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August 2010 Newsletter
We have recently returned from a trip to the Kyangwali refugee
settlement and the progress we have seen is impressive.
The school is 75% complete – plans changed slightly because it was made
of brick to ensure a sturdier building and it is bigger than originally
planned hosting 3 full size classrooms, ensuring space for more children
to be educated. The building, though not yet complete, is impressive and
Coburwas (the organisation founded by the refugees themselves) has very
much become a central location within the camp; a centre of education,
business and community development and sharing. The school has gone from
almost 30 students to 100 in just one year and the students are
advancing well with their English (necessary for them to advance in the
Ugandan education system). Within 4 months the school should be complete
and that will allow for extra growth in numbers of students when the new
school year begins in January.
Last year we initiated the building of a school in the camp. Our
original plan was to create a typical structure of trees, mud and sand
but instead with Coburwas we opted for permanent classroom blocks
instead of the tree and mud planned before. There was a big anthill near
the building that housed termites that were attracting and destroying
other houses in the area. Coburwas realised that this anthill could be
used to make a good number of bricks using free labour from Coburwas
members during the school holiday. The members were able to make a third
of the required bricks to complete the three-classroom block.
COBURWAS is an advocate for environment protection Coburwas saw that
cutting down trees would be against what we are sensitizing the
community about. In addition the brick building is durable and more
presentable than the tree and mud one. The community contribution in
making bricks motivated us to add one classroom on the two we had
planned for, to make three which would also enable more growth in
numbers in the school. While a better decision this has also
increased costs and to now finish the building we require more funds.
The estimated cost to complete the school building is U$6,500. In
addition the school needs any supplies that can be donated and shipped
out to them. This includes
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Stationary
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Text books
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Notebooks
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Old laptops
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Primary teaching tools (e.g. alphabet posters, maps, etc)
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Sports equipment of any kind
And indeed the list goes on. Many schools buy new stocks each year and
your second hand supplies could make a remarkable difference to people’s
lives in the camp.
It is the dream of the school and all involved in Coburwas to one day
have a small library. Books are a precious and rare commodity in the
camp and yet such a wonderful teaching aid and motivator. A library
would benefit the community at large, not just the school itself.
Therefore donations of any books to help us slowly build up a library,
something that people have only ever dreamed of seeing in the camp,
would assist us greatly.
Equally impressive was seeing the students on our Right to Learn
programme – orphans who would otherwise not be receiving an education,
healthcare, clothing and food. Many of these students we knew from the
year before, they seemed hopeless cases who spent their days in the bush
with no schooling and running around aimlessly. Now they are responsible
holding great value to their education; they have advanced so quickly
catching up with the other children rapidly in their English and other
studies. Two of the slightly older ones had such outstanding grades and
responsibility that they hold the positions of head boy and girl.
Click here to see
photos...
We finally managed to get out all the second hand football boots that
had been donated and the second hand full team strips that we handed
over. The footballers make up various groups, youth and adults and
football plays a key role in the camp not just as a sports discipline
but also as a means of raising money and gaining scholarships to
secondary school. When the teams saw what we had brought they became so
emotional they could not speak. Their response was humbling, their
gratitude overwhelming. They told me laughing that they would win the
next tournament simply by running out on the field with a proper strip
for the first time because it would instil such fear in their opponents.
They talked of how they would no longer be mocked and ridiculed for
being refugees who could not afford boots and whose teams didn’t even
have a real strip.
Anti-violence group for girls and women -This group was founded to
afford a safe place for females, many of whom have been sexually abused
either during the war or in the camp itself. Many are in early marriages
where they face severe domestic violence. The safe house was to provide
a refuge, a place for counselling but also a place to hold workshops and
training. By helping to give these females a trade they can gain some
form of independence which helps free them from the violence they are
often forced to live in and allows them to resist being forced to leave
school or marry at a young age. The safe house is established but the
building is not complete. To complete the building will cost is
U$1,200.We have purchased ten sewing machines in the start towards
establishing a dressmaking business for the girls. We are still short of
sewing supplies, material and other essential items. Once up and running
the girls will start to earn money from this but until that time they
need support to get the items that they need. We need either donation of
these items to be sent or money raised to purchase them in Uganda. We
are also trying to get the girls trained in jewellery and basket making.
Again we need supplies and money for training to make this possible.
