The PROMISED NEWSFLASH!

Last month I promised to reveal an exciting development at our Orphanage of Hope School.

July 2025 will see the commencement of building an essential resource , something that was envisaged when we built the school , but only made possible now. (May 2025) .

It was always going to be a challenge to create a proper transition from a closed secure Orphanage to one where at the age of 22 years our orphans would be free to leave and explore and survive in the outside world.

Teaching them to read and write , learn maths and the ABC is a far cry from having the skills to actually benefit an employer or if fortunate enough to be able to cultivate and grow crops on their own land. .

The level of education for most in Uganda is very basic…University Education for most parts is at the level of a training college in developed countries.

So we wanted to build an area within the school. A building for both girls and boys to train them in areas such as making clothes, wood working, engineering , building , brick making , crop growing and other skills .

As indicated in a previous chapter we will have a major” exodus” of young adult orphans in 10 to 15 years time. With no where to go we want to be able to create for them opportunities to live within the wider Kabale area rather than giving them no hope and no future which in all probability would force them to poverty on the streets in the larger cities such as Kampala (1.6 million),Nansana, KIra Town (315,000) Mbarara….

Brian and Linda Sloan are friends that go back to the early 1980s …Brian worked in the same town of Oamaru , for the same company ( Dalgety NZ Ltd) …We were very close even though our offices were 50 metres across the road from each other.

Over the years our paths became even more distant….and we sadly loss contact …in my case living in Auckland, a short time in Papua New Guinea, while Brian and Linda settled in Te Awamutu…

Unbeknown to me Brian’s health deteriorated dramatically to the point of being completely bedridden and supported by Linda for a great number of years…..Dalaine and I were blessed to call into see them at the end of 2015, sharing a little of where we had been ( Uganda of course was included in the conversation) and both showed a great interest in our dreams of wanting to build a home for Harriet and the Bakehouse to help the impoverished community of Kakuuto.

Subsequent and regular visits to the website www.makemynamecount.org resulted in many contributions from Linda and Brian’s pension….at times when we were absolutely desperate for money. These payments have continued…..and orphans have been truly blessed!!

Sadly Brian passed away after an incredibly courageous prolonged health battle and I made a commitment to Linda that I wanted to honour Brian by naming part of the ORPHANAGE school that we were having to build named in his honour.

Because of lack of finance and other factors , we had to hold off with these plans simply because the cost of building an addition to the school was out of our financial means.

Linda re found happiness in time when she married John , who generously pledged to under write the building of a long two roomed classroom block which will in time be set up with equipment to give children the skills needed in the outside world.

It brought tremendous joy to Linda and a fantastic gesture by John to honour Brian’s memory.

The plans are drawn, the land is cleared and the digging of the foundations will start in hopefully mid July when the jolly old rain stops.

And a month later we will see the magnificent Brian Sloan Memorial Training Centre.!

Again be sure to keep watching the news by going into the website www.makemynamecount.org and click on Latest News. You can subscribe to the website and automatically receive an e mail each month with the latest news.

Keep watching for exciting updates and ways you can help “ up skill the kids !!!

Be Blessed

Lindsay