£9,700 sent out to Kasese

This was how we last saw the Hostel in March 2010 - just the foundations and the start of building the walls.

Now it is structurally complete, the final budgets have been agreed and nauthorised, and we are sending out the funds which have been sitting in UK banks.

Yesterday I sent £7,000; today a further £2,700. (I couldn't send it all at once - apparently it exceeded my permitted daily limit.)

A reminder of stages of building:

May 2010

July 2010

August 2010 - it looks complete, but only half the roof was covered.
This was what the other side looked like!

But the work has gone on, outside and inside, and now they are starting to put in the floors, and plaster all the walls inside and out.

We can't wait to see it!

Two more bits of news:

1. We have been told that when we visit Kasese in March, we will be staying in the home of Emmanuel Maate, the chairman of the local SKILL Committee. That will be a great joy and privilege!

2. Kind friends and family members have sent us donations specifically to help with travel expenses. That is so kind and so very much appreciated!
chriscjenkin@aol.com

The final budget at last!

After many weeks of discussions, negotiations, amendments, and corrections, at last the final and largest building budget for the Hostel has been agreed by Enos, Alfonse and our Emmanuel International missionary contact, Alan Parrett.
The work being quoted for is the fitting of 19 interior doors, the concrete floors of all the rooms and corridors, the interior plastering of all the rooms and corridors, wall and floor tiles for the toilets and showers, and the external rendering and cladding of the whole building.

This all adds up to 59,750,500 Ugandan shillings, or about £17,000.

Enos with two street boys outside the Hostel

In addition there is the cost of administration from January to April (about £750 for salaries, office rental and supplies), and all the costs of laying on a celebration and training day for the Hostel Opening on 24th March (about £1,000, for food for 50 street children and 100 invited guests, transport, hire of marquee and seating, public address, musicians and drama groups. You can't stint on such a day as this!).

Money in the UK Banks

We have got about £19,000 sitting in UK banks - the fruit of many months of generous giving by our donors - and we have been impatient to send it out and set it to work. The "OK!" from Alan only came late on Friday afternoon, but the bank's international money transfer system only works Monday to Friday, 10 till 3.30. So we can't send the money out till Monday!

But it is good that we have just about all we need to finish the building, with the exception of the verandas.

In June we expect to receive the tax repaid on Gift-Aided donations (I'm not sure yet how much that will be), so that will help towards any final jobs, and the furnishing.

But to get the place fully equipped will still need more money, so fund-raising continues.

chriscjenkin@aol.com

The Hostel Opening

The SKILL Hostel for the street kids of Kasese, Uganda, is to be open for business on Saturday 24th March! The children are going to be invited in.
This is a very exciting and rewarding climax of four years of fund-raising.
My wife, Mary, and I will be flying out to Uganda to attend this great event.
That is of course an expensive operation. The flights cost £1,151; the necessary health injections and medications (Rabies, Meningitis, Malaria) a further £250. Thankfully other inocculations are up to date - Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid, Tetanus. A hotel will also be needed for our time in Kasese as we will not have a missionary home to stay in as on previous visits.
I want to assure donors that these expenses are paid out of our own pocket, not out of money donated to the Kasese Street Kids! (A very generous friend has sent us a cheque designated specifically as a contribution towards our travel expenses: that is very much appreciated!)

The building is not totally finished, nor furnished. We hope that a lot of the interior plastering will be completed by the date of the opening; but even if it is unfinshed, it will be a better place for children to be living than on the streets.

We are praying that the right people may be found to be house-parents - men and women with the strength, wisdom and love to give these damaged children the care they need.

When we come back, we will hopefully have a lot of new photographs - watch this space!

chriscjenkin@aol.com

The Hanging Committee say "No"!

"The Hanging Committee" is a body which, despite its somewhat menacing title, is in fact a harmless and worthy group of people responsible for deciding who can hang or display their pictures - in this case, in York Minster.
We had asked if we could display our Photographic Exhibition, "Children of Hope", in the Minster, encouraged to approach them by the Archbishop's wife, Margaret Sentamu, who spoke at the Guest Preview of the Exhibition in Kendal in October. However we were disappointed to receive their decision today that on this occasion we can't be hanged - rather, hung - in the Minster. However they invited us to apply again in 2013.

As we incurred the considerable expense of getting all these photographs printed and mounted for the original Exhibition, the more often we can display them, and the more places people can have the chance of seeing them, the better the value. So we said, "Yes, please!"

Any visitors to this Blog who can suggest any other possible venues, please get in touch!

chriscjenkin@aol.com

How supporters appear!

It is interesting how people are attracted to supporting the Kasese Street Kids.
Recently at an amateur orchestral workshop I overheard a girl talking about training for the Great North Run (half-marathon). I chipped in and told her that I had run it in 2008.
This led to a chat about what I had been raising funds for, and after an exchange of emails she found this Blog.
She now tells me that in April she is running in the Edinburgh Half Marathon, and wants to raise money for Kasese Street Kids; between us we are trying to get a logo designed by friends for her to wear on her tee shirt!
This is so very encouraging for us.

Future events
Speaking engagements are slowing down now; we have one in Carlisle in February, in Sedbergh in April and in Windermere in October.

Carlisle Cathedral: March 16th - 31st: Our Photographic Exhibition, "CHILDREN OF HOPE", is being mounted in the Cathedral south aisle for two weeks. We have been sending out publicity about this through the Carlisle Diocesan mailings - email and post. So every Anglican church in the Diocese will receive a poster, and an article for their parish magazine. (Whether it will be used or go straight into their recycling bin depends on each vicar!)

Contact: chriscjenkin@aol.com
Contribute: www.justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids

Why they end up on the streets

Why do children end up on the streets?
There can be many different reasons, and each child has a story to tell - sometimes a horrifying and heartbreaking story.
But it can be as simple as orphans living in poverty. The picture above shows a family with six children, looked after by the grandmother (I am not sure who the other two adults are - they are not the children's parents, who are dead.)
This old lady simply cannot cope - not only financially, but with handling six lively children, who - as in any family - can be rebellious and defiant.
And sometimes a child in such a family decides that they would be happier living independently on the street, and runs away to the nearest town.


What can be done?
Help and support can be given to the caring grandmother - such as instructions how to make a garden to grow food, and setting up savings and credit schemes. Enos Kyibibi, Director of the SKILL Centre, is involved in such support.
Likewise runaway children can sometimes be helped to return to their family, though this is not always appropriate, such as where there has been abuse.

Here is Enos outside the new SKILL Hostel.

http://justgiving.com/kasesestreetkids

chriscjenkin@aol.com

Raffle and Reward

After selling raffle tickets for the beautiful patchwork items for three months, the draw was finally held on Saturday 10th December.

A fourth prize had been added by the skilled and crafty maker and donor of the patchwork quilts and cushions - two beautiful, large, hand-made Christmas baubles.

The first prize (double quilt) was won by a pensioner couple from Ulverston (who bought their ticket at Orton Farmers Market).

The second prize (lap quilt and matching cushion) by a couple in Penrith, who bought their ticket at a Penrith Singers rehearsal.

The third prize (two matching cushions) and fourth prize (baubles) were won by people in Kirkby Stephen - they probably both bought their tickets when we were stationed outside the Cooperative one Saturday!

The raffle brought in a total of £1,300 - the best prize of all!

Street Kids suffering goes on

Enos Kyibibi tells us from Kasese that the kids have been getting a lot of harassment from the police, and two of them are at present in prison.

Enos comments that prison staff are not known for their gentleness and kindness.