Love in Action, Sponsoring Children's Education in Masaka, Uganda

CHRIST'S EMBASSY NURSERY & PRIMARY SCHOOL

CHRIST'S EMBASSY PRIMARY SCHOOL A Love in Action School This school was set up in 2004 by Isaac Lukato. The school is in a very poor village about 15 miles from Masaka, on the road to the Sesse Isles Ferry. In September 2006, following a visit by a School Inspector, the Directors of Love in Action and Isaac met and decided that the best way forward was for Love in Action to assume full responsibility for the development and running of the school. The rest of this page will tell the story of the school as it grows and develops. New information will be added to the top of the page and then moved down as new information is added. Please consider helping with the building costs. December 07 - We have started to build 2 new classrooms, office and dormitory block before Feb 2008. Can you help? Details are here.	Previously the school met in these very poor rented rooms
Jan 2008

December 2007, Work has started on the new classroom block. This block will also house the school office / staffroom and the head teachers office. It will be completed by the start of the new term 4th Feb 2008. We are also looking for a new headteacher (the last one ran away!) and 3 new teachers.
	December 2007 saw our first speech day, the children performed songs and dances for parents and friends.
	SCHOOL NOW OPEN - 5th Feb 2006
Today The school opened for the start of the new school year, instead of a big opening ceremony we just went down and showed the film 'Jesus' in the local language. The classroom where we showed it was absolutely packed, with people peering through the open windows! As we pulled up at the school I was impressed by what has been achieved in just 5 months, but also overawed by what needs to be done! This is just the beginning, Joseph the Head Teacher proudly showed me round, but kept on saying "We are already short of room!"

The finished teachers rooms and Head's office.	This is the road between Masaka and the Ferry to the Ssese Islands, we have erected a sign here to show the way to the school.

Prossy and some of the children clean up at the end of the first day.

No explanation needed!	Joseph in his office
BUILDING! BUILDING! BUILDING!	Download Films of the children Film 1 (32M) Film 2 (15M) Warning these are very large files - sizes as shown
12th December
It has been a very busy month since I last wrote here! The builders have been working hard finishing the first 2 buildings and starting on the next pair of classrooms, 1 of which will be used as a dormitory for the time being. We held an end of term meeting for the parents, children and village, about 250 people turned up and we were able to introduce the new school arrangements and the teachers. At the end of the meeting we had a meal for everyone which was much appreciated. We have set up a School Management Committee to run the school, with input from parents, staff, pupils and Love in Action. Now here are the latest pictures together with some from the village meeting.

The classrooms	Above the painters showing off the accommodation block

Rear view of the classrooms	This lady has become Beryl's friend even though that cannot talk the same language, she is seen outside her home which is a typical home in Kasaka.

Dinner Time!	The children enjoyed the meal!

New School Uniform Sadly the girl shown here died in June 2007 from Malaria, life here is precious but can be very short.	Dan cooked the meal for everyone, seen here with his rice pan, it was full at the start of the meal!

3rd November
Today marked an important milestone in the Development of Christ's Embassy School. Last Saturday we interviewed a number of potential Head Teachers and Teachers and today we took the best ones out to the school to look at their teaching skills. Following the trial lessons we held final interviews and then appointed our teaching staff. You can see their details below. They will join Love in Action on the 1st Jan 2007 so they can prepare for the start of the new school year in early February.
Joseph will be the headmaster. He has held teaching positions in a number of local schools and this will be his first head's position.He will also be teaching full time in Primary 4.	Theresa qualified as teacher about 3 years ago and has been teaching in a school in Nyendo, near Masaka. She will be responsible for P2.
Prossy qualified as a Primary Teacher this year so this is her first school. Prossy will be teaching in Primary 3.	Milly trained as an electrical engineer, but really wanted to be a teacher, so she went and worked in a local Primary School. She has a tremendous attitude towards the children. Milly will teach in Primary 1 and attend the local Teacher Training College in the school holidays to gain her qualifications as a teacher. (Left October 2007)
	These are the staff rooms, almost finished! Also this week we ordered another block with 2 rooms, one for a classroom and the second as a temporary Dormitory. We have asked a local Pastor, Teacher and School Owner, Sam Kawalya to join the new School Board of Governors. Sam helped a lot with the interviews and will be a great asset to the school. We were also helped in the interviews by Anne Thomas. Anne comes from the UK and has been involved in setting up schools in Uganda and in teacher training. She is currently teaching at The Rainbow International School in Kampala.
26th October

Classrooms - with roof!	Accommodation Block - with Roof. Below the classrooms being plastered


16th October 2006


After 2 weeks we are at 'ring beam' level
8th October 2006 - Building has started! This week the builders moved onto the site at Kasaka and started building the first 2 classrooms and a block with 4 rooms for teachers and an office.

