Various encouragements

First, we were sent another £1,000 cheque yesterday! That was so encouraging. And there was also a £50 cheque in the same post. People are so very generous, and we are very, very grateful.

Secondly, our local village school gave us the retiring collection after their Christmas show - very appropriately, the theme of the show was how children in various countries around the world celebrate Christmas. We have also been invited to go there and do an Assembly about the Street Kids in January.

Thirdly:

Photographic Exhibition: A professional photojournalist, Carol Allen Storey, has taken some superb black-and-white photographs of the Kasese Street Children. She has generously allowed us to use these to publicise the Kasese Street Kids project, to raise awareness and raise funds. We have already, with her permission, used several of the pictures on this Blog.

Here is one we have used before: © Carol Allen Storey

http://www.castorey.com/

Now we are planning an Exhibition of these photographs, printed to the highest professional standards, in Holy Trinity Church, Kendal (a large and beautiful church beside the road entering Kendal from the south, and with the River Kent beside it).

http://kendalparishchurch.co.uk/

The Vicar of Holy Trinity, Rev. Rob Saner-Haigh, has told us he is very happy for the church to be used for such a purpose.

No dates have yet been fixed - it will probably be sometime in the spring of 2011. We hope to have a Private Guest Preview, to which we will invite all the local people of influence and distinction.

It will obviously cost a considerable sum to mount such an Exhibition, and we will be looking for sponsorship for that. Any suggestions and offers to kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk!

The burial of dear Mimi

Mimi Burbank (known to many as Mother Mimi or Mama Mimi) died in Kasese on the 29th November. She was buried on 1st December at St. Paul's Cathedral cemetery in Kasese.

In her honour and memory we publish here another of the photographs she sent us in October. She had arranged for a group of the Street Children to be brought out to the site of the new Hostel, to help to clear the weeds from the ground.

Afterwards they were given a good meal, which obviously these two were enjoying, though sharing a plate!

Mimi loved these kids, but was totally practical and realistic about what they needed and wanted.

More about our School Assemblies

Here we are, using a globe to show some children from Newbarns Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness, where Uganda is! (Photograph courtesy of the North West Evening Mail) (Yes, I know it looks as if we aren't even pointing at Africa - the globe was still turning when the photo was taken!)
That was after our Assemblies there on the 19th November.
Today we received a cheque from the school for KSK - £200! Raised by the children; well done, everyone!

School Assemblies, and £1,000

In November Mary and I were invited over to Barrow-in-Furness (where we used to live) to speak about the Kasese Street Kids in Assemblies in two schools.

First we went to Newbarns Primary School, where Mary used to work as a Special Needs Assistant; we spoke to the younger children first and then the older ones, on each occasion using a PowerPoint presentation with lots of pictures.

A few days later we went to St. Paul's Junior School, where I used to be Chair of Governors (and led many Assemblies) and told them about the street kids.

At both schools the children asked questions like "Are they safe?" (Answer - no, they are not; they risk bad health, injuries on the rubbish dumps, being arrested), and "Why don't they wear shoes?" (Answer - because they have no money to buy them).

At Newbarns a reporter and photographer from the North West Evening Mail came and interviewed us and photographed us talking to some of the children; the article (a two-page spread) was published on Saturday 27th November.

One result of that was a local reader (an old friend) sent us not only the article but a cheque for £1,000.00!

Thank you, good friend! And thank you, Evening Mail!

-

On the right is one of the pictures the late Mimi Burbank sent us: some of the street boys arriving at the site to do some ground clearance. Mimi is seen behind her elderly car.

-

You can contribute online with www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids !

Sad news - Mimi has died

We were very sad to learn that Mimi Burbank, pictured here with two of the boys and a helper, has died. She was in her late 60s, and had been ill with breathing difficulties.
Mimi was an American lady who has been in Kasese since 2006. She worked with orphans with the Base Camp United Christian Foundation.
She joined the Committee for SKILL (Street Kids Information and Learning for Life) this summer, and since our friends and hosts, Alan and Cheryl Parrett (missionaries with Emmanuel International) left Kasese on furlough at the end of August, Mimi has been our main point of contact with our Kasese Street Kids project.
It was Mimi who not only sent us all the most recent photographs, but who also kept us fully informed of details of the spending accounts on the building work for the Hostel. She was one of the cheque signatories.
She was an amazing, vigorous and feisty lady who loved the needy children of Uganda. We are going to miss her sorely.
Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends, in Kasese, in UK and in the U.S.A. Her friend Wesley Tse emailed to say:
"While we shall mourn at the loss of our sister, we should also rejoice that she is now with our Lord and Saviour. I picture Mimi arriving at the gates of heaven and our Lord welcoming her in with wide open arms, saying, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Raise funds for KSK as you shop!

