Nyarusunzu in November. The new classroom block, which is partially built, can be seen in the background. Because of the very poor standard of the teachers' accommodation at Nyarusunzu, it was decided to use one of the rooms for this purpose until we can get teachers' quarters built. |
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Eden took this picture on 15th December, showing that rapid progress had been made. |
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The project was completed and the building was ready for use when the school term commenced at the beginning of February 2008. |
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ACE 200 Club |
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The 200 Club, which we started in July 2006, has proved very successful. By the end of 2007 it had raised just over £2,000 for ACE. By Autumn 2007 we had over 200 numbers sold. However, about sixty numbers were purchased as Christmas gifts in 2006. They entered their first draw in January 2007 and their last in December 2007. Only a few of these have been renewed. That means that our numbers are now down to 164 which reduces the prize fund, and the amount of money raised by ACE. Please try to enrol some new participants so that we can get back to 200. You can obtain more details and download an application form, by clicking here. |
Christmas
Events and School Donations
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St. Hilary School have been raising funds for ACE during the current school year. Prior to the Christmas 2007 period they had raised just over £1,400. Their school choir sang Christmas carols at the Wharfside shopping centre in Penzance on Saturday 15th December and collected for ACE. Unfortunately it was bitterly cold so they couldn't perform for as long as planned, but they collected £87. With other events during the festive season they have earned a total of £336. They have several more events planned for 2008. Nancledra School sang carols at the Tesco store at Carbis Bay on Wednesday 19th December. They wore their nativity play costumes and sang inside the store, right under the heaters. They have also given the proceeds of their Christmas carol concerts to ACE. The total they raised was £327. Mounts Bay School raised £145 for ACE at various Christmas events.The money will be spent on desks at Rukongi Primary School. Pendeen School have donated £182 which has been earmarked for new desks at Bukazi School. We are very grateful to all four schools for their support. |
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We received a cheque for £35 from Silvertree Engineering of Truro. Supporter, Martin Trathen, collected the money from his workmates. |
Distribution of Exercise Books
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These
pictures show Eden Quayle giving out exercise
books, which were funded by ACE, at Mukibugu
school.
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These
gifts don't cost very much ....
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but they bring so much joy to children with so little.
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Pupils Do Best when Taught by Women
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Charles Etoru has sent us an interesting article from the New Vision newspaper. The article contains a lot of information about Ugandan primary schools. To read it click here. Currently two of the schools which ACE supports have female headteachers. They are at Rukongi and Nyakabaya. |
Sponsored Events
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Two sponsored events have taken place during August 2007. Click here for details. |
Newmill Open Gardens
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This year's main event took place on Sunday 1st July 2007. Takings on the day amounted to £2,350. For full details click here. |
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Prior to the event, there was a private preview of 3 of the gardens for Ludgvan Gardens Group on 21st June. Angela's garden at Chynoey was also visited on 28th June by a group from Trinity Chapel, Newlyn, and on 29th June by the Lamorna flower-arranging group. |
£200 Cash Prizes Raffle
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During spring and early summer we were selling raffle tickets for a draw which took place at the Open Gardens event on 1st July. To see the prizewinners click here. |
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We enrolled ACE into easyfundraising on 9th May 2007, enabling supporters to raise money for us whilst shopping online.
