Archives 2021

24/12/2021
Christmas Greetings from Bulabakulu!

18/12/2021
Our growing network of helpers and supporters has made another, very important step possible: The foundation of the Nursery building is fully financed, the last batch of 1228 euros is already on its way to Uganda. School director Saad Luyinda will have the final work done up to the roof covering. Then we take the next step – the roofing of the Nursery building! All of this is only possible thanks to your great support. Thank you very much!

12/12/2021
The chances of school operations being resumed after the long Covid 19 lockdown are increasing. The poster for the registration of the students is already hanging. Schools can probably start again at the beginning of the new year. Finally good news! As school director Luyinda writes, distance learning materials have now also been delivered by the Ugandan school authorities and have arrived in Bulabakulu. Actually quite late! But the headmaster thinks it’s better to be late than not at all!
Parents and children look forward to the distribution of the learning materials.

10/11/2021
School director Saad Luyinda sent us more pictures about the construction of the now completely completed water supply. These illustrate quite impressively how the process was carried out.

01/11/2021
After the summer break: High time for an update!
– During the summer holidays, the SÜKURIER published a full-page report on the work of the Friends and the situation of the SHAK Junior School in Bulabakulu, Uganda.

– This report was also read by a journalist from the local radio station Munotradio in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. He invited the 1st Chairman of the Association to a LIVE interview on the same topic under the motto “Hello Neighbours”.

Both press releases can also be downloaded under “Downloads”. As a result, further donations were received into the donations account, – including a very large donation from Switzerland. This enabled us to immediately forward these amounts to Bulabakulu to further support the large-scale project “Nursery area”. You can see the result of this support in the pictures that school director S. Luyinda sent us. Many thanks to the donors!
The more detailed overall report by Saad Luyinda can also be downloaded.

25/08/2021
It’s just amazing! How do the people in Uganda do it? No sooner has a building been planned than the foundation of the entire building is ready a little later! Maybe less bureaucracy and fewer regulations?
In any case, it is fascinating to see how quickly the planned projects are implemented thanks to the donations from our supporters.
In any case, the foundation for the entire nursery section has already been completed.
As soon as we have received enough donations again, phase 1.2 will start: the side walls.
Please help the school with your donations! Thanks!

23/08/2021
So the priorities have already changed. Recently we thought the focus was now on building the kitchen. Due to the very strict requirements and regulations of the COVID 19 ordinance of the Ugandan government, appropriate rooms must be created for the nursery area (Kindergarten). The distance rules, which are also known to us, no longer allow the little ones to be cared for in several groups in one room.
Director S. Luyinda immediately got down to work and commissioned the planning and cost estimate. Estimating costs was a laborious process. In accordance with our previous approach, we wanted to divide the construction phases into smaller, more manageable steps in order to be able to tackle the next construction phase, depending on the level of donations. The plan and the detailed cost estimate are already available and, as the photos show, the first phase of construction has already begun. The foundations are being laid!

24/07/2021
Another milestone for the SHAK Junior School: The extension to the existing building has received its roof and is now completely finished! The development association was able to help finance the roofing with donations. Now the urgently needed additional rooms, such as teachers’ rooms and classrooms, are available. As you can see – every Euro you donate arrives immediately at the SHAK Junior School in Bulabakulu. Thank you so much for your donation!

07/11/2021
After one of the biggest problems, the water supply close to the school, has been satisfactorily solved, we turn to another major shortage – the school kitchen – after consultation with the school board of directors. School director Saad Luyinda commissioned the architect, who had been in charge of the previous planning, to plan a large school kitchen with a cafeteria area. You can see the plans here and here. The cost estimate for the entire kitchen area is also ready. At the moment we are considering how we can split the costs into smaller (more affordable) steps.

23/06/20211
At the invitation of the Rotary Club Ulm-Neu-Ulm we, Ricarda Simon, the 2nd chairwoman of the friends’ association and I, were able to give a lecture for the members of the club about the situation of the SHAK Junior School. The members were very open and benevolent. Perhaps there will be a collaboration with the Rotary Club and our development association for the benefit of the SHAK Junior School!

04/06/2021
It’s done! The team was successful with the second well and found water. The water supply is now being installed about one or two minutes’ walk from the school building. The first water is taken. In the future, the water will be pumped from the water point to the school building via a hose system. The pump and the hoses can be seen in the picture. The work continues, of course. We will report further at this point.

