Progress

The week started out with a very pleasant surprise. Stevie and I were planning on meeting a couple of friends at Bubbles O’Leary’s, an Irish pub in Kampala. Our friends ended up arriving about three hours late, so we made friends with some fun and very generous Irish businessmen. After explaining Soccer Without Borders and the work that we do at Hope Primary School to these Irish men, who are involved in several non-profit projects in Africa themselves, offered us a very generous donation.

On our way home that evening, Stevie and I thought about where we should invest the money. We are leaning towards investing in electricity for the Ndejje Community Center. Installing the infrastructure for electricity at the Center will cost approximately $400 USD. If we can find neighbors who are interested in splitting the cost of the electric pole and its installation, however, the cost could be divided several ways. These extra funds have set the ball in motion. Jacques has begun searching for people nearby who are interested in getting electricity. Sharing the cost is looking promising because there are a few new homes going up around the center.

With electricity we will be able to begin some computer programs. Though these programs are at least a few months off, I am getting excited about introducing the Hope Primary School kids to computers. Most have never used one. The will also allow us to run evening programs at the center, after the sun has gone down.

We are making progress on the activities front too. Sunday evening we had a couple girls over to our house and started reading a Nancy Drew mystery. Hopefully there will be enough interest to turn this into a regular thing (and hopefully we can move it to the community center once it gets electricity so we can read in the evenings.) We also began planning for P7 music videos. The class was divided on song choice. All of the girls wanted to perform Rhianna’s ‘Umbrella’, while all of the boys voted for the Rabadaba (a Ugandan singer) song ‘Indian Culi,’ so we are going to do both. Filming starts on Monday and I am excited to see them sing, dance, and hopefully let loose.

The construction crew is putting the finishing touches on the new building at Hope Primary School leaving the forever-busy Jacques looking for something else to keep him occupied. What better than another construction project? Lately, Jacques has been talking about building a temporary structure on the side of the community center to hold half of the nursery class. Currently, Hope School Nursery uses the Community Center during the mornings and early afternoons. For the Center to truly be for the community, rather than just Hope School students, I think it is important that at least part of the facility be available all day for equipment storage, equipment rental, art projects, games, etc. This temporary structure should go a long way in making that possible.

Still, our biggest challenge in establishing a sustainable community center is finding someone permanent to stay on, run programs, and make sure that the equipment is not disappearing. If only there were a million Jacques in the world! Another Jacques would be nearly impossible to find, but Stevie and I are perpetually on the lookout for someone to work with who will take over and continue the programs once we are gone.