Valued sponsors and interested parties
In the last newsletter, we had to inform you of the postponement of headmistress
Regina Nasseremba’s planned journey to Switzerland. The career show with a visit
from the King of Buganda was a great event, documented by countless photos which
will leave happy memories in the heads and hearts of the many people that travelled
there and carried the name of Beatrice Secondary School Kyankwanzi on the radio
and television across a broad region. It is clear that joy and pride remain at the place
after a successful, gigantic event.
In the meantime, Regina realised her travel plans. She was in Switzerland from the
middle of September to the middle of October. She met friends and sponsors, gave a
talk on her school, discussed problems with experts and also relaxed from the
stresses of the everyday life of a Ugandan headmistress. Again and again she was
able to experience how much we value her work here. Regina achieves an immense
amount of work. Aside from the everyday running of the school, she looks after
personal worries of individual pupils, right up to contact relations with governmental
and non-governmental organisations. Experience has shown that it is very difficult to
find reliable people to take the burden from Regina and who can support her. The
search continues, as the size of the school makes this necessary.
Students of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz [University of Applied Sciences
Northwest Switzerland] have engaged with the BSSK in their Bachelor dissertations.
It was about the further development of the school and possible incorporation of
vocational courses later on. For the moment, we place a lot of value on the motto
“quality over quantity”.
In Uganda, “summer” is beginning. It is getting increasingly dry and hot. Those who
planted crops in the previous rainy season can start now with the harvest. And right
now, they’re doing precisely that at the BSSK. After Regina discovered last year that
supplying food for the 300 pupils would be tight and expensive, without further ado,
she rented a large area of uncultivated land next to the school. Together with the pupils –
a different class each day – she worked the land, planted and sowed. Now the fruits of her
labour can be harvested. This is how the BSSK became partially capable of supporting itself.
Perhaps you’re interested in how food shortages can develop in a fertile region below
the equator? In northern Uganda, refugees travel from South Sudan into the country.
Aid organisations try to find food for these people. The helpers drive heavy vehicles
to villages in the south and buy garden produce from farmers. The aid organisations
are able to pay a good price to the locals for their products. This is positive, but has
the consequence that these farmers wait in hope for the heavy vehicles and no
longer sell to local traders. In this way, it’s not surprising that people complain about
the high living costs. This is the downside of this help!
At the BSSK, the pupils in year 4 and year 6 are currently sitting their state exams,
and all over the country they sit the same subject at the same time. This demands
reliable logistics and adherence to strict rules. The headmistress and her teachers
are under pressure.
At the moment, Regina and her team are supported by two young professionals from
Switzerland. Clemens Stoll and Céline Joset are volunteering at the BSSK. While the
candidates are sitting their exams, the other pupils have time to benefit from the
special classes offered by Clemens and Céline.
Advent is coming soon. We wish you all a bright and tranquil time and afterwards a
very merry Christmas.
The web team
