A resource for UK primary schools and early learning

Background Information

John Kyazze (inset) and Peter MountHelping Uganda Schools - HUGS - is an overhead free charity where all the money donated goes straight to our schools in Uganda. We do not employ anyone and we pay for all our visits to Uganda ourselves. In many ways this makes HUGS a unique charity.

In 1995 John Kyazze (inset) was studying computer science at Manchester University. He met Peter Mount (right) and told Peter how difficult it was to provide education for children in his village in Uganda. Peter then asked a few friends if they would like to help and a number of people started to donate. This small amount of money went a long way in Uganda. The elders of the village then held a meeting and decided the best way to spend the money was to buy a small plot of land. Land was bought and the first school was built. The children who attend the school come from the nearby villages and some from many miles away. Children who travel a long way board at the school. All children are welcome. Five years later, in 2000 the charity was formed and we are known as HUGS, Helping Uganda Schools. This school has now educated over 1,500 children and a secondary school and Vocation Centre are currently being built. It is an ECO school and is leading the way in environmental sustainability.

HUGS has also helped other schools in Uganda that were struggling. However, our greatest challenge came in 2009 when HUGS built the first school in western Uganda for children with special needs. This school was the inspiration of Theresa Abigaba who was studying for an M.A. in special needs education. She met Peter Mount in Manchester and told him her dream was to build a school for children with Special Needs. She told Peter these children receive no education or training. HUGS decided this school should be built to a high specification and should lead the way in valuing children who have difficulties to overcome.

How You Can Help

We hope you have enjoyed this web site and it has introduced you to our schools and friends in Uganda.

You may be inspired to do something positive to help the children of Uganda.

Here are some ideas and suggestions -

Children of Uganda1. HUGS are currently involved in a project to provide insecticide treated Mosquito nets for all our children and the wider community - each net cost £3.00.

2. We would like to provide a library for our children at St Zoe's school. Each book cost approximately £6.00.

3. We would like to provide a playground - purpose built for our children to have a safe place to play and explore.

4. We would like to buy four cows. Two for St. Zoe's and two for the Good Shepherd school. The milk from the cows will provide a good source of protein for the children.

5. We have an Outreach Programme at the Good Shepherd School - a bus goes out into the remote villages to bring the children who have special needs to the school for lessons. HUGS would like to provide teaching material for the children and support the families of these children.

6. We need to buy pens and pencils, paper and teaching material for the children of St. Zoe's school. The cost of educating one child for one week is £5.00

(Running two schools in Uganda is always a constant challenge but the rewards are enormous).

You will have many ideas about fund raising -

Coffee mornings, an African/Ugandan school day, special assemblies 'etc'. Whatever you do enjoy them!

If you have enjoyed the Asobora Stories you may like to buy the book 'Christmas in Uganda' which tells the story of Asobora and his friends finding out about Christmas and lighting up Uganda. This has been a collaborative project between the charity and Stockport College.

The book is available to buy on Kindle and Ipad and all the proceeds go to support our schools and projects.

You may like to start your own charity and link into a different school in Uganda or Africa.

The main aim of this project is to raise awareness and give opportunities to all those lovely children in Africa. Whatever you do enjoy doing it and thank you.

Keep in touch with the work of the charity by the HUGS blog www.helpingugandaschools.org

Acknowledgements

This has been an interesting and enjoyable project working with our schools in Uganda to obtain information, photographs and videos for this website. It has also had its share of frustrations and difficulties because working with a developing country we have had to work in imaginative and ingenious ways to get information back and forth. It is a credit to both sides that the project is now complete.

Children of UgandaAlthough there is much information on the web about Africa we felt we had something unique to share from our teachers and pupils in Uganda with our teachers and pupils in the UK. Our hope is that this project will enable the children in the UK to have a connection with the children in Uganda.

We would like to thank the people who have helped with the project and given encouragement.

Special thanks goes to our partners in Uganda and all who contributed to the pictures, videos and information.

Special thanks also to the students of Stockport College who helped to build the first stage of this web site: Curtis Bromiley, Ben Davidson, Sarah Thompson, Matthew Beswick, Ashley Hyman and Ryan Howarth.
All the student are studying for a degree on the Enterprise Computing Foundation Degree Programme at Stockport College, Greater Manchester, England. A special mention to their tutor Tommy Kielty for all his help and support too.

Thank you to Alex Tracey for writing the Asobora stories. Alex is studying English Language B.A. (Hons) at the University of Manchester.

This web site was completed by Mark Whittaker who runs The Marple Website. Mark is very active in the local community of Marple in Stockport and has given his expertise and time to this project. Thanks also to Arthur M Procter LMPA, one of Marple's most prolific professional photographers, who edited the video clips used on this site.

(Other people who have contributed include : David Lloyde, Pamela Davenport, Juliet Aber, Rebecca Nixon, Andrew Ssempiija, Grace Nannygodo, Dr Speraza Namusisi, Theresa Abigaba, Kim Payce-Drury,  John Kyazze,  Pat Fineman and  Peter Mount. CBE.)

Thank you to all above and all of those not mentioned, but you know who you are.

Contact HUGS

Asobora the MonkeyThe charity www.helpingugandaschools.org has a dedicated website where information about the work of the charity can be found. There is also a blog which you will find interesting and informative.

If you would like to find out how you could become more involved with the work of the charity or ways you could support the schools we have built then please log onto the HUGS website and look under projects. There you will find the page called ‘How you can help’ You will recognise the page as our friendly little monkey, Asobora is one the page.

The children at the Good Shepherd school named the monkey, Asobora, which means ‘everything is possible’.

We know it is possible to do great things and we hope you will be inspired to join us in making lots more great things happen for the children of Uganda.