High Street, Chipping Sodbury, BS37 6AH. Tel: 01454 313023
HOSANNA SCHOOL, KAMPALA, UGANDA
Index of pages
Introduction to Hosanna School
Photoalbum of the 2004 visit in our Gallery
Summary of report of November 2006 visit
Text of the full report of the November 2006 visit
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Hosanna Primary School is in a slum area of Kampala, Uganda. This was set up in 1998 by Anne Nsubuga, a member of Hosanna Church. Anne is a trained teacher and was touched by the plight of the children in the area. She felt that God was calling her to minister to the families through providing the children with an opportunity for a Christian education. In the summer of 2002 Maggie Maclean’s sister, who works with Mildmay International in Kampala, went to visit the school. She was so taken by the smiling faces of the children, even though the school had very little equipment of any kind, that she emailed a picture to Maggie, who is also a teacher. Maggie then wrote to the Director and the Head Teacher to ask if it would be possible to establish a link with the school.
Anne’s reply contained much information about the school and ended, “We are more than willing to have a link together with you and with anyone else who is willing to have an African friend. Our heart is open. Our mind too is open to learn from you and vice versa”
The Support Group
As a consequence of this in January 2003 the Support Group was formed with a small number of people who give a regular monthly donation. Anne’s priority at that time was that all the pupils should be able to have a cup of hot maize porridge every day, as many did not have anything to eat before school. The children had to pay for it and many could not afford it. The Support Group was able to undertake to provide the money regularly to pay for the maize, sugar and firewood that would enable all pupils to have their daily porridge free of charge, and it has continued to doso even though the school has doubled in size.
In addition to the porridge money, generous donations from Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church members, Brimsham Green School, local organisations, friends and neighbours have enabled the school environment to improve and flourish as the following information shows...
The children now have a full mug of steaming porridge at about 10.30 am. As
a result of the regular food the pupils at the school are much more energetic,
happier and do better at their studies. Other Supporters of Hosanna School
help in various ways, with fundraising activities, regular contributions of
5p coins, one off donations, and gifts when there is a container going from
the UK.
Windows and water
The old wooden building has had to be demolished, as it was unsafe, so work is went ahead to build a new structure on the school site. (Planning permission and building regs do not appear to be a problem!) Anne was also keen to replace the papyrus screens that separate the school building into smaller sections for individual classes, with wooden screens. These will be a bit more robust but will be removable so that the building can be used for other activities.
During the year the new brick built structure had windows and doors fitted thanks mainly to money donated by a group at Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church. So the building is now secure. In September a water tap was installed on the school site. Most of the money for this was raised by pupils at Brimsham Green School. Thus the daily porridge can now be made without the walk to the communal tap.
Towards the end of the year the school toilet, a pit latrine had to be filled in. A new toilet block has now been built and was ready for use at the beginning of the school year in February, 2004. They are not flush toilets but they will be an improvement on the previous ones, and there are both boy’s and girl’s toilets in the one block. Money from the UK and contributions from Hosanna church members helped with this.
The
Fuse group at Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church Sunday School clubbed together
and collected children's books which were sent out in a container. Also the
children now have bats and balls that were sent over on one of the containers.
The owner of a gift shop in Chipping Sodbury donated these.
During the visit to the school in October 2004 it was wonderful to see what a difference relatively small amounts of money had made, not only to the staff and children, but to the parents and carers. It means a great deal to them to know that people in another country are interested in them.
Numbers increase
The number of pupils has risen from 297 in October 2004 to 502. The classrooms are, as you can imagine very cramped; the school has only one permanent and one temporary building. Although some of the classes have desks, many still sit and write on benches. Earlier in the year Anne wrote to say that they were hoping to build a new single storey block. In her next letter she said that she felt that giving a ‘storey building’ would be a much more efficient use of space. So the plans have been drawn up and have been with the Kampala City Council for a while. Anne is hopeful that they will get the go ahead soon.
The staff have decided that any surplus from the porridge fund should go towards the cost of the new building. A £50 donation was spent on a sewing machine and training a lady to make and repair school uniforms. £130 from Year 7 at Brimsham Green is going to buy slides and swings for the playground. Other donations have been received from Kingscourt Primary School, Old Sodbury Open Gardens Weekend, and members of Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church.
We were allowed some space on a container organised for Mildmay International, which left for Uganda. Maggie took a car full of boxes of gifts from Year 7 at Brimsham—clothes, stationery, shoes, etc, and some games equipment from Kingscourt Primary School. They looked rather lost in the enormous container!
The difference a little makes
The head teacher, Anne Nsubuga, keeps meticulous accounts, and continues to
send details of expenditure to Maggie. Anne wrote “Gone are the
days when Hosanna pupils looked miserable. I am always delighted to see their
innocent bright faces as they run to line up for porridge. All the people that
saw us in the last years, now comment on the changes that are here.” 
And
again in September, “ The school is running on well. Children are very
jolly. They have even improved on their academics. This is our last term of
the year so they’ll be promoted to new classes. The P7’s are very
busy preparing for their Primary Leaving exams. These determine whether they
join Senior Secondary or not.” They well live up to the school
motto, “Train a child in the way he should go “ (Proverbs
22:6)
Maggie Maclean is a member of Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church and at a recent Church Meeting it was decided that we should explore the possibility of the church having closer links with Hosanna School. To this end a party of five visited Kampala to assess the situation and discover if there are any practical ways in which we can help them. To see the summary report of this visit click here. The full report can be seen here
To see more pictures of thhttp://photo.chippingsodburybaptistchurch.co.uk./main.phpe school click here.