Thanks to Odlum Brown for choosing Stand Tall Education as its featured charity in the 2011 Van Open tennis tournament. What a great match and the views from Hollyburn were incredible.

Thanks to Philip Mujabi, our vocational trainer at Stand Tall, we now have a new sign in front of our school. It looks amazing and the kids got a chance to participate in the production. Great on all counts.

Congratulations to our  administrative assistant, Esther Rose, on her new role as mother of a beautiful baby girl. She’s a fine girl, beautiful and smart like her mother.

Lynn McGown and Michael Pratt of Celtic Traditions in Vancouver donated the ticket proceeds of their student concert to Stand Tall Education for the second year in a row! We not only appreciate and thank them for their contribution but we also encourage you to visit their website at: http://celtictraditions.ca/ because there you will find the information you need to get started on your own music and/or voice lessons. They and their talented group of instructors teach everything celtic from fiddle to harp to freeing your voice and singing your heart.

Thanks to Rose Charities NY, http://rosecharities.us/home/ American donors can now donate to Stand Tall Education and receive a tax receipt. The link to our page is http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/standtalleducation/rosecharitiesnyinc. It’s simple and secure. Our goal is $1000 all of which will go towards expanding our library and text books.

 

We teach kids to think TALL and quit thinking small…..

click here: http://standtalleducation.com/2011/06/12/in-60-seconds-think-tall-not-small/

 

Universal Aide Society,  http://universalaide.org/, recently sent a container of goods to Uganda and Stand Tall was one of the lucky recipients. Through their generosity, we received a variety of products to enhance our vocational program as well as some surprise treats such as clothing, sports uniforms and shoes for the kids and the teachers. The sewing machines and the sewing products are especially useful; we can now supplement our one lonely sewing machine and get the tailoring instruction underway. Thank you Shirley and Universal Aide Society!

This was a month of accomplishments. Below are only some of the value additions to our very special school.  Stand Tall is much more than just a free school with nice buildings. As we grow, we continue to add educational programs that are designed to enhance and individualize the learning experience. Our children continue to grow in confidence, creativity and academic ability.  Guided by our well-trained staff of teachers, these children are blossoming into their own. As one student wrote, “I love Stand Tall because it has made me what I am”. How exciting.

 

MESSAGE FROM OUR PRINCIPAL, SSIMBWA KAYONDO

In less than a year of operation, Stand Tall Training Centre has attracted diverse groups of people from within and outside of the country. The relevancy of an education that enhances Teacher/Student interaction and creative learning practices is being continuously appreciated. We acknowledge with thanks the many resource persons with various skills, teachers and volunteers who have come in to work with us.

At Stand Tall, we cherish practical skills alongside academic education. We call upon you to join hands and support the disadvantaged children as we cannot do better without you. Any contribution counts, however humble it may be.

 

 

WELCOME, GERALD KIKOYO

Gerald is our newest member of the Stand Tall team and our financial consultant.  He is an accounting wizard and organizational expert and we are all grateful to have him here once a week monitoring our expenses and keeping us on budget.

 

 

 

 

 

CHEEP CHEEP

 

Our one -day-old chicks are adjusting to their new surroundings.

They will ‘brood’ for two weeks in a heated box before being let loose in the coop.

We bought the local variety of chicken for its superior resistance to disease. The children will be learning the process from vaccinating to feeding from our neighbor and our experienced Principal.

 

HEALTH CARE DAY

 

Many thanks to Festus, Nurse Maria and Josephus  for presenting our children with an afternoon  worth remembering.  The children were completely focused on the short film about Sexually Transmitted Disease and Festus, the presenter, had just the right mixture of humor and facts to keep the kids engaged and listening.  We are grateful to him for presenting a difficult subject in a most accessible manner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josephus continued with the theme of HIV prevention and warned the children of the dangers of STDs.

 

Nurse Maria ended the afternoon with a demonstration on tooth brushing and dental health care.  She also did a stellar job of keeping the children attentive and smiling.

The  afternoon ended with the distribution of dental kits to each child. Dr. Angelina Loo of Vancouver generously donated the kits.  There was so much excitement as the children lined up and waited their turn to receive a kit.

 

 

 

 

FRUIT TREE SEEDLINGS

Thanks to a generous donation from Claudie and Gary Snarch on behalf of their newborn nephew, we have purchased 41 fruit bearing trees.

They include papaya, orange, mango, avocado, macadamia, and guava.  With a two-year maturity date, we can expect our grounds to look like a garden very soon, not to mention the benefit to our bellies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WELCOME TO THE BOARD, JOSEPHINE

We are very happy to announce that our Uganda Board has a new member, Josephine Buruchara from Kampala, Uganda.  She is highly skilled and is sure to be a valuable asset to our Board. For more information on Josephine, visit www.standtalleducation.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE’VE GOT A REAL COMPUTER LAB

Hello generous donors! You have made our computer lab a reality.

Our next purchase will be a projector as soon as we get the funds and then we are really on our way! There are so many educational DVDs we want to show them.

We’re really getting there and the children are totally fixated on learning computer language. We still need more equipment but we are much closer to our goal. Now, how to keep them from discovering the app store.