I have just registered Kasese Street Kids with http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/ksk.
I have only heard about it today: if you shop online (with any one of hundreds of firms, like Argos, Amazon, Comet, etc., etc.) do it via Easyfundraising and Kasese Street Kids can benefit by up to 15% a time. Click on the link and check it out!
School Assemblies: Mary and I were over in Barrow-in-Furness last week (on Children In Need Day), to do two Assemblies about the Kasese Street Kids at the school where Mary used to work, Newbarns Primary.
We are going to Barrow again tomorrow to do another Assembly, this time at St. Paul's Junior School, where I used to be Chair of Governors, and which two of our children attended. We do a PowerPoint presentation with lots of pictures. Each school helps KSK funds with a non-uniform day or some other fund-raising event.
All invitations to schools, or adult groups, welcome!

Life as a street kid

This is Joakim, one of the boys living on the streets of Kasese, Uganda. He is a feisty 9 year old (he was 8 when this picture was taken in November 2009).
He ran away from home at the age of 5 because he was unloved and beaten, and has lived with the gang ever since.
Like most of them he smokes "Ganja", a cheap form of hash. Here he takes his first "hit" of the day: it is eight in the morning.
(Image © Carol Allen Storey)
I met Joakim briefly in March 2010. Mary and I want to help him and his friends to a safer, healthier, more positive life.
But it won't be easy. Maybe you can help!
www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids

Budget for remaining building work

Some figures when considering the cost of work needed to complete the Hostel building (I will give them in GB Pounds, not Ugandan shillings):

Doors and windows: £3,102

Water tank and gutters: £1,379

Electrics, including solar panel: £3,033

Converting pit latrine to septic tank (see picture): £582.

Total for these items: £8,096

But there is more needed - notably concreting the floor, and rendering the walls inside and out, which is a substantial task.

The Committee will be considering how much of this work needs to be complete before the children can start to sleep there; and also what the priorities are.

To contribute, go to www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids

To contact us, email to kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk

Any Old Gold?

When we were doing a street collection in The Lanes shopping precinct, Carlisle, there was a man close to us with a stall, offering people cash for gold - things like broken bangles, or single earrings, etc. He wandered over to us and suggested we should do that for KSK: invite people to look through their jewel cases or treasure drawers, and find the sort of gold objects that they will never wear again, but have never got around to doing anything about.
So we are doing that - I have written an article for our Parish Magazine making that suggestion: and even saying that if someone would like their local church to benefit too, we can arrange that - money raised from their particular items will be split 50/50 between Kasese Street Kids and their church, so they should write that request on the envelope when they give or send us things.
Maybe we will get very little response (O ye of little faith!) but - just maybe - we will be showered with large quantities of useless gold items - useless to the owner, but really well worth selling. We would get quotations from more than one merchant, to make sure we are getting a fair offer.
So - if the Parish Mag - why not the Blog too? If anyone reading this would like to contribute in that way, send your gold items to us! I might as well give you my address (Rev. C. Jenkin in Cumbria would be easy enough to trace, so there is no point in being shy about it!)
So send all your old gold to Rev. Chris Jenkin, Beckside, Orton, CA10 3RX. And we will ensure that it is sold for a good price, for the benefit of the Street Children!
Or get in touch by email - kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk .

Press and Radio Coverage

Today Mary and I went up to Carlisle to have a live interview on BBC Radio Cumbria - particularly, of course, about Mary's driving challenge, but it gave us an opportunity to speak about the Street Kids and the Hostel as well - and to advertise this Blog!

We got home to find a phone message from the Sunday Post -"A colourful, upbeat paper with a particularly Scottish flavour" and 900,000 readers - a reporter wanted to speak to Mary, but when we phoned back he was out. Hopefully this will lead to a story being published there - maybe some of those 900,000 readers will want to donate large sums of money to the Kasese Street Kids! (As I was writing this he phoned and we had a long chat!)

