Pictures from an Exhibition

We dismantled the Photographic Exhibition in Kendal Parish Church yesterday, after a four-weeks run. (And just as we were tidying up, a lady appeared to visit it!)

So here are a few more pictures to record the event.

1. Margaret Sentamu, our guest speaker and opener, with us - Christopher and Mary Jenkin.

2. The display showing the "story so far" of the Kasese Street Kids hostel; and a stand of colour photographs of African children, which were for sale (but no one bought any!)
3. Some of the guests at the Preview gathering to hear the speakers and see the Presentation; in the foreground are Margaret Sentamu and Carol Allen Storey (the photographer) chatting.

4. The photograph of the boy holding the baby, which was the one we used on all the publicity for the Exhibition, and which we had blown up to AO size - almost four feet high. 5. The crowd enjoying the wine, canapes and chat.

Was it worth it?

Many people saw the Exhibition during the four weeks it was in Kendal Parish Church - not only the regular Sunday congregations (who, we are told, were very interested and appreciative), but also the many who attended baptisms, weddings and funerals; those who attended concerts and seminars and other such events in the church; and the casual visitors who dropped in to see the church - though there were fewer such people in the later autumn than during the main tourist season. And, of course, there were those who had seen the publicity, and decided to visit the Exhibition, like the unfortunate late-comer!

The bottom line...

How much money was raised?

Given at the Preview: £1,600

Received since the Preview: £575.

Promised but not yet received: £580.

Yes, I think it was worth it!

-

chriscjenkin@aol.com

www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids

Report of progress

1. Plumbing and Water Supply: The intallation of plumbing in the new Hostel is now complete, but not yet connected to the mains water supply. All the necessary materials for doing so have been purchased, but the connection would have to pass over the land of a neighbour, and negotiations are in hand for this. Meanwhile, however, there are crops on the land concerned, so they will have to wait till the crops are harvested in January - otherwise compensation would have to be paid.

This means that probably the children can not move in till water is connected, perhaps in February.

2. Electricity: The solar power panels are installed and working; two are being used for lighting, and the third for sockets for computers and DVD players.

3. Walls and floor: Before the boys move in they want to get the walls and floors plastered, and this will be paid for (at least partially) by selling the bricks that the boys themselves have made. In this way the street boys are making a direct contribution towards completing their building.

Successful Preview

A large poster adorns the railings outside the beautiful Kendal Parish Church. It advertises
the "Children of Hope" Exhibition, mounted by Kasese Street Kids for one month.

The church building is magnificent, and a wonderful setting for this Exhibition; we are so grateful to the Vicar and PCC for allowing us to use it.
About 60 people came to the Preview on the 13th, and examined the photographs and their captions with interest.

"How much have you raised?"

People often ask us, "How much money have you raised so far?"

The question makes us slightly uncomfortable as it seems to give all the kudos to us - whereas we are so very aware how we depend totally on the generosity of our many donors and supporters.

But we got the latest accounts today from Emmanuel International UK, our parent body (http://www.eiuk.org.uk/). Since we started fund-raising in April 2008, adding the Gift Aid tax that has been reclaimed, and including the 10% of funds that go towards EI administration, we find that what has been raised so far is

£38,036.36.

There is still quite a lot of that waiting to be sent out to Kasese, when Alan Parrett authorises it after seeing budgets and accounts. He and Cheryl are going down from Kampala to Kasese next Monday, when they will inspect progress and talk to Enos Kyibibi, the Project Director.

The next jobs to be done on the building are interior doors and flooring. Cement is extremely expensive in Uganda for some reason, so the floor will cost quite a lot.

Photographic Exhibition

Numbers of those expecting to come to the Preview on Thursday approach 80!

Remember - if you are ever in or around Kendal: the Exhibition is in Kendal Parish Church, Kirkland, from 14th October to 12th November. Do drop in, and also pass the word around.

Do get in touch if you would like to know more, or to support us!

chriscjenkin@aol.com

The word gets around!

We have continued to do PowerPoint presentations about the Kasese Street Kids to a variety of audiences.

We spoke to some forty ladies of the Mothers Union at a combined meeting in Grange-over-Sands on 7th September.

We spoke to the entire student body, and many staff, of Giggleswick School, over the border in Yorkshire on 14th September. (In fact this was not with PowerPoint, as when we arrived no one could find the screen which should have been in the Chapel, but wasn't! So the two of us just spoke briskly for the allotted 11 minutes!)

And we got a good reception from the Ulverston Parish Fellowship on 5th October.

On the 7th October we are to speak to the children, parents and friends of Warcop Primary School at their "Celebrate Creation!" festival in Musgrave Church.

All of these engagements result in donations, either at the time or subsequently, for which we are very grateful.

BNI: Another interesting pair of meetings was with the two Kendal BNI groups - which I think stands for Business Network International; I was invited to this networking organization for businessment not to ask for donations, but to mention (for 60 seconds!) the forthcoming Photographic Exhibition; one kind roofer has promised £50 sponsorship.

Photographic Exhibition

The Preview of the Exhibition in Kendal Parish Church is very close now (13th October), and acceptances from guests still trickle in - we had three this week, now totalling over 70.

Carol Allen Storey, the photographer, has been invited into two local secondary schools (Dallam and Kirkbie Kendal) to speak to various student groups - arts, geography, sociology - on the Friday.
Carlisle Cathedral
The Exhibition will also be mounted in Carlisle Cathedral in March 2012; we went up there this week to check on the venue and the display boards they can offer us.

Building work proceeding

We mentioned that the electrical work on the Hostel had been completed; this picture (emailed from Enos yesterday) show the three solar panels on the roof. I am not sure what the man is doing!
The plumbing work, we were told, is still proceeding. As proof, here are some of the cisterns for the toilets arriving on site. (They are going to be fitting five WC pan sitting toilets, not African-style squatting toilets. I imagine the external toilet block will have the squatting variety.)
I never thought I would be discussing styles of toilet online!

Generous Gift
We have just been given a very generous gift of £2,000 by a supporter. In Ugandan money that is over nine million shillings! It will be a extremely valuable contribution towards the next phase of building. Thank you so very much, friends!

Hot news from Kasese!

(c) Carol Allen Storey
Yes, the kids are scratching through a chicken hutch in case there is any food left over for them!

Enos Kyibibi, the Project Director of SKILL (Street Kids Information and Learning for Life) emailed yesterday to say:
- We have finished the electricity connection work.
- The water connection work is still going on.
- The next step will be the inside doors.
- We hope that resettlement of children will be in January 2012.
That is really good news!
chriscjenkin@aol.com