15/05/2021
The construction of the roof for the left part of the building continues. About 1000 euros are still missing to cover the entire building.
Serious difficulties were encountered in drilling the waterhole. It has to be drilled much deeper than initially thought. The workers encountered hard rock. Therefore a new drilling site has to be tried. The work continues unabated!

29/04/2021
The work on the water supply is making great strides. The large water tank, which may be followed by a second one, is already on the school site. As you can see in the photo, the waterhole is also about to be completed!

20/04/2021
Another generous donation for the power supply has reached us! Thank you very much!
The money for the construction of the water supply has now arrived in Uganda. The financial service provider “WorldRemit” did a really good job – within a day the money is in the school account in Uganda (for 99 cents !!).
The school headmaster immediately started planning and measuring the water supply system (borehole with water tank) with a water engineer – see photos. At this point we will keep you informed about the progress of the work.

16/04/2021
The school had been closed by the authorities for a little more than a year due to the corona pandemic. At the beginning of this week the school was finally able to reopen – at first only for the fourth and fifth grades (P4 and P5) The children were amazed at the changes: They were picked up by the new school van and are taught in classrooms with new school furniture (shelf, teacher’s desk and chair, clock on the wall) .

13/04/2021
“You, a real miracle happened!” Said the 2nd chairwoman of our friends’ association, Ricarda Simon, touched. And she was right! We would not have dreamed that after the financing of the second school van, the second major project could already be realized – the reliable and constant water supply for everyone involved in school life on the school premises!
But first things first: For Easter we had made a variety of Easter decorations. Ricarda and the women of the parish of the Good Shepherd in Böfingen also made flower arrangements and wreaths and sold the Easter items in Böfingen. Incredible 650 euros were raised through their great commitment! But we agreed that financing a reliable water supply would still take a miracle! The costs are really high!
The miracle happened, an businessman from Elchingen-Thalfingen and another large donation brought the required amount of 4500, – together in one fell swoop. We are excited about the school’s own water supply in Bulabakulu.
Many thanks to all donators! They made the most important thing possible: water for the people at the SHAK Junior School in Bulabakulu!

17/03/2021
Meeting of the Parents and Teachers Association at SHAK Junior School
As suggested during my visit to Bulabakulu, there has been an institutionalized parent council for some time. At German schools, this is comparable to the school conference, at which parents ‘representatives, teachers’ representatives and the school management discuss matters relating to the school. At this meeting, among other things, the planned school opening under COVID19 conditions, the new class P5 and the possibilities to enable even more children to attend school were discussed. In addition, the parents ‘representatives present were introduced to the new school bus and further support from the Friends’ Association in Germany.

27/02/2021
Important! We have changed our bank details:

Sparkassen Engen Gottmadingen
IBAN DE36 6925 1445 0005 6389 29

The handling of transfers, SEPA direct debits, etc. is much easier with a banking service provider in the neighborhood. From now on, please only use the new bank details for transfers. The old bank details will remain for a while to be on the safe side.
Again we were able to transfer 75 euros for the next classroom shelf to Bulabakulu. Thank you very much for the donation!

02/12/2021
Another donation for a classroom shelf has arrived, which we are very happy about. Thank you!
School headmaster S. Luyinda wrote a very interesting and insightful report on the events of the past school year at SHAK Junior School. It can be downloaded from the download area.

01/31/2021
The furniture made by Ugandan craftsmann in Kampala, desks for teachers with matching chairs and classroom shelves. Thanks to all donors!

01/29/2021
School- headmaster Luyinda wrote us a “thank you”- letter and gave us an outlook on further activities at Shak Junior School. You can download and read the letter under “Downloads” section.

01/27/2021
Events almost roll over and I can hardly manage to keep the homepage really up-to-date – thank goodness! Sequentially:
1. The second school van has been purchased, has the school logo and is ready to go in front of the overjoyed school headmaster Saad Luyinda’s house. Here all donors can get an idea of what they have helped to create / financed!
2. A large donation enables us to buy the teacher’s desks and chairs for the rest of the classrooms. S. Luyinda has already contacted the carpenter. All classrooms therefore have a teacher’s desk with a matching chair!
3. I had already reported on the first two class libraries. S. Luyinda will buy the books piece by piece.
4. And then the next surprise. When I was in Bulabakulu almost exactly a year ago, the building blocks were being made on the school grounds for the entire four weeks. Now S. Luyinda sends me the first photos of the further construction of the school building with exactly these stones! Another classroom and a staff room will be created. It’s just unbelievable what is going on there! And we can help to “sow the future for the children in Uganda!”