More about the Kasese Floods

The last report from Emmanuel, our chairman of the Skill Board at Kasese, said this:

Kasese Floods:

I have travelled all the way to Kilembe where the river flooded; it was a real devastation. Many houses were destroyed and will take a lot of government commitment if they are to be rebuilt; some though have no hopes of ever being rebuilt. An estimated 700 people lost all their property and are now homeless and living in refugee camps. 10 are now confirmed dead.

The magnitude is very great especially because this is the first of this kind of calamity to befall the people of the Ruwenzori’s and since the rivers burst their banks on the 1^st of May to this day, the floods are still washing away homes,  buildings, roads, bridges and crops.

Enos is in the danger zone; a flood plain and may be relocated to a safer ground.

I visited him this morning at the skills training centre. He was with 10 children, weeding crops. They don’t have safe water to drink or for domestic use especially cooking as the supply system has been affected. They also lacked food.

Many people have been relocated by government to schools and Red Cross is supplying some food, tents, mosquito nets and safe water.

We anticipate an increased number of stranded children, but so far are handling the old cases.

Any assistance would be most welcome. Enos and his financial committee would look into areas deemed as priority.

chriscjenkin@aol.com

A Rewarding Evening

Last night Mary and I did a Presentation for the Kasese Street Kids to more than fifty ladies of the Mothers' Union of Penrith Deanery.
They were very appreciative, and asked some interesting questions afterwards - ranging from "do the children ever play?" (answer - they have no toys, but love football, even if the "ball" is just a bundle of plastic bags tied up with string!), to "Is it true that the President of Uganda has been converted?" (answer- last year, at a united Christian gathering called in connection with the country's 50th Anniversary of Independence, President Yoweri Musaveni publicly repented of his sins!).
At the end of the meeting, they gave generously to the Kasese Street Kids - a total of £190. And one lady said she had no money with her but would send us a cheque. Praise the Lord for their generosity!
Container of Tools
As I write, the container sent out by TWAM (Tools with a Mission -
http://www.twam.co.uk/) is on the high seas on the way to Africa; and it contains a large quantity of tools destined for the SKILL Hostel in Kasese. 
But when it gets to Kampala, the Uganda government will require a substantial payment of tax duty - we do not yet know how much. But it is for costs like this that we need the gifts from our kind donors!
chriscjenkin@aol.com  

Self-Financing Schemes

Mary and I made it clear to the Board in Kasese that while we would be happy to help with furnishing and equipping the Hostel as long as we still have funds, we could not undertake to finance the day to day running costs. So they have various ways to raise money locally.

One of these is their tree nursery. These photos show this, when visited by Cheryl Parrett recently. They sow the seeds, and look after them as they grow; and then they can sell on the little trees when they are big enough. I don't know whether the boys help with the work for this! It would be good if they did - but teenagers are not generally keen on gardening...

Another project has been brick-making. That is something boys enjoy! The soil at the Hostel site is suitable for bricks; they make them in a mold, and let them dry in the sun; then they are stacked up in a kiln as shown. The hole in the bottom is for the fire; and usually banana leaves are spread over the top. The fire burns slowly for two or three days; when the banana leaves catch fire the bricks are cooked! When they have cooled off, they are stacked, and sold.
Generous donors
Mary and I had an encouraging visit to a Mothers' Union group near Carlisle this week; we gave them our usual presentation, updated with one or two of the photos received from Alan and Cheryl a fortnight ago; and we were given generous gifts from the group as a whole and some of the individual members too.
I also received a cheque for £100 for the Street Kids from a kind lady in a nearby village, and a day or two later a cheque for £50 from a relation who has supported us before. Thanks so much, everyone!
chriscjenkin@aol.com

Building the store room

The builder is plastering the ceiling of the store room, so that all will be ready when the tools and equipment arrive in a few weeks.
Alan and Cheryl, whose help and support have been so invaluable from the start of this project, are shortly to leave Uganda for good, and recently travelled from Kampala to Kasese to visit various projects they have been involved with, and to say farewell to friends there. They went to see how the SKILL Hostel was getting on, and sent us some photographs.

