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MESSAGE
FROM THE TRUSTEES
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HAPPY NEW YEAR! We've decided to save a few trees and bit of money, so from now on we'll be keeping you up-to-date with all Rwenzori Development Foundation news via email… Both our Education and our Environment programmes have been busy recently. In this edition you can read about the two new schools that your donations are helping to support. (For the Conservation enthusiasts, don't worry! In our next newsletter we'll bring you a full update on the Rwenzori Forest Project that is getting off the ground at the moment!) In this issue, we also introduce our first member of staff, Taddeo Kaahwa, the RDF Research and Monitoring Officer based at our Ugandan Office. If you need some inspiration or encouragement to get involved with our fundraising activities, there's a piece from our intrepid cyclist, Aled Jones, who cycled the length of Britain in July to raise money for the Foundation, and loved (nearly) every minute of it… A big thank you to everyone who supported the Foundation in 2005 - we couldn't do it without you! Amanda,
Claire, Dylan, Esther, ps If your contact details have changed, please let us know at www.rwenzori.org/database.htm |
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SCHOOLS
UPDATE
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COMMUNITIES
COME TOGETHER TO
SUPPORT VITAL SCHOOL PROJECTS |
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RDF Trustees, Kate Aubrey-Johnson and Amanda Mullard report on the new education projects that your donations have helped in 2005. This year we've been working with four new schools, helping them to plan for their future needs and secure funding. Two of these schools, just outside Fort Portal (in the West of Uganda) are receiving grants from Rwenzori to help pay for building projects. These funds are in addition to local community funding and contributions from parents. At Kaboyo Senior Secondary School, a mixed school which has doubled in size over the last two years, we are helping to pay for a much-needed library. At Rubona Senior Secondary School, a more rural and less well-established school, we are helping to repair a three-classroom block damaged in the 1987 earthquake. |
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Kaboyo Senior
Secondary School At the moment, Kaboyo has only four classroom and over 400 students. Having another building will make a huge difference to these students - they will now have more room for study, revision and sitting exams. |
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Rubona
Senior Secondary School At Rubona the first phase is almost complete. The remaining work involves fixing the window frames and door and preparing the floor. The local community and the PTA have decided to raise money to renovate the other classroom blocks, too, and the headmaster and parents are rallying together to find more funds for this. |
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FUNDRAISING
UPDATE
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On your bike… Land's End to John O'Groats In July, RDF supporter Aled Jones (no, not that one!) cycled the length of Britain in just ten days and raised a whopping £5,000 for the Foundation. He gives us some of the highlights… |
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Well, I finally did it. After years of thinking about doing it, I got off the sofa, put on the regulation lycra outfit (I know, it's nasty), got in shape and covered the meandering 950-or-so miles from Land's End to John O'Groats in just under ten days. I should end up with about £5,000 for the RDF, and I feel very proud of myself! It was tough. There were moments when the chafing threatened to ruin my behind forever, I almost lost the bike when it fell off the roof rack en route to a B&B, and the weather was wet and windy for the entire trip. But there was more good than bad, honest…
There
were two main highlights (apart from getting off the bike at the end).
The first was cycling up and over the Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District.
I was having a nightmare that day and the weather was awful, but when
I got up to the top I felt amazing. The second was cycling from Loch
Lomond through the Highlands to Glencoe. The weather was still miserable,
but even in the rain it's incredible being in such beautiful countryside,
on a bike in the open air, when there's hardly anyone else around. |
   
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