More
news from
MYNYDD BACH SCHOOL,
L.O.S.T. -
UGANDA
(Lango
Orphans Scholarship Trust)
Visit
to LIRA Northern Uganda 1st – 11th February
Charles Owens
The
first thing that you notice on arriving in Lira is the increased amount of
people that are now in town.
I am informed that they come in each morning from the surrounding
Displaced People Camps either because they have nothing else to do with their
day or they are looking for some sort of work.
The
other thing that is noticeable, is that there are several construction projects
in progress, not the least of them is a 70-bedroom hotel.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding this part of Uganda, clearly some are
looking forward to a better future.
I
was not able to visit any DP camps on this trip.
You now have to get a visiting permit from the military and clearly this
takes much longer than my stay in Lira.
I
am able to pass on what I managed to find out from my contacts in the Bishop’s
Office and around town.
During the week Stan and I were in Lira, eight people were killed and one
hundred children were abducted, all from villages within forty miles of Lira
town.
The
DP camps are still full.
In fact when families leave and go back to their homes to attend to their
crops they are often forced back into the camps by the military, on the pretence
that they are safer closer to Lira.
One can but wonder what is to happen to their claim of ownership when
their return to their ancestral homes.
I
have been given many different reasons for what is happening in Northern Uganda.
The rebel activities are now in their 18th year with no clear
sign of coming to an end.
The people of Northern Uganda need a change, a change that allows them to
go to their beds at night knowing that their crops and their very lives will be
in place the following morning.
My request is for your prayers for them to have a stable and peaceful
future.
It
was a very hot and dusty Lira that awaited Stan and I this trip.
The journey up from Kampala was not without its exciting moments - a
broken back axle that had to be replaced and an over-enthusiastic guard at the
Nile checkpoint who insisted on us emptying the truck and searching our luggage.
The
road journey up to Lira doesn’t get any easier.
Our small group arrived safely but very tired at 6.30 pm Thursday.
Stan and I had left Bangor at midday Tuesday.
However my spirits were lifted the following day as we drove onto the
school site, to see a building that in all form, resembled the ideas that were
seeded on my drawing board back in January 2002.
Although work only started on site in June 2003, we now have a building
that looks like a school and is attracting much attention from the people of
Lira town.
The
site and the building activity is very encouraging for all in this devastated
part of Uganda.
By the time that you read this report, the roof will have been completed
and work started on the fitting out of the classrooms.
The building has ten classrooms, with an anticipated class number of
thirty children, giving the overall school intake of 300.
In keeping with tradition, the new school will be residential from P3
upwards.
We will construct dormitory blocks as funds allow and in the mean time we
will utilise some of the classrooms to enable the school to come on line at the
start of the new academic year 2nd February 2006.
Why
you may ask is this school so badly needed, when we are informed that there is
free education for all in Uganda?
It is our findings that families have to pay for their children to attend
school, and that the schools typically have class sizes of around 200, often
sharing a teacher with another class.
Many children in and around Lira do not go to school and those that do
often have to drop out because there is no money at home to support them.
Large families are normal, and in many cases the burden is increased
through extended families cursed by the L R A activities still very much ongoing
around Lira, even though we are told differently through the media.
Very
many children are being denied an education.
It is the belief in LOST Wales that the future of Northern Uganda rests
with this deprived generation and our hope is that they may receive every chance
in life through a good education.
LOST Wales, with LOST Uganda, already run a nursery school for up to 185
deprived children in Lira and are looking forward to the challenge of running
this new school when ready.
We in LOST are very grateful for the help we have received from Wales.
We have been involved in the welfare of many children in and around Lira
over the last ten years, and are trying to provide a primary school in Lira town
for 300 orphans and deprived children.
This construction work has been underway now for almost two years and
depends solely on the generosity of those who send us their gifts.
Over £40,000 has now been raised and spent on the new school.
We now need a further £22,000 to complete the classroom block and enable
us to take in the first children.
Please
continue to support us, both financially and prayerfully.
Thank you.
Charles E. Owens
For
more information please contact me on 01248 430637 or charleseowens@lineone.net