The local papers have also given good coverage - the Cumberland News, a weekly which covers Carlisle and North Cumbria, had a half-page story with several pictures, calling Mary "Supergran"! (That was what the Sunday Post reporter had seen.)

More publicity on a smaller scale - we have several engagements to speak to groups, including two schools in Barrow-in-Furness, who will also have a fund-raising "non-uniform day" for us.

(Here is another of Mary's vehicles - a Foden Steam lorry!)

Mulit-Vehicle Challenge complete

Mary's Multi-vehicle Charity Challenge concluded on 31st October with her driving three more vehicles: an Aston Martin DB7, and Austin Healey Silverstone, and a huge pink Ford Stretch Limo!

The limo was by kind courtesy of http://www.lancashirelimos.co.uk/ .

This brings to total of vehicles driven since the Challenge began to 63.

It looks as if the Charity Challenge will have brought in a total of over £2,500 for the Street Kids Hostel, which we are thrilled about.

It's not too late to sponsor her, of course - on http://www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids , or by emailing us on kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk .

We are so grateful to all who have already been very generous!

The roof really is finished!

Here are the two most recent pictures of the Hostel roof, front and back. Very encouraging!

However there is still a great deal more work to do on the building: all the plumbing, all the electrics, and all the rendering; all the doors and all the windows.

That is still thousands of pounds needed! (If you would like to help, you could go on http://www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids -all donations, large or small, very welcome!)

Multi-vehicle challenge: here is another vehicle Mary has driven, to raise sponsorship funds (a Volvo Road Grader):

Money matters

Because we seem to be going back again and again to our small local village community to solicit funds - and many of them have been wonderfully generous - we wanted to reach out a little further.

So we have had two street collections - in Penrith a few weeks ago, and in The Lanes, Carlisle, on Friday (pictured) .

Penrith was very encouraging - we collected £125. Carlisle slightly less so - only £110, for which we are still of course grateful - especially to one lady who gave us a £20 note!

And then when we got home, a neighbour who has already given us money thrust another envelope into my hand - which proved to be £100, Gift-Aided! What an encouragement!

Street Children Bank: I heard this week from the Butterfly "Children's Development Bank" in Delhi. I had emailed them to ask for hints and suggestions about starting up a bank for street children as I had heard about their work in India. http://www.ayokaproductions.org/content/childrens-development-bank-india.

Sashi, their Programme Officer, sent a very helpful and informative email with excellent ideas, and was very encouraging about teaching Kasese street kids to save money. I forwarded the email to Mimi in Kasese.

Whether the programme which has worked so well in India will work as well in the different culture of Africa remains to be seen.

Finishing the roof

The back side of the Centre's roof is nearly finished, which is great.

The street boys who came out to the site to help slash the ground were rewarded with food, and new shirts!

The boys go to slash the growth at the site

See http://www.basecampngo.org/oct-update.html for Mimi's latest report and pictures.

She writes:

"With a fresh infusion of money, we were able to purchase additional iron sheets to complete the roof and on 19 Occtober, 2010, the sheets were delivered.
Additionally, about a dozen of the street children were agreeable to working at the site to cut the grass - which as you can see from the photos below, was quite tall. Instead of paying wages to others in the community, we thought to employ these children. They were asked if they wanted to do this, and they said, "Yes!"
Several of them walked to the site (a distance of about 3 kilometers) and several were picked up at the local dump site. The older boys were asked to go and work, but they said that if we didn't take the smaller children, they wouldn't go, so they all piled into the Toyota and away we went. The car is definitely not designed for driving in the bush - but we made it there and back - two times! We returned in early afternoon to take them back to town to purchase food.
They said that they preferred to be paid with food, as if they had money the older boys would beat them and steal the money - so we agreed to this arrangement. When we took them back to town we gave them enough money to purchase a good meal for themselves, plus we gave enough extra so they could have a soda! "

One question we are wondering about is this: "Is it best to pay youngsters in money, or in food?" As noted above, if the younger ones get money the older ones are likely to steal it from them. Another issue is that sometimes they spend money on ganja (marihuana) or drink.

(This picture shows Mimi Burbank and Sebeya Peter discussing payment with some of the older boys.)

We are starting to explore the possibilities of setting up a street children bank, so that their money can be safe, and they can save it up. This is successfully done with street children in Delhi - see http://videosift.com/video/Banking-on-the-Future-Helping-Indias-Street-Children .

Remember, if you would like to help, visit www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids - all contributions, large or small, are gratefully received!

