This is Michael on of the volunteers from the UK handing over the pumps to the girls’ head Teacher

The rest of the volunteers join the girls at the handover

Michael handing over the pumps to the girls

Group photo- what a moment

Our next challenge dear friends is to construct a permanent working space for the girls so they can put their new skills to work. Such a working station will cost £6544.00.

Please consider supporting us by making a donation

My good friend Sally Church had learned about this initiative through twitter and sent me off to Uganda with some tools for the girls.

The girls are aged between 13-16 and word has got out in the village that they are doing a superb job and this has meant that they have started getting customers already.

Of all the initiatives that are under way in Ruhanga this excites me the most.

The girls and their Head teacher George Karamira. He is leading on this initiative and I am pleased to note his enthusiasm

Demonstration of how to repair a puncture.

Oh and I came away with a wish list, A PUMP for each of the girls. They are 15 in the group and sharing tools isn’t going to cut it. For just £4.99 we can make this come true.

To help us achieve this you can either purchase the pump at  Evans Cycle and send it to us at SUITE 114 WEY HOUSE 15 CHUCH STREET WEYBRIDGE SURREY KT13 8NA  or make a donation here and we will buy the pumps

Annet

Setting up the project only cost £200  to set up and 10 girls and women are signed up so far . Girls that have skills and are able to earn and independent income have better prospects in this part of Uganda. Without work or access to education, the options are limted and undesirable at times- early marriage, urban migration with likely hood of being trafficked

Jovuret, Debra and Charity

The women get involved too and here they are with the trainer

Praise,Jane,Audence,and Ivan

We need to get some repair kits to the group which will boost their enterprise
to support our initiative please consider making a donation

£7 buys oil
£70 buys a full repair Kit

Related articles

• Our Story in 2012
• Kick Starting 2013: Our News So far

Gateway to Ruhanga Community project

Another classroom finished and the beginnings of another- the school is growing so fast. In 2008 we had 8 children learning out of a chicken shed today 480 children are registered. We thank you for your support.

View from the school gate-really pleased to see that the grass in the school yard has taken root. That was sponsored by an African Diaspora originally from Rwanda

The beginnings of a community health centre

A lot of progress here

And this where our volunteers let their hair out in the evening- they love an open fire – temperatures can drop sharply in Ruhanga

Volunteer hang out shed

Please consider supporting our work by making a donation

During the course of the year, the Trustees and friends of the charity LET THEM HELP THEMSELVES OUT OF POVERTY put out appeals for money to fund community projects in the village of Ruhanga, SW Uganda.

As much as we ask you to support our efforts to better the lives of people you don’t know, we are mindful that you would like to know how we use that money .

I am going to do just that in this post, as well as how we go about raising money.

As well as putting out appeals for funding, another way we raise money is by taking in paying guests at our local Bed and Breakfast (B&B) known as Uganda Lodge.

Uganda Lodge  serves two purposes: 1) raising money 2) a place for folks to stay in order to share their skills with the community.

There is something unique about our B&B “guests”. They are what is called “volunteer tourists”. This type of tourist seeks a different sort of holiday, that enables them to experience authentic village life in Africa, as well as the usual tourist attractions whilst giving back to the community. This type of tourist spends money in the community and benefits the local economy directly and shares skills with the community. The skills in demand are wide ranging and vary from supervising 10am tea breaks at the local school, working alongside the local teachers, working with women’s groups to technical skills on the capital projects.

For an example of this check out Alan’s work in Ruhanga

So what have  we been up to this year?

Another role of the volunteers is that of being ambassadors for our work. One such volunteer secured a grant of £40,000 from his boss to fund the construction of a community health centre in Ruhanga.

Work began in June with the construction of a toilet that will serve the health centre and this is how far we have come:

When we set out on this journey, our goal was to help create employment and income generating activities within the village. To that end we only employ local people within the project and if we must source experts outside of the community we insist that they too hire local people.

These are the foundations for the community health centre

Folks from the local community getting stuck in

As you can see we have made some progress and we are confident that by the spring of next year the community will have a fully functional community health centre. We will need volunteers with all manner of health care skills, so please be sure to share this information with anyone with such skills.

Even the children took time out of their day to help and  I can’t tell you how much they enjoyed this.

Sadly I have to end this post on a negative note. The ambulance at the local referral hospital has had better days and a new one is required. Here in the UK and the West in general we take it for granted that if you are too ill to get yourself to the hospital, an ambulance will get you there but not so for the people of Ruhanga. With the ambulance off the roads, families have to rely on someone with bicycle or a BODA BODA (motorbike taxi) to get them to the hospital and often exacerbating the medical condition. But we can help change this.

To help the people of Ruhanga SW Uganda get a new ambulance, please follow this link http://www.mycharitypage.com/ethnicsupplies

When we got started we envisaged people in the west coming out to Ruhanga to share their skills with the locals or use those very skills to help solve day to day challenges that folk in Ruhanga face but cannot solve themselves

in 2011 we spent the best part of the year working on bringing clean water to the village. However by January this year, a problem was identified but the original water engineer could not resolve it. Some of that taps we had installed had no water running through them!

Fortunately for us one of our volunteers from England knew what was wrong and how to fix it

Alan worked out that it was not poor workmanship on behalf of the water engineer, however that the water source had moved! Imagine that!

A new water source was identified  and Alan got to work with the community providing the labour that was required

The youngsters joined in too

And when the water was done, Alan set about building an oven for the school

So there you are folk, this is one way your skills can benefit folk in Africa. If you have been inspired to help we are currently building a community health centre and if you think you can help please get in touch our email address is donate@lethemhelpthemselves.org

• CONSIDER MAKING A FINANCIAL DONATION  SO WE CAN CONTINUE WITH THIS WORK  THROUGH THE LINK
• BELOW

It is all hands on deck now and even the children joined in by carrying a brick or two to speed things up

First things first- patient toilet is going in first- sanitation is a big aspect of improving the health of the community

The other aspect of our work is ensuring that all work where ever possible is undertaken by local people.

Stay tuned we will provide you with updates and if you would like to make a financial contribution please do so at

Head Master Office and Staff room

Phew! It is August already, the Olympics have come and gone. Really proud that one of the Gold medals went to Stephen Kiprotich a Ugandan long Distance runner. Did you know it is 40 years since Uganda won a gold medal at the Olympics! This is a cue to get our school children interested in sports, you just never know the next Gold medal winner may come from Ruhanga.

So what have we been up to in the village

A fair amount but  suffice to say, We have got off to a good start this year and have already completed a girls only toilet at the school to ensure that the older girls can remain at school, we completed a school kitchen so we can feed the children whilst they are in school, and work is under way on the Community Health Centre which we hope to complete by the end of the year.

Pit Latrine construction

These are the beginnings of a pit latrine that will be made available for the use of of callers to the health centre

It is only a pile of bricks now but stay tuned. We will be updating you with progress of the construction work

In the mean time we would like you to do one or two favours

1. TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ABOUT OUR WORK
2. COME VISIT US IN RUHANGA
3. CONSIDER MAKING A FINANCIAL DONATION  SO WE CAN CONTINUE WITH THIS WORK  THROUGH THE LINK
4. BELOW

Mudslides in Bududa- NE Uganda

We have had an update from the young people working with the Ugandan Red Cross to aid the victims of the mudslides in NE Uganda.

Please help us help them by making a donation at

Bududa NE Uganda- survivors gaze at the empty space that used to be their home