BIG NEWS Half-way Through 2019

Each child thrilled to get their very own colored pencil!

How can it almost be July?!  Lois traveled to Kobulubulu in March and posted on our Facebook page in “real” time (see https://www.facebook.com/krmauspartners )

But there’s been a lot of follow up since that trip.

Our Day Break and Soroti Rotary collaborators

Last month the Board of krma-USPartners met to discuss the findings on Lois’ trip concerning our new collaborative initiative with Day Break Rotary Club of Kampala to assist the over 3000 students attending the 3 primary and 1 secondary government schools in Kobulubulu.  Day Break Rotary of Kampala organized a formal Needs Assessment of the 4 schools in Kobulubulu and made initial inquiries to ensure government and community leaders’ support for our collaborative efforts.  We reviewed their work and adopted the following priorities to inform our part of the collaborative effort to assist these desperately needy schools:

*Address hunger of students at three primary schools: equipping with tools and expertise to support sustainable feeding of students

*Provide adequate teacher housing: equipping the schools needing adequate teacher housing in building those structures

*Support funding stream to build and sustain a permanent new science laboratory at Kobulubulu Secondary School

*Collect gently used, culturally sensitive, paperback books and educational magazines here in the U.S. to supply a small library in each of the four schools, and collaborate on building and furnishing, with schools to provide adequate staffing, a functioning room for a library   

With your help, and the generosity of a grant from Silver Spring-Kensington Rotary Club, we believe our collaboration with Day Break Rotary in Kampala can accomplish all of this in a sustainable way over the coming years.

Meanwhile, we have not forgotten our existing commitments to the women farmers of Kobulubulu, KRMA, and our scholarships for girls. Here are the highlights:

Mama Monica can read! With her new magnifiers brought from K-USP!

·      KRMA women’s crops are surviving despite unpredictable weather conditions

·      In 2020, we will conclude our developmental support of the Cassava Project and KRMA women will continue with the skills and experience they have gained over the last seven years with our support

·      KRMA will provide support and community leadership in our combined efforts to improve Kobulubulu’s government schools

·      The final KRMA Girls’ Scholarship to University was awarded to KRMA daughter Patricia Agwelo, daughter of Damali (more on this in a subsequent post)

·      The new Kobulubulu Scholarship for Girls to enable girls to complete secondary school (the local school only goes through “10th grade” and doesn’t offer the last two years of secondary school) was awarded to two girls who have begun Boarding school in a nearby District so they can complete their secondary level education (more on this later)

Stay tuned for more information as we take the next steps on our journey. And remember, your contribution can be made by sending a check made out to krma-USPartners, Ltd. and mailed to 13217 New Hampshire Ave, #4291, Silver Spring, MD 20914 . Or you can pay online by going to http://www.krma-uspartners.org/donate/.