With so much pleasure and love I send my special and warm greetings to you in the holy name of our blessed Saviour Christ Jesus in whom we find peace and refuge in times of troubles. Also, greetings to the entire team of Bright Hope World.
I was so grateful when I informed you of the things that were affecting the school concerning government requirements to register Marumba Christian School and immediately you helped to save the situation. (The Ministry of Education at very short notice imposed conditions on schools in Uganda which seriously affected the ability of Marumba School to continue. BHW was able to assist the school and, coupled with the endeavours of Justus and Reuben and their own income generating activities, meant the school has continued to grow and thrive.) I therefore deeply thank you with all my heart for all you have been able to accomplish for the school. What you have shared and give Marumba school children has made a great impact with a lot of encouragement to the kids and school.
There currently is famine in the country due to the long dry spell that affected crops in the fields and this has caused many families to sleep on empty bellies, but for us at Marumba School we have not encountered that.
I have realized that the need is so great among these children. It is difficult to overstate the trauma and hardship the increase in AIDS related morbidity and mortality has brought upon children. They have been denied the basic closeness of family life and children lack love, attention and affection. They are pressed into service (withdrawn from school) for ill and dying parents to participate in household work. Or they are pressured into sex to pay for necessities these families can no longer afford. They receive less health care and are always treated harshly or abused by step or foster parents. Sometimes the relatives and neighbours charged with caring for a child take the child's property or inheritance leaving them more vulnerable to mortality, illness and exploitation.
Therefore, when you hear me appreciating the entire team of Bright Hope World for the support that you give us, may you fully understand the gravity of the situation.
We have had a number of things going on at Marumba Christian School;
1) The school enrolment is so encouraging and I hope we shall reach our goals by His grace alone.
2) Registration of the school with the Ministry of Education. Our three registration files are in the office of the municipal Education Officer and he told us to finish the kitchen and the four pit latrines, currently two are complete.
3) Teaching workshops have been going on to update teachers on new methods and strategies of handling children.
4) There continues to be more renovation (classrooms) as you will see from the photos. (There has been an enormous amount of work and improvement to the school done since BHW last visited in mid 2016.)
5) Kitchen construction
6) More pit latrines
7) Painting the whole school
8) Water connection (This was a huge issue as the well immediately across the road from the school belonging to the Scouts Association either dried up or became unsuitable to use so they were having to bring water around 2 km in containers.)
9) A gate
10) Electricity installation
11) Fixing doors and windows. These windows and doors in the building in the photo were not there before because when this building was purchased there were no windows and the front part had wooden doors and windows with wrong diagonals so we had to replace them with metal ones.
12) Feeding children
13) Furniture
14) Primary six has been established (each year the school extends by one year)
We thank God for Marumba Christian School as we have seen God’s faithfulness and goodness through many storms. The Marumba community is so appreciative. Every day we receive members of the community, especially parents and local leaders, who come to check on us and make good comments in our visitors book about the school. Many of them have admitted that there is a very big improvement both academically and in regard to infrastructure.
We are helping parents on the core values of education for their children because we feel that parents must be liberated together with their children.
Gospel preaching has been extended to the community by some of the teachers from the school. There is a lady known as Annette who is a parent to Mugarura, a pupil in P3. She was very sick and two of our teachers visited her for prayers and shared the gospel. Two days later she testified about the love of Christ through our teachers.
We normally have teachers’ fellowships every Friday evening. Community members always come to attend.
1) Teachers’ micro-loan programme: This is a saving and credit society with shares. The teachers lead it themselves and the interest is 10%. It gives loan to members and non-members who are staff and some people from the community. The repayment period is three months. The saving and credit society currently has 1,000,000 UGX (approx US$350). There may be room to grow this in the future.
2) Photocopying machine for printing exams and other documents: The school has grown and therefore this pushed us into the situation of looking for a photocopier machine. We now have primary six class and next year we shall do national exams. We have started preparing children now for better academic performance. For this reason we do many sets of tests every week. Printing is necessary to improve on academics.
3) Computers are needed for teachers to type exams
4) Music system to uplift worshipping and praising God in the school: As a Christian school we must be God honouring in all aspects of life and lively worship with the word of God will expose children to know God at an early stage.
5) Acquiring more land for expansion - boarding section, dormitory, dining and library: As one of the future plans, I would like to buy this piece of land. It costs US$15,000, is two acres and could accommodate the whole school. I am believing God who has done great things for Marumba School. The land is just adjacent to the school.
6) A vision to have 100 classrooms to accommodate 4,000 pupils in the next ten years
Marumba Christian School has achieved so much, however, it is still facing some issues and challenges:
1) Poor payment of school fees by parents
2) Water shortages: We are able to collect rain water thanks to the help of BHW. However, it is not enough and two weeks ago I applied for water connection from National Water and Sewage Co-op Rukungiri area. Normally we would be getting water from rainfall but there has been no rain in the last four months.
3) High food prices: Many parts of the country were hit by drought so severely that there was less or no harvest. This has caused famine in the country and in Rukungiri in particular such that 50kgs of maize flour which used to cost 60,000 UGX (US$20) now costs 140,000 UGX (US$46). Beans and rice are much more expensive too. Milk prices have gone up but there has been little milk collected because of the drought.
4) There is a need to pave part of the school compound to reduce water run-off, dust during the dry season and a lot mud in the rainy season.
5) More furniture is needed together with more textbooks and school supplies
6) Lightning conductor
7) Replacing the old fence of bark with a new one of wire mesh and metal poles.
8) Building a teacher’s pit latrine: We have completed two pit latrines, one is under construction and we have one pit latrine to finish. We have the building materials to use as the Government wants us to have four pit latrines - teachers, girls, boys and kindergarten alone.
9) Games & sports equipment
10) Standard cooking stoves
11) We are working hard to reduce temporary structures. The Ministry of Education and Sports no longer wants any temporary shelter at all private schools. Roofing is about to be worked on next week. It will be done on both the kitchen and pit latrine.
1) We thank God for our teachers especially their commitment, patience and love for the children, they are working tirelessly. Salaries are paid on time now using the income from the milk cooler. This is also why the micro-loan programme is working.
2) Marumba Christian School was not closed for not having a license by the Government unlike so many other schools which were closed.
3) God’s provision in terms of food and other logistics
4) The ability to repair the school to a better standard
5) School enrolment has increased
6) The registration process in progress and the steps we have taken so far.
7) Good recommendations by some key figures and local leaders in Marumba community.
1) Completion of registration process
2) Land for expansion
3) Godly wisdom to run the school
4) Poverty conditions of our parents
5) Dry spells
6) Water shortages
7) Completion of electricity installation
8) Lightning conductor
9) Window glass
10) Buildings
11) Primary seven next year.
I am so humbled before God for what He has done through Bright Hope World. I did not know all the plans God had for Marumba Christian School through you. "Not all can do great things. But we can do small things with great love”. (Mother Teresa)
Thanks so much
Many blessings
Justus Matsiko