Uji Update!

I cannot thank everyone enough for your support of our Uji project! We have passed $2700, which is simple incredible! Not only have we purchased a water tank for the school grounds, fed all 300+ students uji everyday, fed all of the staff milk tea and mandazi daily, and employed two local man as our cook and as our supplier of flour and sugar, but now we also have the opportunity to purchase 4,600 kilograms of maize for the school to use for the rest of the year! That’s a LOT of maize! Which means a LOT of uji! And while I cannot guarantee that it will necessarily last until the end of the school year, I can safely say that it is enough to provide the students with uji for at least five more months after I leave.

We had a meeting on Thursday this week with all of the village board members, my headmaster, myself, and a few teachers, and I have been asked to relay their gratitude for your support. They are eternally grateful for the assistance in feeding the students, and while they have nothing to give in return, they are acutely aware of the impact this has had and are happy for the blessing we have given them. They look forward to continuing this relationship between Bukiriro and all of the schools, families and friends in America who have so generously donated. I assured them that my departure is not the end of our relationship, and that we will be in communication to continue promoting education in the community.

My headmaster also presented some exciting news at the meeting, saying that the government will be paying for the construction of 6 new pit latrines and they will also be finishing the repairs on one of the teacher’s houses. In addition, we were also selected as one of three schools that will be receiving outside funding to build a laboratory, two new classrooms and a third teacher house. So many great things! I can’t wait to return one day to see all these wonderful things come to fruition!

Bringing about change in a community happens one day at a time, and I can personally say that over the course of these past 9 months Bukiriro school, village and community have been positively changing and growing each and every day.