"HEART
HELPING EDUCATION IN AFRICA - REACHING TOGETHER"
Spring 2005 Update
The third year of our new Sacred Heart Primary School in Uganda(
SHPS) opened in early February. With the addition of the Fifth
Grade and other new students our student population has increased
from 185 to 233. Families are hearing about this new school where
girls are treated with dignity, given a well-rounded education,
and loved for who they are. Thanks to our generous supporters
much has been accomplished in a short time. This year’s
goal of providing some form of financial aid for 60 students has
been reached. In the fall we will look to increasing that to 75
for 2006.
A story from Head Mistress, Sr. Annet, demonstrates so well the
importance of our financial aid program.
One little one, Doreen, was in Primary 1 last year. She lives
with her mother who must manage caring for several children without
the help of a father. For the last year the mother struggled and
managed to secure the school fees. This year she appeared here
without her daughter to say that she cannot manage this year.
Doreen had been left home crying desolately. So after listening
to this woman’s heart sorrow I told her to go and bring
her daughter. Transport was a problem and so she did not come
back for several days. Now the child is happily back in school.
Yesterday she went to a classroom that we have made into a little
chapel. Sr. Rose was praying there at the time. Doreen went to
each picture in the chapel praying and making a sign of the cross.
Then she sat very near the tabernacle and started to pray aloud
in a soft voice. Afterwards Sr. Rose called her to give her a
welcome- back hug and asked what was she praying for so earnestly.
Doreen said, ‘ I am praying that God will send someone to
help me with my school fees.’ Doreen is only seven years.
When Rose told us at dinner we really had tears in our hearts.
Because of the financial aid program we will be able to keep this
dear child with us.
Here is another story: One mother came to register her child as
a new student and right away I saw that she was very poor. The
child did the interview and when she finished, I gave the mother
the fee form. I could see the expression on her face become very
sad. Almost in tears, she told me her story. She has a husband
who is hopeless and she wants her child to come to us for a better
education and a better future. The child was in Primary 3 in a
government school with 110 in her class but could not pass our
Primary 1 interview. So she is repeating P.1 in our school and
is very happy to get a better start. Since we cannot have tuition
assistance for everyone I wait for the parent to make his or her
needs known. The mother asked me to give her any job so that she
could pay the school fees for her dear child. Not very easy but
I gave her a job to clear a bush land area where we will plant
maize and beans next season. She was very happy and grateful.
The next day she was at the school gate very early to get a hoe
to begin the job. The poor here do not beg for a free handout.
It was important for this good mother to be able to contribute
to her daughter’s schooling.
Development of the whole school compound is on target and we are
planning for an eventual school population of 500 with double
classes and 7 Primary Grades. The first building has held all
activities, classes as well as resident living for student and
teachers alike. Now we are pleased to report that a second multipurpose
building that holds a dining area, kitchen, food storage, and
all -school gathering space, is now completed, paid for, and in
full use. The school’s mixed farm is taking shape well because
of a generous start up gift from an Alumna in honor of Sr. Mary
Pat Rives, RSCJ. Sacred Heart students are also contributing to
the effort. The piggery will be constructed soon and then a poultry
unit. An expanded crop section is in the making that will include
many vegetables, fruits, and a large banana plantation. Our girls
take agriculture classes and know well the benefits of tending
to the earth. They will have the joy of working on ‘their’
farm. The student’s meals will now have a better balance
with our home -grown produce.
Suitable housing for all the teachers must be provided for we
are in a poor rural area where there are no dwellings to rent
and teachers cannot commute to work as we do in the States. Happily,
with 90% of the funds secured, we have broken ground for the RSCJ
residence. This unit is scheduled to be ready by the end of the
year. This will enable the Sisters to move out of the school rooms
which will be needed for the 2006 student population increase.
Soon we hope to begin construction of the first four-unit dwellings
for the lay teachers. Providing these living quarters will allow
us to hire and retain good teachers to augment the RSCJ staff.
Eventually three more units will be needed as our school grows.
School Project targeted for the next nine months is completion
of the teacher’s living quarters,
Before closing I want to share about the efforts being made by
our students in Uganda on behalf of the tsunami victims. At our
girl’s high school in Kulungu town down the road from SHPS
the students plan a Holy Hour every Sunday night with special
prayers and music. At their midweek school Mass they pass the
offertory basket. Almost everyone puts something in. This gesture
of compassion is so like the widow’s mite for the basket
is heavy with small coins and abundant good will. These young
people understand from their hearts what it is like to live through
the slow moving tsunami wave that has devastated this land for
decades, that of grinding poverty and death of family members
Education is a long-term solution to the devastating poverty that
these children experience daily. The school compound that the
Sacred Heart family is helping to construct is not just buildings;
rather it is a place where young girls in this vulnerable but
precious part of God’s world are finding hope. In closing,
The Sisters in the Uganda-Kenya Province know well that they cannot
do the works of mercy for the people of their land without partners
in mission. They are you! As St. Therese of Lisieux said, some
people go to the missions and some people give to the missions.
The fact is that we cannot have missions without both.
With deep gratitude,
Irene Cullen, RSCJ
UGK Development Director
1653 Borana St
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone: 858 268 3340 FAX: 858-874-3424
icullen@rscj.org
 Back
to top
|
