Why is education so important for slum kids?

Child of Hope provides entirely free holistic education system in a Ugandan slum for one child per family – and an income generating programme for the parents so that the whole family can prosper and other siblings can be sent to government/fee paying schools. Why does it go to such lengths?

The main problem with education in Uganda is that it is not free. Not even Universal Primary Education (free as published by the Ugandan government) is truly free.The tuition may be free, but parents/guardians still have to pay for uniforms & shoes, books, stationery, PTA fees, building contribution, toilet paper, reams of writing paper, brooms, etc, etc.This means that the poorest of society simply cannot attend.

Attendance is not obligatory (nobody is taken to prison for not sending their child to school) and therefore kids just stay at home waiting for parents to gather up enough money.They might be able to attend for a couple of years, and then the parents run out of cash and they end up having to ‘sit out’ for a year or two until more money is found. Because of this system a class teacher can end up with a classroom of Primary kids aged anywhere between 10 and 18 years old!

In addition, because the government schools are cheaper than private schools, they are over-subscribed meaning that there can be anything from 100 to 200 children in one class with only one teacher, sat on the floor often. Ours are almost western in class size - max 40 pupils, all with desks. More info, inc BBC report...

Picture by Phil Dowding

Round and around

A new range of 75' superyacht launched at the London Boat Show came equipped with a bespoke spiral staircase produced by Kirolite.
Running from saloon to lower deck, this was our first spiral for a motoryacht and it looked fantastic! Stainless steel metalwork by Elite Fabrication with curved, chunky wooden handrail in Wenge gloss with 
Anegre cover strips.
Picture by Phil Dowding

Where exactly shall we put these 50 new children?

With another 50 young pupils aged four or five about to join the Ugandan heart-of-the-slum Child of Hope school in February, and all the current classrooms full... staff opted to build another temporary classroom.

It's made of wood with a corrugated iron sheet roof, and cost just £500 to build. It will tie the school over nicely until the new third floor is completed, hopefully by December. Soon we'll have photos of the new intake, along with various news staff members.

In the meantime, if you'd like to sponsor education for one of the latest children, please click here for more information.

Looking good and (better still)… sounding great!

Manufactured by Kirolite specifically for Isoblue hifi… an attractive wooden stacking system for hifi and audio-visual components that actually enhances sound quality.

A key part of the design is the way the triangular section legs channel internal vibration arising within those components down the rack itself, grounding them through floor-spikes on the rack feet. So, using the stand enables the hifi system to perform optimally with less noise and distortion to detract from the sound quality.

Isoblue hifi markets the modular stand system through specialist hifi retailers around the UK.

Time for harvest

In Uganda, Child of Hope is now at the stage of harvesting the school's latest crop of rice. This programme isn’t just about feeding the school children but, more importantly, about teaching them some of the basics of agriculture. So, staff took a group of the kids to have a go at harvesting!

Food for the poorest

Just arrived: pictures from community support handled by Child of Hope just before Christmas in the Ugandan slum district of Namatala.

Made possible with donations from supporters in Australia who send money each year to help the poorest inhabitants in Namatala. Staff were able to give out soap, sugar, rice, salt and beans to dozens of families at the start of the festive season. Not the Dorset-based charity's core work, but they love to do it.

More pictures

Upcoming refit of superyacht interior furniture

Dorset-based high-end joinery company Kirolite has won an order to supply fittings and furniture for a refit of a classic superyacht... although it can’t give out details yet. Enough to say it’s a splendid 30 metres luxury charter yacht built in the 90s and there will be lots of leather, glass and marble involved...

Uganda: Arson attack destroys slum homes

During an arsonist’s spree in the Namatala slum last month when ten huts were burned down, a total of four Child of Hope families suffered from their homes being totally destroyed. One family had their own support, but three were destitute as a result, so the UK-based charity stepped in and bought them essential household items to re-start their homes. Click here for more details.

It's all for beer

KIROLITE social media:

Here’s one of our regular jobs for the licensed trade – these are top quality beer hand pump plinths specifically made for Fuller’s Brewery through drinks dispense manufacturer Angram.

With strapline cut by CNC router, they will form part of pub refurbishments. And that’s Brian Jones, despatch driver.

Welsh First Minister’s visit to Child of Hope school

First Minister Carwyn Jones says Wales is committed to helping Uganda for the long term following his visit to the country last week.

The First Minister traveled to Uganda to see the impact Welsh projects are having on the lives of individuals and families there – nearly a million pounds is spent on the Welsh Government’s Wales for Africa programme, which supports Welsh aid. The programme has supported 138 community links with nearly 300 development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Child of Hope isn’t actually one of those projects (yet?), but we enjoyed hosting the First Minister and around 100 visitors at our school and seeing their surprise at the quality of our work. We also led them around Namatala slum and took him into some slum homes. And of course, our kids put on a great show with cultural dances!

For a full report on his trip, please read the First Minister's statement on Wales for Africa, in which he said: "On the last day I visited Namatala slum in Mbale... and saw the inspiring work of Child of Hope, giving real opportunity to children of that slum in incredibly challenging conditions. I was pleased to hear their Director praise the work of the three volunteers they have had through our International Learning Opportunities programme, saying that each placement had brought about step change improvements to their work."

Slum school and its pupils back on Welsh TV

Welsh TV programme Newid Byd is currently on a re-run - showing four teenagers working with various charity projects... including the Child of Hope School and in the Namatala slum.

Luis Miles Evans, Rachel Lewis, Ceri Elsbeth Lewi and Iestyn Wyn Lewis have their eyes opened in Uganda as they volunteer on charity projects, under Arwel Phillips’ leadership. During the course of the series, we see them struggling to cope with physical building work in the intense heat, try their hand at bead and jewellery making, being creative when setting up a school library, and getting their hands dirty planting trees and harvesting Fair Trade coffee. As well as physical work, they will have to face emotional challenges too, hearing from women and children who are suffering from HIV and seeing the reality of extreme everyday poverty for the kids living in Namatala slum.

Child of Hope school specifically features in episodes 2 and 3, although the slum may appear more often than that. The series runs for eight weeks.

The programme is available in WALES in Welsh, mind, with English subtitles. Watch LIVE or on demand at www.s4c.co.uk/clic .

Kirolite: name change for old sign

High-end joinery Kirolite's CNC router provided a great answer for adding a new name to a teak boat sign during the refit of a luxury superyacht this month. The sign was sanded to remove the old name, the new letters cut in and then colour applied, layers of epoxy added to provide protection and finally our lacquer shop applied the gloss top coat to finish.

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Landmark start to 2014 for Child of Hope

She might be a tiny five-year-old, but young Faith represents a great milestone for the start of the year… Child of Hope's 200th pupil has just been sponsored in its slum school in Uganda.

Itesot by tribe, Faith is the youngest of seven children and lives in the Namatala slum with her parents. At school, she is very talkative, cooperative and she loves playing games like skipping and bouncing a ball. In class she is good at English and basic science.

That means 65% of Child of Hope's 310 school kids are now sponsored. It works with the poorest and most vulnerable children in the slum, which is in itself one of the poorest places on earth... so the impact on their lives is huge. More will be joining the school in February.

If you'd like to sponsor a child, you can find all the information here. You would receive letters, photos, drawings and school reports from your child, and you can write back if you wish. It’s very rewarding and costs just £15 per month.