QUARTERLY NEWS
Summer 2019
Scholarship Program Provides 
Valuable Permaculture Training





Thanks to the sponsors of our Scholarship Program, we were able to send two students to a six-week intensive training program with Connect Africa to learn inexpensive and sustainable technologies to help the community thrive. Eric and Julius plan to creatively redesign our farmland to capture water, use natural resources for nourishing crops, and use more effective ways to rear animals utilizing their "outputs" for fertilizer in a mutually supportive cycle. 

They plan to implement the following projects to improve the children's diet, generate income to fund the schools, and transfer the knowledge to the community:
  • Vegetable garden mulched with compost to improve the children's diet
  • Rabbit project for increased protein, income generation, and skills transfer
  • A milk cow for nutrition and manure
  • A banana plantation inter-cropped with fruit and coffee trees for income generation and nutrition
  • A piggery for manure, income generation and skills transfer
  • Bio-sand filters to improve the quality of harvested water
We can't wait to see these projects implemented and are thankful that Connect Africa will be supporting us to ensure success. 

Thank you, sponsors, for your continued support which provided this training!



Help Expand Our Borders

A donor has offered a 50% match for any funds raised to purchase additional land.  Can you help us reach our $17,000 goal?

W hen we purchased 8 acres on a hillside for the primary school in 2009, we never imagined we would run out of space. To our amazement, we have.  At the primary school we need additional space to build a multi-purpose dining hall, and more land is needed for many buildings at the high school including dormitory space for our fast-growing student population. We are trying to assemble all the land needed for the campuses long-term now to enable quality site-planning. We finally have land owners willing to sell and pray we can complete the purchases.

Primary students need a dining hall & kitchen
Additional land needed for high school dorms


or mail a check to  HEED Uganda at the address below. THANK YOU!
RUNNING WATER at the Primary School!

For generations, all the villagers had known was collecting contaminated water from open ponds. For years, we have been working on that problem.

This Spring a collective water harvesting and pumping system was installed at the primary school, and for the first time ever there is running water at the school! 

There is still more work to do. We need to add water harvesting capacity at the high school so they don't run out between rains, and we're working with the Ugandan government to bring piped water for the community.
Then: Collecting water from ponds
Today: Running water from taps throughout the primary campus

Growing Healthy Kids

We continue health and sanitation initiatives so students can thrive. In April, we taught the older girls about reproductive health and distributed 240 Days For Girls reusable menstrual kits so they can stay in school all month long. Just last week, in partnership with the local government, we initiated a Hepatitis B screening and vaccination program for all the students in the school above age 13. Sadly, 7 students were already infected with Hepatitis B and will need ongoing treatment.

We continue to apply fluoride varnish to the children's teeth once per year, and it's making an impact. In the community medical outreach last Fall, the dentist noted that their teeth are much healthier than he would expect to see in such a rural setting. Success!!
 
Showing off their Days for Girls kits

Lined up for hepatitis vaccines
First a new toothbrush
Then fluoride- 600 times!

Project update: The Primary Classrooms (Finally) Completed!

Good things come to those who wait...

In 2011, our first three classrooms were roofed and partially finished, and we were elated. There were no windows, doors, ceilings, and a dirt floor, but kids were finally in permanent buildings on our land. "Slowly by slowly" as they say in Uganda, the classrooms have been plastered inside and out; doors, windows, floors and ceilings installed; and the buildings fully painted. The buildings are well-built and a source of pride for the children and community. 

Thank you to those who give to the General Fund which provided for this work!

2011 - the roof goes on the first three classrooms at the primary school
2013 - Windows, but still dirt floors

2019 - Finished!
Primary Campus Today

Join Us in Prayer

"...As you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."   2 Corinthians 1:11

Answers to prayer:
  • We asked for prayers for rain. A pastor visited from Kampala declaring prayerfully that he was sent to call for rain. It began raining so hard that they had to run for cover leaving the village before the roads became impassible! Our tanks filled and the children were encouraged that God DOES answer prayer! Adequate water is always a continuing prayer request.
  • As the ministry grows, so does the need for professional talent beyond my skill set. Recently God has sent us helpers in human resources with international missions experience, a graphic designer, an expert in development, and a marketing whizz to help with print publications.  We often feel insufficient, but God astounds with His sufficiency. 
  • We had a safe and monumentally productive April mission trip with relationships and planning strengthened with our local board and Village Advisory Committee, Bible Study workshops for the students and teachers, a potential coffee cooperative in partnership with the Ugandan government, and so much more. Grateful!
Prayer requests:
  • We will be hiring for a couple of important staff positions soon. Please pray that the Lord will bring us to the right people for these positions, and that we can afford to hire qualified, well-educated people for these positions.
  • To be able to purchase all of the land needed for the campuses long-term.
  • To effectively disciple and equip the children entrusted to us.

We send out prayer requests to the prayer team as the need arises. We would love to have you pray with us!  E-mail [email protected] with the subject line "Add me to the prayer group" to join us.

Thank you!
 

 " W eebale nyo"
in Luganda.

Thank you for equipping us to reach out  in love to children and their families 
in an area n icknamed "unlucky."
www.heeduganda.org