VISITING THE JOLLY CHILDREN'S EDUCATION CENTRE

 It is now Friday and last Monday we drove to Musliita which is the sub-county were the school is located.  The drive was an adventure to say the least, driving in the heavy rain on roads with huge pot holes in thick slippery red mud (much like driving in thick snowy roads you need good tires and 4WD)  Trucks, cars and motor cycles met the ditches everywhere.

As we approached the school we received a warm welcome and settled into the guest house.  This guest house on the school property is wonderful.  On our first two trips we used to stay in a house in the local village which was a 45 minute walk to the school through a swamp.   It was a cement building but it had many elements of camping:  outdoor latrine (hole in floor), and outdoor bathhouse.  We cooked on a propane tank with a grill on top and no refrigeration.

Guest house has bedrooms with a bathroom not quite completed, comfortable beds and solar power.
We cook on the propane tank so it is still a bit like camping and we love it.
It is very peaceful here in the country including the frogs at night, and the scenery is quite beautiful.  

This lovely porch is our dining area, and place of rest.

Mama Sophie is ready to meet all your needs and has many responsibilities.  She took us for a tour of the grounds to show us the new projects underway.

Overlooking ginger plants (jinga), beans, sweet potatoes, and maise in distance.
There are also mango trees, avocado trees everywhere, banana plants, eucalyptus and pine trees.

Sophie showing us a new and exciting project - producing coffee seedlings to sell.

Coffee beans are Uganda's largest export crop.  A lot of beans go to Kenya so some of that coffee you think is grown in Kenya actually comes from Uganda.  It is very good coffee and we'll make sure we bring some home.  There is a demand for more coffee plants as more farmers want to grow it.

Ronnie is holding a ginger plant seedling.  This is a very good crop to generate income
so the school will grow a lot of these plants.  

This ginger plant has been growing for about 3 months, and the plant does not mature until about 6 months.  So they depend on the weather for rain when planting the seedlings.  We are in the rainy season right now, but this area suffered a very bad drought from August 2014 to March 2015 so many farmers' crops did not do well last season. 

We received donated soccer uniforms from the Sannich Peninsula Soccer club - thank you!  As you can see the uniforms were received by the teachers in this picture and they were thrilled.  This was the last day of school before a holiday, so we didn't get to see the students playing on the soccer field.

Happy teachers!

In these pictures, we are looking at the new books purchased for the library with money received from Rotary Club of Saanich - thank you Rotary.

This is Mereb, the school librarian.

Teachers looking at the new books.

Before we left Victoria we were able to acquire a suitcase full of general medical supplies from the Compassionate Resource Warehouse.  They are a non-profit group that collects items no longer needed from hospitals, businesses, schools, and individuals.  So you can find almost anything.  Their mission is to send sea container loads to countries that are in need, and the wonderful volunteers who work there will help you.  So thank you Compassionate Resource Warehouse for allowing us to bring these supplies to the medical clinic on the school grounds.

Nurse Innocent received the supplies, along with Tom who coordinates all the activities, including child sponsorship, at the school.

Storage room for some medical supplies

Geoff with Nurse Innocent and Tom who is the Action For Children school coordinator

Next blog will highlight the sponsored children and their families.