A new month means new volunteers. Last month we had Fleur, Eva, Lisa and Nina. This month Nina and Lisa are still here together with Merel and Rianne, two spontanious, motivated girls! This blog update is about the last chedra activities.
A new year, a new beginning for the chedra project. We made a bathroom for the jjajja Bernadette, because the other one was too old to use. We had great teamwork, everybody was busy doing something! Some people were cutting a tree and others making a robe out of banana leaves, for instance. She was very happy with us and her new bathroom and at the same day she used the bathroom already! Besides that, have we worked very hard at making a bruding-house for little chickens. We worked with long poles and papyrus. First, we measured everything and made a skeleton of the poles. Then we attached all the papyrus on the poles, so that the heat can not get out. Little chickens need a lot of warmth! We finished it last month and welcomed the little chicks last week. They are really cute! Every thursday we will be vaccinating them, so that they don’t get ill.
We also went to the deaf school, which was really impressive. First I want to say that it is great that there is a special school for deaf children here in Masaka and that Chedra is helping them! Everybody deserves good education. We gave a lesson about how to eat healthy. Sometimes chidren are underfed and their family doesn’t know about how to eat healthy. We showed them te food-circle, which exists out of 5 parts: minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Not all the parts of the circle are equal. The smaller parts need to be eaten less than the bigger parts. At the end was a quiz. We showed them different kinds of food and they had to fill them in in the foodcircle. Potatoes, for instance, belong to the carbohydrates part.
We also are very active at the Bugabira school. Last month we did a lesson about HIV/aids. We also painted the latrines at the Bugabira school. At first we thought the school could use some colour, but most important: we wanted to teach them something about hygien with the paintings! We painted the message: “Please wash your hands after using the latrine” on the wall. Next to the latrines we also have made a tippytap (a hand-washing system) next to it. Hopefully the children will learn something from this!
Today we were at the Bukabira school again. We tought that these children could use some fun as well, so we played some (dutch) games with them. We stood in a circle and there was one kid who turned around with his eyes closed. Then we chose someone who was ‘the winker’. This person had to wink to people in the class and them these children had to sit. E person with his eyes closed then had to guess who the winker was. This game is in Holland known as: ‘moordenaartje’. We also made some varities in this games. The last game was ‘zakdoekje leggen’. They already knew the game and they had their own song with it! We had so much fun together!
Hopefully a lot of beautiful things are there to come for Chedra this month!
Surprise! Pupils and staff of Masaka School for children with special needs received many visitors. 22nd of May Miss Uganda contestants and pupils of the school planted dozens of fruit trees in the garden. This event got a lot of attention. Chairman of the district Masaka Kalungi came by and the deputy mayor of the Masaka district as well. They also got visited by journalists and photographers. The trees were donated by Uganda Forrest Authority. The pupils are really happy with the fruit trees and thanked all visitors by singing a special song.
Tree project Chedra
Chedra is supporting Masaka School for children with special needs. We also have a tree project. It is called Trees for life project. It is founded into the communities Bugabira, Kyalugo, Kyali and Ttagga. We ask people in the community to plant the trees, so they get fruit, timber and shade.
Suubi, the Bugabira School cow, last week gave birth to a healthy male calf. Two Bugabira school teachers were staying at the campus late one night when they heard interesting noises, and on investigation found Suubi in labour. She delivered without complications and is currently feeding her baby well. The school will begin to enjoy milk next week, as the first milk produced after birthing is inappropriate for human consumption.
CHEDRA has recently constructed a cow house (karaal) at Bugabira School. It is now home to Subi, our Frisian-cross cow who will soon give birth to her first calf and start producing milk for the school. This will be a valuable source of protein and calcium for the students (many of whom suffer from malnutrition) and will also be sold to fund free school places for needy children. Subi means ‘hope’ in Luganda. CHEDRA hopes that she will become mother to a healthy calf and be a productive, long-term member of the Bugabira School community.
Some of the funds raised through the Global Giving campaign went towards paying the outstanding balance for Subi. Thank you to everyone who donated – CHEDRA could not have completed this project without you.
Below are some photos of the karall construction process:
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- Clearing the land – Friday, 6th April 2012
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- Marking the dimensions of the leveled area – Monday, 9th April 2012
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- Inserting the posts – Monday 16th April 2012
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- The finished karaal
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- CHEDRA Executive Director Kigozi Moses greeting Subi
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- The beautiful Subi
The Community Health Empowerment, Development and Relief Agency is a grassroots, not-for-profit organisation based in Masaka, Uganda. CHEDRA works to combat HIV/AIDS amongst local communities, address the needs of sufferers of the virus and also enhance general levels of health and well-being across the Masaka District.
CHEDRA, as a local and youth-run organisation, has the energy and the knowledge to help communities build the capacity they need to drive positive change from within!
CHEDRA 2012
CHEDRA has launched into a very busy 2012! As well as the organisation’s usual activities, CHEDRA is hosting 5 volunteers who are designing and implementing their own projects. 4 of the volunteers are from Holland, and 1 is from Australia. You can read about the current CHEDRA initiatives on the Projects page.
On February 6th 2012, CHEDRA celebrated the opening of Bugabira Primary School. This school, designed and constructed by CHEDRA in conjunction with Be-More, aims to provide affordable, high-quality education to children living in some of the poorest regions of Masaka. The school is operational (with 135 students in grades kindergarten – primary 5) however work is far from over. Whilst the dedicated Bugabira Primary School teachers look after the education of pupils, CHEDRA is busy completing the school buildings (installing doors, windows and energy-efficient cooking stoves) and designing small-scale agriculture projects. These will supplement the diet of the children and also act as income-generation.The school is aiming to build up a funding base so that the small fees set at present (to finance teacher salaries, uniforms, school materials and student meals) can be lowered as much as possible and even abolished for the neediest students.
More information about this initiative can be found on the Projects Page. You can also support Bugabira Primary School with a donation through the Global Giving website.