The roof should be finished this week!

News from Kasese: Mimi emailed to say that they drew out 5,327,000 Ugandan shillings (worth £1,485 in UK money) from Barclays Bank, and this was used to buy the remaining 130 iron sheets needed to finish the roof. A truck is being hired tomorrow to take the sheets and nails out to the site. Hopefully the work will be done by the end of this week! It will be wonderful to know the roof is complete, safe from any storms.

Mary's fund-raising driving challenge: She has now driven 49 vehicles! Today she was driving a stone-crusher and a bulldozer! Here are pictures of some earlier vehicles:

The roof is still unfinished

Ian from our village visited Kasese in late September, and took this photo. The view of the new building from the other side (see post of Monday 2nd August) makes it look as if it was finished but it is not.


Mimi, our contact in Kasese, wrote recently:


"There is serious concern over the possibility of October storms tearing off the roof that is there, unless the whole thing is finished. They have already installed 250 iron sheets on the roof, but they still need 130 iron sheets to complete it. There is enough money in the bank to purchase the iron sheets for the remaining roof, but we need an additional 1.8 million shillings (about £510) for "labour" and of course we don't have that."


However today we have just arranged for £1000 to be transferred to the Uganda account, so we hope the roof can be rapidly completed, with money left over for work on the latrines and perhaps finish them.


Some of this new money is sponsorship for Mary's driving challenge - so here are a couple more pictures of that!

We now have a "Justgiving" page

The best way to give to Kasese Street Kids now is by going to http://www.justgiving.com/KaseseStreetKids.
That way you can instantly give whatever sum you like by Credit Card or Debit Card. If you are a UK taxpayer, you can automatically give by Gift Aid, so that your gift is made 28% more valuable!

Mary drives again!

A bobcat
skid steer...













A 3-gang
lawn mower...

and a JCB
Loadall.

Only about fund raising?

We had a comment passed to us yesterday, from someone who had recently visited this blog: "It's all about fund raising! It doesn't say anything about what it's actually for..."
That is the trouble with a blog - the most recent posts are what you see! May I say for any new readers or visitors - if you want to know more about the Street Kids, and how we got involved, go to the right of the screen, to "Blog Archive", and click on the earlier posts, especially March and April.
Fund raising is still going on, particularly Mary's Multi-vehicle Charity Challenge: today she was 41 metres up on a "cherry-picker", properly called a "Access Boom".
The scariest one for her was yesterday - a friend's motorbike! (pictures soon.)

But the friend's comment about the Blog has made me decide - we need a website, which will let people see at once what they want, without having to search through dozens of blog postings. I am not skilled at this technology, but I hope within a week or two (with a little bit of help from my friends) to have a Kasese Street Kids website online! Watch this space...

More vehicles for Mary to drive

Mary's Multi-Vehicle Charity Challenge is going on apace! Here she is driving a steamer on Ullswater - she even took it out from the jetty, and most of the way to Glenridding. I was allowed to go round the passengers - no, not with tranquillisers to calm their nerves, but with a collecting box, and this raised £80.

Other vehicles she has driven include a fork-lift truck, a 3 1/2 ton van, and a shopmobility scooter!

Today we booked her to drive a diesel locomotive, and a hearse; we are also negotiating a penny-farthing bike!

The hard bit is turning all these into cash - all sponsors welcome, whether "per vehicle driven", or a lump sum.

Contact her on kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk.

Mary's driving challenge has begun

Mary has started her Multi-Vehicle Charity Challenge, with three successful drives.

First, she drove a tracked ditch-digger, and used the controls to wave its shovel around! Thank you, Border Construction Ltd.

Then she drove a 42-seater coach (the passengers had all got out - not in order to escape but to go to the tea shop!). Thanks to Apollo 8 Travel.

Finally today she drove a 1937 London taxi.

We have also arranged for her to drive a 1955 double-decker bus, other classic vans, a steam traction engine, an Ullswater steamer and a recovery truck. More to come!

Mary's Multi-Vehicle Charity Challenge

I mentioned in my last post that Mary was wanting to do some stunt to raise funds, and one idea was to drive an HGV.
This suggestion has been enlarged and developed. She is now aiming to drive as many different types of vehicle as she can before the end of October
She has already arranged to drive a tractor, a digger, a dump truck, a quad bike, and a steamer on Ullswater! We still hope the HGV can be arranged (not on the highway - she has no HGV licence).
We are also trying to negotiate for a tank, a shipyard crane, a fire engine, and some airport vehicles - you know, those weird flat things, fuel bowsers, and mobile gangway stairs.
All suggestions and offers gratefully accepted! (kskjenkin@hotmail.com)
Photos will be published here as and when available!