Marking out the foundations	2 Classrooms

2 Classrooms - Noah is inspecting the work!	4 Teachers rooms and an office!

Classrooms after 1 weeks work	The builders enjoy their lunch break

SEPTEMBER 2006 Government School Inspectors recently visited the school and said that it must be closed! But after we visited their office the school is allowed to continue but action must be taken quickly!	GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR ORDERS SCHOOL TO CLOSE - WE WIN REPRIEVE!
They quoted 3 reasons The school does not have a licence The school does not have qualified teachers The buildings are very poor. All these things are true, yet the children need to be educated! Additionally last week the Matron left, and Isaac is not qualified to teach in the school, he dropped out of school during his 3^rd year of secondary education because there was nobody to pay his fees. So what do we do? Isaac has no resources, and we have 5 children sponsored at the school. Alan, Isaac and Noah met with the school inspector and she reluctantly agreed that the school could continue in the very short term, on the condition that there is a quick improvement and she will make another visit in 4 weeks. What we believe is the right way forward for this school is for Love in Action to take a big step of faith and assume responsibility for this school, with Isaac's support and the intention to hand over to him in 6-7 years. What does this mean for Love in Action? (Updated October 2007) Employing 4 teachers to teach Nursery, Primary 1 and 2, 3 and 4. The cost of these teachers will be aa total of £250 per month. One of these teachers will be appointed as acting head teacher (The teachers have been employed) Supply housing for the teachers – cost about £3000 (Built and occupied) Bring forward the building program to build 2 classrooms immediately; the cost of building about £3000. Further classrooms will be added later. (4 Classrooms built and in use) Employ a matron to care for the children who are the responsibility of the school (about 9 children who are orphans). We employed Mama Prossy in this position at the start of October 2006 Appointing a board of Governors, and school management committee most of whom will be from Love in Action, with Isaac and 1 outside advisor. Help Isaac complete his education to O Level standard, (2 years) and then do his 2 years of teacher training. He will have to live and study in Masaka returning to Kasaka each weekend. (This was started but Isaac has since decided to do something else) Providing food for the children each day together with the school supplies. Write a school code of conduct and work on the thick file of paperwork needed to get a licence for the school. (Licence obtained October 2007) Obtain a full Land Title for the land the school is on. This was accomplished by purchasing a large plot (about 3 acres) behind the school to grow crops on to feed the children. We needed the full Land Title to be able to register the school. Land purchase and ownership here is complicated, we had to pay 2 different people and the government for the right to use the land, one is the current title holder the other is the person who has a lease and has crops and a small derelict mud house on the land. Find willing people to sponsor children at the school and pay the school fees and requirements. At the present time none of the children’s parents are able to pay the school fees even though they are very low. We believe that the bulk of the work will fall on Noah, who has just joined us (at exactly the right time!) so please pray for him. So we are asking you to please pray about this school, and to help publicise this project wherever you can. Thanks. The Pictures on the right were taken at the speech day in August 2006.

The Beginning We were first invited to visit the school for a special day of music and drama when Jonathan & Sarah Greenwood from Kingsland Tiptree were visiting us. We were all struck by how poor the place is, but also the dedication of Isaac, who really believes that God has called him to work in that village.
	This was the nursery classroom!

Primary 3 Class!	School Office and Library

The boys Dormitory!	The children entertain

Girls Dormitory after a very windy night	Jonathan could only just fit under the tent!

Traditional dancing	The Greenwoods enjoying the entertainment
	A new site is proposed!
Isaac shows us the proposed site for the new school
On 12th September 2005 Susan & Alan decided that as it was the start of a new term we would take some extra supplies that we had over to Isaac to encourage him. When we arrived he was delighted to see us, and showed us around, before he even knew why we were there! It turned out that just the previous day he had been praying about the purchase of a piece of land that he had been offered, it is about 3/4 of an acre, but he did not know where he was going to get the money. The cost 90,000/= (£30) yes that's right £30 for 3/4 acre!! It later emerged that what we had bought was a lease on the land! Land ownership is so complicated here!
	Alan hands over the 90,00 to purchase the land lease.
	He explained that the land was a bit expensive because there are coffee plants growing there! I could not really do anything but give him the 90,000 to encourage him!
Coffee plant
Temporary Buildings In November 2005 toilets were built on the new site and then in January 3 temporary classrooms were erected ready for the new school year. The school then had 100 pupils from Nursery to Primary 5. Currently the children are being taught by 3 young people aged about 18, these boys themselves have only received Primary School education.