Monday, October 27, 2008
Computers in Use!
During their recent visit, Catherine and Orla had the opportunity to train the teachers and to watch them deliver lessons to children using the computers. The two have now left for Mombasa from where they will proceed to London and then Belfast. We wish them safe travels.
I wish to thank everyone whose support and contribution has made this possible. I also wish in a special way to thank Emily for her continued support through her networking activities. We will do everything possible to ensure that her efforts bring about positive improvement at the school. This is the direction we would like to see the school go, and given the many hurdles we face, we would not have come this far without everyone,s generous support and contribution through Emily and our friends elsewhere.
The visit by Emily and Ray opened us up to many new ideas which we hope to implement in due course as a way of improving the day today running of the facility. And Cat and Orla helped make many teaching aids and introduced new childhood games to the children.
Thank you all!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Cat and Orla Visit
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Thank you all
With the computer room up and running, we have no doubt that we will be able to achieve our vision in being a model school in our area. I can only hope and pray that our partnership and friendship with Tribalgroup UK Ltd will continue to grow and that we will be able to see the school grow from strength to strength. Our next task is to have electricity in the school and get connected to the internet in the near future.
Once again thank you all and hope that both Emily and Ray will return to you safely and with stories to share...especially one about climbing the Endebes Bluff on top of Mt Elgon!!
Ray & Emily visit the school
The teachers and children all excited and have had a play on the computers already. My only regret is not enough time to train the teachers in the use of the computers and the software.
Emily Tredoux
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A Big Thankyou
- Tribal staff for their hardwork at putting together in excess of 15 sets of educational software to be taken over to the school, surprise packages for the teachers and for a digital camera.
- The National Science Learning Centre in York for the Science Books, science multi media resources, pens, pencils, posters, etc. for the children.
Thank you,
Emily Tredoux
Monday, August 4, 2008
We plan to use the money donated towards kickstarting a cyber café.
We will be able to:-
- pay rent for a shop in the local market
- install the computers we received from Stevenson Junior School, Nottingham.
- make desks and chairs for the computer room
- offer printing, photocopying, scanning and laminating services once we finish with the computers.
The computer room should be up and running by September, when Emily from Tribal visits, we are praying that she will be able to bring along some software for children’s programmes and hopefully train the teachers and myself in how to use the software.
We may not be able to connect to the internet soon as this may be slightly expensive for us at the moment.
Once again I thank you for your contribution and assure you that the seed you have planted will be watered and nurtured so that it benefits as many children as possible, now and in the future.
Thank you.
Masibo Lumala
Monday, July 28, 2008
Open Day / Sponsored Walk - 26 07 2008
The open day went really well…we had children playing football, swing, rope skipping. They also entertained visitors with songs and verses. At the end of the day, each child received a present for working hard during the term that ends next week. They received exercise books, pencils and
The sponsored walk did not however take off as very few people had sponsored the children (obviously because of the high cost of living at the moment and the fact that many families are going without food). Instead, those who had pledged offered to give us the money and asked that we organize the walk later in the year when the locals would have harvested maize. We raised KShs 10,000/=
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Karibu (Welcome) to the UJS Blog
Jambo (Hello),
The school and home for orphaned and needy children was my and my wife's idea of us contributing to the community that supported me so much when I was coming to the UK for my studies. We actually converted our own home and three rental houses into UJS. We however have the support of the local village elders and churches who have been instrumental in providing the much needed guidance and spiritual counsel.
To date we have over 80 children-49 boys and 36 girls- in the school. We could have had more but for lack of space. We have four teachers, one handling the Baby Class and Nursery and the rest with the primary section.
During the violence, our school kitchen and store were vandalized and torched by arsonists. We are now putting up one temporary kitchen , thanks to a donation of £200 from a women's church group in Sheffield, UK.
We also recently received 5 computers donated by Stevenson Junior School in Nottingham and generously delivered to our school by DHL at no cost. Our aim is to offer the children an opportunity to acquire ICT skills and to be a model school in this field.
The lack of electricity in the school has made it impossible for us use the computers or even set up an internet connection. In the short run, we intend to run cyber café at Kiminini market with a view to generating some funds for the school project as well as facilitating school communication. At the moment we have no single cyber café on the market and we have to rely on my mobile phone for internet access.
Closely tied to this is our wish to design and run a website for the school. Internet access will also help us run the Global Citizenship course at the school, which we hope to use to develop a curriculum on the proposed citizenship education in Kenya.
Our desire to achieve the best for the children is hampered by a number of factors:
- We have no electricity in the school
- We have no dormitory for the girls
- We have no piped water (We using a borehole at the moment - no pump as yet)
- We urgently need a sanatorium
We continue to raise funds for the charity, our next event is a sponsored walk on the 26th July (if all goes well). You are all invited to sponsor the children.
Ahsante sana (Thank You)