Ways of raising funds for KSK

We have in mind several ways of raising more money for the Kasese Street Kids hostel.

1. We are hoping to publish a book, called (perhaps) "My Favourite Things". We have written to dozens of people - not only family and friends but quite a number of celebrities. We ask them to write a few lines about their "Favourite Thing" - whether a favourite place, or favourite recipe, or tune, or film, or book, or pet, or pastime... Where appropriate, we ask for a photo of the "Favourite Thing", as well as a picture of the contributor.

So far a number of well-known people have answered - John Sentamu, Archbishop of York; Cliff Richard; Boris Johnson, Mayor of London; Chris Bonington, mountaineer, etc. At the other end of the scale is Georgie, Mary's 2-year-old godson - his favourite thing is splashing through puddles!

We think the book might be quite entertaining. Contributions, anyone, to kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk!

2. We have a number of speaking engagements booked - churches, WI or Mothers' Union groups, etc.

3. We are approaching schools which our children attended, suggesting a fund-raising event like a non-uniform day - and of course we would be happy to speak to the youngsters and show pictures.

4. A classical concert is booked for next June.

5. Mary wants to do some fund-raising stunt - a parachute jump, or an abseil, or driving an HGV truck, or a sponsored walk round our five local churches - a 36 mile walk. Ideas, anyone?

More from the 1st August Event in Kasese

I have written previously about Mimi Burbank, an American lady who has worked in Kasese for some years with an NGO, the Base Camp United Christian Foundation (http://www.basecampngo.org/). She has recently come on board the SKILL project with her characteristic enthusiasm, and in a recent newsletter to her supporters in USA she writes about the origins of SKILL:
"The project funding was begun by retired Rev. Chris Jenkin and his wife Mary, from Cumbria, UK. These two visited the area, and saw something and their hearts were touched – nay, bludgeoned – by the need seen, and decided to do something about it.
On Sunday [1st August], speakers ranged from one of the homeless boys, to the local chairperson, Rev. Canon Julius Kithaghenda, who vowed to look into government funding for the project. The young boy spoke of the reason he was homeless, and said he was grateful for the project and looked forward to living in a real building with a roof.

We received pledges from everyone there, some in cash, and donations of a door, 13 bags of cement, sheets and cooking utensils. There is still quite a long way to go though. There are still many things needed before the place can be lived in. We ask for prayer that funds will become available for these. It is amazing how small donations by many can add up to provide a huge blessing for others."

If you would like to help, contact us on kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk.

We get a week's radio broadcasts!

We were delighted when we got an email on kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk a few days ago in response to this blog. It was from Steven Greaves of Radio Cumbria.
Today we both went up to Carlisle to record our five mini-talks, shared between the two of us (Mary and me), telling "the story so far" of our involvement with the street kids and the building of the SKILL Centre.
These will be broadcast on the BBC Radio Cumbria teatime show at 5.50 p.m., Monday to Friday, starting Monday 23rd August.
Steven also said he hoped to give us a longer exposure, with discussion, nearer to Christmas.
We are excited by this! Let's hope thousands hear it, and some respond.

Three choirs celebrate SKILL

At the great Event for SKILL (Street Kids Information and Learning for Life) on August 1st, no less than three choirs entertained the guests. Here on the right is the Roman Catholic choir:

Another children's choir with beautiful costumes also sang.

200 guests had been invited and sixty came. The street children were bussed to the site in minibuses.

I had sent message to be read out, and Alan read it. It concluded with the words:-

"For all the on-going costs, we are trusting the good people of Kasese – you all who are here today - to contribute. We will do our very best to complete the structure of the building; but for the running costs, that is up to you! We appeal to you, from the bottom of our hearts, to support this work, in whatever ways you can. God will reward you and bless you! Jesus said, “As you have done it for the least of these my children, you have done it for Me.”

Maybe this message was echoed by one of the Street Boys who spoke (right).

Remember - if you would like to help, email kskjenkin@hotmail.com .

More pictures of local Event

The guests waited for the guest of honour, the chief local government officer, Rev. Canon Julius, in a gazebo.