 

SKYPE CALL TO MOLDOVA

 

 

 

Wow, Wow, Wow – the kids got to talk to children in Moldova thanks to PEDN, a Ugandan organization that focuses on improving education and administers the world wide Aflatoun program here in Uganda.  Among many other things, Aflatoun promotes chlld saving , child empowerment and global interaction among fellow Aflatouners.  So where is Moldova, anyway? Moldova is a small country bordering Romania and once a part of Russia but now independent.

The children were enthralled and so were we.

 

 

 

 

 

ART AND MORE ART

Art   always speaks for itself…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PENPAL LETTERS

 

 

 

 

 

Nootka Elementary in Vancouver sent 36 pen pal letters to Stand Tall learners and now Stand Tall has answered.   Among the questions asked “Do you have snow in Uganda?” and “Do you have computers at your school?”.  The dialogue continues…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IT’S A PARTY

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet hugs from the children of Stand Tall to my wonderful mother, Cely Schouela, who donated a big, creamy and very chocolaty cake for our school party celebrating my birthday.  I was truly spoiled by the songs, dance, speeches and the wonderful presents. I received fruits, eggs, vegetables, bead necklaces, bags, a gorgeous penholder, money, a wallet and a live rabbit! Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ZANZIBAR

And finally Zanzibar….. What does Zanzibar have to do with Stand Tall? Absolutely nothing but I couldn’t pass up posting some photos of this incredibly beautiful and exotic place.

P E A C E

March is bringing  a lot of changes to Stand Tall Training Centre.  Ssimbwa, our Principal, and I have been putting our heads together to decide what we need, when to get it and how far our budget will take us.

The School

Our grounds are getting greener even with the lack of rain. With a couple of good rainfalls we should see the grass filling in.  We are waiting for the rainy season to plant some young trees, and some vegetables. Our chant, “Rain, Rain, come and stay, keep coming backing every day”

The barbed wire finally went on the perimeter wall adding to the security. We bought and installed 4 fire extinguishers.

We now have a full school with 90 children. The 9 newcomers were admitted this term after interviews and testing were conducted. We have ordered more dining tables, class tables, and chairs to accommodate.

The computer lab is being outfitted with more computers (we still need more).  We added  more security by welding additional  bars on the windows and we are researching how best to deal with the frequent electrical brown outs. We bought cloth covers to protect our computers from the very invasive red dust.  Our most pressing need right now is to open a well-stocked and working computer lab, and soon the children will be more tech savvy than us, we  hope

Programs

At Stand Tall, we are enthusiastic and committed to offering a program that emphasizes critical thinking, child participation, vocational training, art and health education.

Dixon Ampumuza, from the Razor Newspaper, is now coming in once per week as part of our Newspapers in Education Program to work with the children and teachers on interesting and fun ways to incorporate the newspaper as a learning tool.  The children elected their own officials from President to Sports Editor and are setting up reading corners in the classroom.

Philip Mujubi. a professional craftsperson and artist  in Kampala, has been volunteering at the school once per week teaching weaving and tie and dye to the younger groups. Our goal is to have several students work alongside  him in his workshop for more in-depth training.  This is a great opportunity to hone a skill and earn some money from products sold.

Festus Bazira, an experienced educator, has volunteered, accompanied by a nurse,  to show an AIDS/HIV film and conduct a sex education talk with our older children,  followed by a demonstration and talk for the whole school on general hygiene, and dental health. We are very grateful for his participation and look forward to Friday, March 11.

Expect to see many little chicks running around because we are about to start building our chicken coop. the children will learn immunization and caring techniques and will collect the eggs. Lunch is going to get even better!

A Great Big Thanks

Our rapid progress is due to our generous and concerned donors. Without them, none of this would be possible.

Thanks to:

Liliane Aberman for donating the money for the chicken coop. The coop is in memory of her late husband, Samuel Aberman, who was an exemplary man and a passionate hobby farmer.

Dr. Angelina Loo for donating funds for 90 dental kits to be distributed next week after our health education day.

The children  of Nootka Elementary School and their teachers Erin and Claude for raising the funds for our first 100 chickens and for writing wonderful penpal letters to 36 of our learners. Our children are working hard on responding.

The children of  Trudeau Elementary and their teacher Meredyth for raising  money towards one computer. What a wonderful gift!

Claudie Snarch for a donation in honor of her new nephew to buy much needed seeds and trees. We’re just waiting for the weather to cooperate.

Arts and Crafts

The children love making things; only ending the class is hard.

Kerry Spearing, our upcoming volunteer

Visitors

Stand Tall welcomes visitors and we seem to be blessed with many interested guests.

February and March has brought us:

Pat Montani, and Thian Hundert from Bicycles for Humanity organization

Fred Oola from The Child is Innocent organization

Festus Bazira from Volset Foundation

Montana and Ainsley from WMI’s Women’s Microfinance Organizaton

Abdul from African Hearts Organization

Our local reverend from Kira Parish

While election frenzy dominated the news, the final result was that the incumbent, Museveni, won another 5 year term. He will have completed 30 years at the end of it all.  The news was received quietly and with some resignation.

Meanwhile at Stand Tall, we were busy selecting about a dozen new students who join us as new learners for 2011. We were looking for enthusiastic children and parents and we think we found them.