Coburwas Theatre group - This year we established a theatre group to
help us tackle a number of problems in the camp. By travelling around
the camp, which is enormous and hosts over 25,000 people we can teach a
number of important things through theatre. This includes teaching
about:- Respect for women, this forms part of our anti-violence and
anti-rape campaign
We took 20 individuals and trained them extensively. In addition we
ensured that 5 of these are trained fully in First Aid so that they can
also deal with problems as they travel around. However this in turn
costs money – from feeding the group, to fuel to move them to the
extreme territories within the camp; from first aid supplies to
supporting their families when they are doing this work.
We need to raise money to continue this very effective group. We need
money for
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Functional costs e.g. fuel and food
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Speakers they can travel with which enables them to reach a wider
audience. Last week they did a presentation with 400 people present
but the lack of a speaker system makes for challenges for being
heard
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T-shirts for the group as the camp commander has told us they need
something akin to a uniform if they are to be allowed to freely
travel around the camp!!!
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Us to continue going in and training them on new kinds of theatre.
So far they have learned and applied in their work: Physical theatre
and movement; Forum theatre; The role of the joker; Puppetry; Dance
choreography from movement work; Song writing for hip-hop music
In one year so much has been achieved and most impressive is that
Coburwas have not just waited on donations to make all this happen they
themselves have been so proactive. With a small cooperative farm they
have now opened a small café at the trading post at the entrance of the
camp with all money raised being poured back into the school. Other
initiatives include the miraculous purchase of a TV, linking it to a
small generator (there is no electricity in the camp) and having film
nights and even showing the world cup at open evenings where people pay
a small fee. The level of entrepreneurship is indeed impressive. I could
hardly believe that I was watching the final of the world cup in the
middle of a refugee camp! And the initiatives go on…
But we still need your help and there are many ways to help small and
large. Please look at the list below and see if you as an individual, an
organisation or a group can help us with any of the following:
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We still need football boots desperately especially adult sizes,
please get them to us and we guarantee as with all our support to
hand them over directly. Also if you know of any teams or you are a
school with a football team please collect your old kits and send
them out to the camp – you cannot imagine what this means to people
there and the pride they take in having this gear that they have
survived without for so long.
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Your old mobile phones. Believe it or not your old mobile phones can
be a lifesaver. The camp is enormous – it takes days to cross it and
mobile phones can actually be a source of survival if someone is ill
or in trouble. The irony is most of these refugees are Congolese and
the mineral used in our cell phones comes from their country BUT
they cannot afford a phone. We can get old phones to them and local
sum cards and credit are reasonable prices there – plus all networks
allow for free emergency messaging. You may think well how can they
charge the phones – you would be amazed. A mixture of charging off
old car batteries and wind up chargers have ensured that the camp is
a cell phone active zone.
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Sponsoring a child on the Right to Learn programme. I know this is
not cheap at £35 a month or an annual fee of £400 but it truly does
change the life of these children and ensures that they are taken
care of in every way. We have seen the results of this after just
one year and all those sponsoring children already have made such an
impact that we can only hope that more can help us in this way.
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By setting up a standing order with Theatre versus Oppression for as
little as £5 a month you can help us make a difference and continue
our work. As a very small charity our work is dependant upon
donations and fundraising, all our workers give up their time
voluntarily.
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Old lap tops. Some of those in the camp have been sponsored onto
university courses – they are few in number but they are facing
immense challenges not least in the discrimination against them for
being refugees. Their biggest challenge comes from having to submit
work in printed form. They are adept at fixing up old laptops and
electronic things in general and begged us to bring out any old
laptops even if they seem useless to us.
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Medical supplies. Every year we take out some medical supplies.
There are Coburwas individuals who have been trained by the Red
Cross and spend their days voluntarily helping in the community with
sickness and accidents yet while trained by the Red Cross they have
not been given supplies so we need any supplies we can get our hands
on. On that note any doctors out there who ever want to come on one
of the trips and help out just let me know!
For more information on how to help, standing order forms or information
on the Anti-violence or Right to learn programmes please contact us at
theatreversusoppression@gmail.com
We will shortly be updating the website with photos of all these
developments and comments from those we are working with.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us in every way. Thank you to
everyone who bought and helped sell the calendars that contributed so
much to making the school a possibility. Without your support and
generosity Theatre versus Oppression would not be able to do the work it
does.
Best wishes
Jennifer Hartley
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