Thank you to those who have signed up. If you would like to know more about the scheme please click here. |
Stone Collection
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David Epidu |
ACE's representative in Uganda, David Epidu, sends a monthly report to the ACE committee. In his April 2007 report he wrote - When at Kisoro District met various Heads and advised them to have a routine collection of stone and keep the stones around the school compound, such that if there is any chance for any of the eight schools supported by the A.C.E. getting any help, we should not be running up and down looking for the stone, this should be the contribution for the community. They all accepted the idea and said that they would all have a routine collection of stones and keep them around the school compound. |
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This is a good example of the advantage of having a person on the spot to oversee ACE's efforts. It also illustrates David's ability to intelligently think about how our efforts can be improved and to act on his ideas. He also added some less good news - I also want to inform you that prices in our country keep on going up everyday so I want to keep you informed about that because at the moment transport is very high because of the rise in fuel prices. He sent news of our work at Bukazi primary school and we have subsequently received an e-mail from the headmaster. Click here for details. |
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This picture was taken in May 2007 and shows stones that had been collected and heaped up by parents at Mukibugu school. The picture also shows the rainwater collection system and storage tank in the background. |
More ACE 200 Club Members Needed
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Numbers in the 200 Club have dropped this year. This is mainly because subscriptions which were given as gifts to friends have not been renewed. Please consider buying more numbers, either for yourself, or as gifts to friends. Click here for details and to download an application form. |
Good News for the Mountain Gorillas
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The mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest are making a steady recovery. Click here to read the article from The Times. |
Angela Peake wins Citizen of the Year award
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From The Cornishman newspaper, Thursday 22nd March 2007 - "Outstanding individuals from across Penwith have been honoured at the presentation of the Alan Harvey Citizen of the Year awards. "The awards, named in memory of the late former chairman of Penwith Council, were presented to four local people for their outstanding contributions to their communities and organisations. "Angela Peake picked up the award for Penzance. "Each of the recipients were given a glass trophy and £100 for their chosen charity." |
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ACE
has a Patron
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Jon Snow | We are delighted that Jon Snow has agreed to become a patron of ACE. He is best known as the presenter of Britain's award-winning Channel 4 News. He has also hosted a wide range of discussion programmes and a number of high-profile documentaries for Channel 4, the most recent being War on Terror Trial, Bloody Sunday Debate, Snow in Japan, The E-millionaire Show and Secrets of the Honours System. He was presented with the prestigious Richard Dimbleby Award for his outstanding contribution to the world of news and current affairs at the 2005 BAFTA Television Awards, and he was named Journalist of the Year at the 2005 Royal Television Society TV Journalism Awards. He has a longstanding affinity with Uganda, beginning with a spell there as a teacher when he was 18. |
A recent article in The Independent newspaper included - Snow was also instrumental in C4 News's decision to base last year's coverage on the G8 summit not at Gleneagles, where it was taking place, but in Africa, subject of much of the discussions. Snow, whose political views were shaped as an 18-year-old teacher with VSO in Uganda, after which he was rusticated from the University of Liverpool for his involvement in anti-apartheid protests, says he was intrigued to know whether anyone in Africa knew that Gleneagles was going on. "Had they heard of Bob Geldof?" At Snow's behest, the programme was broadcast from Namasagali, the Ugandan village on the banks of the Nile where he had taught almost 40 years earlier, and where depopulation and malaria had become rampant. "You never found anybody who had heard anything about the G8 and certainly nobody knew anything about Live Aid or Bob Geldof." If you want to read the whole article click here. In his letter of acceptance Jon wrote - "Because I don't come from Cornwall, and stand little chance of getting down to meet the volunteers, I was tempted to say no to your flattering request for me to become a patron of ACE. But then when I think about the primary schools in Uganda, the need is so great that I'd really like to do anything to assist your work, so I am delighted to say yes but fully recognising that I am not able to do much practically to help." ACE is delighted to have such a distinguished supporter. |
Desks
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A young lady called Hannah Westren, who is 11 years old, recently donated to ACE a jar of coins she had been saving from her pocket money. They added up to £19.17. The ACE trustees have decided to make the gift up to £21 and purchase a desk and bench seat for St. Joseph School with Hannah's gift. The desk will be marked as a gift from Hannah with a small plaque. |
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These desks are designed to seat two pupils but are often occupied by three or four. They are normally used indoors but this class was taking place outside because of the lack of classrooms. |
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Lots more desks are currently needed at most of our schools. If you would like donate one click here for details. For donation of £21, you could have a desk with your name on it. Or you could donate a gift in the name of a friend and have their name on it. We are very grateful to the gentleman from Weymouth who recently bought a desk named for his granddaughter. |
First Work Completed at Nyarusunzu School