The 60 street boys who had come all queued up to get a meal.

One street boy who now earns a living as a Boda Boda man - i.e. as a bicycle taxi, taking passengers around town on the rear carrier - spoke to the guests about his life, both as a street child and now.

Obviously his mates found this highly amusing!

Leading Citizens of Kasese visit the new Centre

Sunday August 1st saw the long-awaited Event when leading local citizens of Kasese were invited to the new though unfinished SKILL Centre.

Alan, our contact in Kasese, has emailed:

"We had a great time yesterday with a good crowd there. They had brought about 60 street boys as well. There weren’t as many business men present as I would have liked but they can build on the contacts that they have made. The LC5 Rev. Canon Julius (head of local government for Kasese) said that he was very impressed with what he had seen and said that he would send someone today to meet Enos with a view to the Government taking some responsibility. He seemed to feel that there could be a Private/Public tie up. He said that he would be donating a door. The retired Bishop Masereka came and quite courageously said that when he was in office he had seen that there was a problem but had lacked the courage to tackle it so he commended Enos and the committee for their bravery. He pledged saucepans and bed sheets to the project."

More pictures in a day or two!

If you would like to help, email kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk.

Money from celebrities and schoolchildren

After our soggy and disappointing Open Garden (though a friend did point out that we had raised a million Ugandan shillings, which sounds better!) we were encouraged by various gifts coming in over the next few days. There was £350 from a celebrity composer's charitable fund; £120 from old friends; and various smaller gifts, including some from Tebay Primary School near us in Cumbria.
This school has adopted Kasese Street Kids as their charity (the children's decision), and has sent money from a Bring and Buy, and there is more to come from other fundraising events at the school.
We were able to send £1000 to the Kasese bank account this week; and Emmanuel International UK, our umbrella organization, has just sent out the Gift Aid tax reclaimed from an earlier £5,000 donation, and other smaller gifts.
That should all enable the roof to be completed, and the Launch Event on 1st August (with some 200 leading citizens of Kasese invited) to be paid for.
Great encouragement after a weekend of despondency!
Don't forget - for offers of help email kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk.

Roof progress

Here is progress on the Hostel roof, pictured on July 5th. You can see the verandah along the front of the building.
You can also see Charles the builder!

Roof Beams being fitted

On July 10th the roof beams for the Hostel were being put up.

Here is a picture taken a month earlier, on June 11th:

The wooden scaffolding in common use in Africa is a sign that work is in progress.

This picture was taken by an American lady living in Kasese, Mimi Burbank, who is now part of the planning team.

She writes:-

"There will be room for 60 youth - 30 girls and 30 boys. We have visited the street kids at Nyakasanga and asked if they would be willing to go out there and slash the drive into the site - and we will pay them to do this. They said Yes! Since there is much still to be done with this project before it is actually livable, we hope to involve the youth in part of the construction and finishing of the hostel. They can do beginning carpentry, and learn how to make the bunk beds, under supervision by a master carpenter.

This is the sort of things I have been praying for - and God has provided and made this a reality. Now it is up to the rest of us to see it through to completion."

Open Garden in the rain!

It was perhaps a pity that the day we planned to open our Cumbria garden to the public, to raise funds for the Kasese Street Kids, proved to be the wettest day so far this year! While southern England sweltered in a heatwave, we had constant rain - not heavy, but unremitting.
Amazingly people did come in, wearing foul weather clothing, and wandered round the garden, dripping, and came into the conservatory to buy raffle tickets and craft items; but for some odd reason they did not want to sit on the garden seats eating ice creams.
We did raise £390, which (as my brother said) is better than a poke in the eye with a muddy stick - but two years ago a similar event in dry weather raised £850!
But thanks to all who did come and contribute.

6-seater Loo constructed

A six-stall Pit Latrine is being constructed at the site of the new building, ready for the Publicity Event scheduled for August 1st, when some 200 local leading and influential citizens of Kasese are being invited to learn about SKILL - Street Kids Information and Learning for Life.
The latrine is costing three million Ugandan shillings - about £910.
The builder has also been paid 13 million shillings - about £4,300 - to complete the roof.
However a balance of over £6,000 is still needed to pay for shutters and doors, plumbing and electrical wiring.
If you would like to help, email kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk.

