School situation in 2010
BUSABAGA LUGALA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE:
School for poor villages in Uganda
A brief History
Busabaga Lugala Community Development Initiative (BLCDI) a Community Based Organization officially started its operations in Busabaga village in 2005. We started off by addressing the need for education and health among others and Victoria Primary school was born under a tree shade up the hill where children gathered for classes.
A Canadian Based charity: New Hope School Society comes along to support the construction of a few class rooms for the school panting children.
Our organization had by then established reliable grounds that strengthened the relationship for the work to be done.
By the end of 2008, the rooms were up and already usable as classes for the children.
Our Canadian counterparts had also taken several footages on our grounds making personal relationships with people here and also trying to blend in the welcoming culture.
Their goal was to see at most a school constructed for the children in this area and probably well managed before they closed down as charity. By late August 2009, we had informed our members about the possible pull out by the donors as requested and this become good news in hearing for some corrupt government officials together with a few village opportunists, who contacted our donor friends with unprecedented misinformation which we later on discovered as the basis of the dilapidated state of our first school today.
The motive for this has been keenly observed since the saga started last year. We have already learnt that the perpetrators had their personal selfish ambitions of overtaking the school and rip off the last drop of funds from the intended closing charity.
The CBO has fully gathered that they were all eying a substantial amount that they reportedly promised some of the villagers that fell on their side to destroy the image of the CBO.
The monies NEVER came as they all expected to date and this leaves a very miserable situation most especially for the parents of the children. The politicians are keeping a lid on the situation as the people they left to manage the school are purely under qualified with the skills to maintain its wellbeing. Our qualified staff withdrew immediately and started up the school we now call new.
The school in the pictures opened early this year 2010, with a number of increasing children that renounced attendance in the old Victoria primary school. We started with about 94 children and the number has increased to more than 100.the school is totally managed by the aggrieved parents of the former school together with the CBO which strictly supports the programs.
Victoria primary school remained operational with only a few students attending and by now as I compile this brief notice, the numbers have drastically decreased. The services are no longer adequate and the students’ performance is in a very poor state. The teacher’s salaries were cut to almost half after the former donors pulled out of the supporting of the school.
I and several other members of the CBO (Community Based Organization) also known as (Busabaga Lugala Community Development Initiative) BLCDI have taken on the pursuing of a law suit against the perpetrators of this and the situation remains pending for the hearing on the 12th April 2010. We are certain that if true justice exists in our country, there will be a dramatic change of this disconcerting situation.
However, the number of children that don’t even have access to education is so alarming that we need more schools and services to mitigate this problem as one of the means to address illiteracy, poverty and ignorance. The CBO is registered to help in different community support services and we feel that, the need for education is the most paramount and most of the young lives are at stake if we rushed at focusing on other initiatives.
Education in this country is the key to any known success and as it is, that every one longs to go to school, some people hardly get this golden opportunity mainly because…’Education in this country is NOT FREE”!!
I would give a personal testimony if you may, of how I have struggled my way through to even have a glimpse of this hidden treasure of education.
Most children have the conscience to understand the need to be educated in this country and in this village they would trade any thing in order to be at school.
Meanwhile, we have managed to form small adult groups to assist in skills building in order to address the poverty issue in the area. We have carried out several village profiles which gives us a viable baseline to communicate change in this area. In our discoveries, we have learnt that most of the families in this community live below the poverty line and therefore need a helping hand so as to increase on their income generating activities among other factors.
Your efforts in standing with us in order to address these challenges are highly honored.
Our organization stands in a strong position to pledge, integrity, sufficiency and proper accountability at all times while we seek a lasting establishment of a none shakable relationship with the peoples of Romania. Thanking you in advance for and on behalf of the poor and marginalized peoples of our country
Sincerely,
Isaac Andrew Musoke
Director
Busabaga Lugala Community Development Initiative (BLCDI)
Uganda