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The school at Nyarusunzu was visited for the first time by ACE representatives in October 2006. The needs of the school are great and it was decided that the first priority should be to provide a water storage tank and guttering, which will cost about £1,300. The project began in February 2007 and was completed a month later. Click here for more information. |
Solar Power Chargers
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When David Epidu made his regular visit to all the schools supported by ACE in the Kisoro district in February 2007, he reported that the teachers currently have to travel to Kisoro each time they need to charge their mobile phones. They have to wait for two to three hours whilst this is done, pay for it, and then travel back. He asked if ACE would consider providing one solar power charger for each of the nine schools. He said that they could be purchased locally for 65,000 Ugandan Shillings, which is about £20, each. This sort of request is difficult for ACE because our priorities are naturally to the schoolchildren and the cost of each charger would provide a new desk. However, we are delighted that a local supporter donated £200 in order to provide the chargers. A Gift Aid form was also signed so ACE will get another £56 for our general funds. By the time David purchased them in April, the price had gone up, but the donor made up the difference. David is now distributing the chargers to the headteachers. The solar
chargers will enable the teachers to save a great deal of time
and money. After all, sunshine is plentiful in Uganda. And it's
free. |
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This picture shows the headteacher of Nyarusunzu school with his new solar charger. |
David and Christine Marry
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ACE's representative in Uganda, David Epidu, had an official marriage ceremony with Christine on 10th March. They have been together several years and have a daughter called Fortunate. The ceremony took place at Soroti, northeast of Kampala. The trustees of ACE have personally sent a present of some money. Below are some pictures of the marriage ceremony and the celebrations. |
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Three New Teachers Nearly Trained
The three teachers, who are being trained with ACE's support, have nearly completed their courses. They started their final teaching practice on 4th March. We have just paid the final amounts for their stationery. We also pay for their food as they have to live away from home. |
Typical Problems
This article was forwarded to ACE by Charles Etoru. It highlights some of the problems of primary education in an area of Uganda quite close to Luwero where we support St. Joseph School. The article came from the online version of New Vision newspaper and was written by Elizabeth Namazzi. Many people await the rainy season in anticipation. Not so with the pupils and teachers in Nakasongola district. To them, rain heralds woes as the district lacks decent shelter. Trees and makeshift shacks serve as classrooms and teachers' houses. At present, Nakasongola has 143 government-aided schools and six registered private schools. The senior education officer, Sarah Bugoosi, said: "Some schools have no buildings at all, while others have just one building and an office." The pupils of Kalinda Primary school sit in a partially grass-thatched shack that is supported by weak poles. Although an effort to construct permanent classrooms is evident, little has been done to provide accommodation for the teachers. Lack of teachers' houses is the biggest challenge we have. Some teachers live six kilometres away from school and their houses are several miles apart. In the absence of reliable transport and good roads, most teachers are unwilling to trek long distances in the name of teaching. The situation worsens during the rainy season when the roads are completely impassable. Unwilling to brave more than six miles of mud and pools of water, most teachers choose to stay at home until the roads improve. Even those with accommodation at the school premises are not better off. To many, a good night's sleep is a luxury they dream of. "You cannot enjoy your sleep in such a house. We always sleep with one ear open, prepared to run out of the house at the slightest indication that it's falling," a teacher at Kateebe Primary School said. In Nakitoma sub-county, the teachers of Kikanga Primary School also reside in grass-thatched huts. The only 'permanent' house has one room and one has to bend to go through the doorway. In a district where dry spells hit with a vengeance, rain brings a smile to many faces, but for teachers, rain means sleepless nights. The roofs on teachers' houses are riddled with holes that leave rain flowing right into the houses. "When it rains, we spend the night standing. All our property gets wet," a female teacher of Kateebe Primary School laments. Their residence is a tiny two-mud house on the brink of collapse. The doors are so weak that they can be kicked open without much force. Their biggest concern though is the roof. "It leaks at every point you can imagine," one of the teachers, who preferred anonymity, said. After such a night, the teachers are in no mood for classes. The students are not enthusiastic too. Their attention is divided between cattle keeping and classes. When a sleepy and poorly-paid teacher stands before such a class, the quality of education is bound to suffer. This, plus the fact that most of the teachers in Nakasongola district are not trained, does not help matters. According to Bugoosi, the district has about 500 trained teachers out of over 1,100 teachers. It is not surprising that when the results of the national examinations are released, Nakasongola district records one of the worst performances in the country. Bugoosi says for the last five years, Nakasongola has had the biggest percentage of pupils drop out before they complete Primary Seven. Out of those who sit Primary Leaving Examinations, only 7% attain first grade and the highest percentage attain third grade. One sure way to improve Nakasongola's performance is by building a highly-motivated teaching force. In some schools, some teachers have solved their accommodation problem by using their meagre resources to construct small houses. A few schools have benefited from NGOs like World Vision and Concern International. Whereas World Vision finances the whole project, Concern International covers 80% of the construction costs and requires the community to shoulder 20%. There is still the fact that Nakasongola's people are not entirely convinced that education is worth the investment. |