Garden Open for the Street Kids

We are going to open our garden in Cumbria to raise money for the Kasese Street Kids! We are blessed with a beautiful garden, and are working hard to get it at its best by Saturday 10th July, when we will open it to the public. That day the village has a Farmers' Market so there will be crowds of visitors around, and hopefully we can attract them to our garden.
We will sell ices, and crafts - both African and local. There will be plants for sale, and a raffle. And the Appleby Town Band will play.
And of course it will be a glorious summer day!
Come along between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Admission is FREE - but of course we hope for donations. (Last time we did this, two years ago, visitors were very generous.)

£200 cheque for KSK in yesterday's post

We sent out letters months ago to people we were inviting to contribute to a book, "My Favourite Things", to be published (hopefully) later this year as a fund-raiser for the Kasese Street Kids.
We have had quite a number of responses - but are still waiting for many recipients to reply!
Some, however, have responded by sending a cheque, as well as or instead of their "Favourite Thing" snippet.
A distinguished person in Cumbria did this yesterday - a nice "Favourite Thing" description, but also a generous cheque for £200.
Thank you, all generous donors!

More money sent to Uganda

We have been able to send a further £800 out to Uganda to help pay for the building work. This came from a number of donations from businesses and private individuals, and a fund-raising evening in our village.
We are also awaiting a Gift Aid tax repayment of about £1,400, arising from a very generous gift of £5000 some months ago. Without such amazingly kind people we just could not possibly have achieved so much.
Here is another reminder of the youngsters we are seeking to help:

Bernard Baluku (13) shelters under cardboard boxes. These can be used as mattress, blanket, or shelter when it rains.

© Carol Allen Storey

Local Committee makes plans

A Committee of twelve local people in Kasese have been meeting to plan for the future of the Kasese Street Kids Hostel. Three members are women, nine are men; all but two are Ugandans, and the other two are British missionaries. They represent various parts of the local community - the town Council, the Church, schools, orphanages, low-cost housing, and so on. Our Missionary contact, Alan, said they were "very diverse... a very strong group of people."
At the first meeting on 14th May they went to the site to view the building; they were very impressed and very vocal in their thanks to the donors for their contribution to the realisation of the vision. Alan said "It was particularly good to hear positive statements made for the use of this particular piece of land, as there had been doubt about its position so far from town."
The Chairman, Emmanuel Maate, was described to us by Alan as "A major asset to the SKILL Project" (SKILL is Street Kids Information and Training for Life - the name used for the Project in Kasese.) "He has knowledge of navigating the waters of project proposals and their implementation; he has also many useful contacts."
A brochure is to be sent to key people in the town to sensitise them to the project; these include key Council members and Community Officers, the Catholic and Anglican Bishops, the Muslim Imam, leaders of other denominations, the Health Department Head, Education Department Head, Chairman of Lions and of Rotary, and other NGOs.
They are planning an Event at the Centre on 1st August, with seats and food for 200 people, where the vision will be shared with all the guests, and pledge forms would be available for donations.

Copyright © Carol Allen Storey
Members of the Dustbin Tribe gather under a tree where they spend nearly all of the day. Most of the boys have lost their parents to the HIV virus or have been abandoned. They live rough and by their wits to survive. There are nearly 17 members ranging in age from 6 months to 14. All are addicted to drugs, engage in petty theft and are depressed. Ali, the "chief", said:
"I became an orphan a long time ago; both my parents died of AIDS. I had no other family, there wasn't any money so I had to leave school. I was an excellent student and hoped to study medicine and become a doctor. That will never happen now. I cannot access education. I am hungry every day. I know I will never realise my dream, and am doomed to an empty life, depressed. I want to be normal."

If you would like to help Ali and his tribe, and other groups of Street Kids in Kasese, email kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk
Already a hostel is partially built, but a lot more money is needed to finish and equip it. Even small gifts are very welcome!

Some pictures of the Street Kids

Pictures (c) Carol Allen Storey
A tiny 6-month old baby is held lovingly by Muzarimu, one of the younger members of the Dustbin tribe. The baby's mother is a sex worker but predictably, like so many women in her profession, has acquired the HIV/AIDS virus, is dying of the disease and can no longer care for her child. The boys have adopted him.

Muzarimu is 10 years old, a runaway. His parents have separated because his father threatened the family with knives and beatings. Muzarimu ran away from the abuse anfd has been a member of the tribe since he was 5. He has no idea where his parents are now and does not care.