 

Cheryl said hello to some of the boys who are now living in the Hostel.

 

And she looked in to the boys' bedroom and saw the bunks, with some of their clothes draped over the ends.

Further costs expected

David from TWAM (http://www.twam.co.uk/)  warned us that the tax duty charged by the Ugandan government on goods sent out in their containers has recently gone up - a few weeks ago they had to pay £30 duty on a sewing machine! So it is likely that there will be a substantial bill for all the items being sent out in the March container (which actually leaves on 2nd April). 

 

Secure storage

One issue that arose when considering the arrival of all the tools and equipment mentioned in the last post was storage. Where will they all be kept? Will the storage facility be secure against break-ins and pilfering?
It would be so disastrous if after all the trouble and expense of getting these tools - not to mention all the faithful people in UK who have donated them, and all the TWAM volunteers who have spent many hours refurbishing them, - if shortly after arrival in Kasese they all started disappearing!
So Enos Kyibibi has got a builder to do important work on making the storage room in the Hostel totally secure.
The bill for this work was over £400, and we have been able to send the money out to Kasese for this.
TWAM's assurance: TWAM has told us that the shipping money has arrived in their Kampala bank account, so the tools for SKILL will definitely be in the March container going out to Uganda.

Tools for SKILL

We have now been sent the list of the tools that TWAM expect to be able to send out to Uganda in their March container.
Here is the list:

6	CARPENTERS' KITS TRADESMEN
5	SEWING MACHINES TABLE TOP ELECTRIC
5	SEWING MACHINES TABLE TOP ELECTRIC ZIG ZAG
2	KNITTING MACHINES + WOOL
10	TYPEWRITERS ELECTRIC
6	MOTOR MECHANICS' KITS
2	GARDENING KITS
2	GARAGE KIT
3	WELDING MACHINES
5	PLUMBERS' KITS
5	BUILDERS' KITS (x2)
1	CIRCULAR SAW
1	WOOD LATHE
1	METAL LATHE
1	SANDING MACHINE
5	ELECTRIC DRILLS + ACCESSORIES
2	STRIMMERS
4	SCHOLAR PACKS

This is a marvellous supply! It will be a tremendous asset to the SKILL Training Programme.
We have now arranged for the shipping costs (£891.00) to be sent out to the TWAM Bank Account in Kampala.
 chriscjenkin@aol.com   

Supplies from TWAM

On an earlier post on this Blog, in summer 2012, I mentioned the splendid organization Tools With A Mission (TWAM) (http://www.twam.co.uk ) which invites its supporters all over the UK to donate tools of all kinds -  whether hand tools or electrical, carpentry or gardening, etc etc. They then pass these to their team of volunteers - mostly men like retired engineers - who  refurbish the tools, and these are then sent out to many projects in Africa. Mary and I visited  the TWAM warehouse in Kampala, and saw great stacks of goods awaiting collection.
Shortly after we returned from Uganda, Enos Kyibibi, the Executive Director of the SKILL Hostel, put in an ambitious application to TWAM to supply large quantities of tools for use in SKILL's training programme for the older street kids, to equip them for the workplace.
We were told at that time: 

1. TWAM could not guarantee to supply all items requested, but only things they had been donated and that they had in their UK warehouse. "We don't very often get given welding machines!"
2. It would be some months before they could send the items that were available.
3. There would be expenses for which SKILL would be responsible: 
• Shipping costs
•  Customs duty exacted by the Ugandan government
• Transport arrangements from Kampala to Kasese.

 This week we asked TWAM if they were yet clearer about what they could supply and when. We have now been told that the goods cannot be supplied till March at the earliest; and that shipping costs would be about £900. We have funds in UK to use for supporting SKILL in such matters. 
We do not yet have a list of what they can supply; neither do we know what Customs charges will be - "A lottery", admitted the TWAM man.
But at least it looks as if within a few months there will be a useful supply of tools available for use by the youngsters at SKILL. 
 chriscjenkin@aol.com