Work plan 2017

Every year we compose a work plan that guides our activities during the year. The workplan indicates what has to be done, how, when and by whom.

For here we familiarize you with the first column: what is planned for 2017?

Project manager Marcey (Mercy) Kiconco

Vision/mission: write a 1 page document about the project wherein we define ourselves.

Target group: recrute 2 or 3 more children who fit in the target group, by preference for group 2.

Operational plan:

-write a time table. The time table structures the school day.

-develop a curriculum for our target group with the help of teachers.

Phase 1: document situation analysis

Phase 2: first draft of curriculum

Step 1: define the goals of the curriculum. Define the core curriculum.

Step 2: select and organize teaching contents

Step 3: specify teaching methods and teaching materials

Phase 3: gathering information to facilitate dissimination and implementation of the curriculum in 2018. Visits to special schools in Kabale and Ntungamo Districts.

-revise individual action plans. Education goals for each child and a strategy to realise these goals are available.

-test a selection of learning contents and teaching methods/materials defined in the curriculum.

Personnel:

-2 ½ teacher, 2 half time curriculum project staff, half time project manager and 1 worker-guard are in function

-worker, teachers and manager get support

-different skills trainers help and train the team

Infrastructure:

-finishing unit 1 (last phase). Water supply: harvesting rain water in plastic tank 5000 liter and permanent tank; reservoir tank with pump on stand; eventually shallow well. Connection with National Water or Diocese gravity water sheme. Wiring plus connection to electricity net (Umeme). Water channels. Improving accessibility for wheelchair users of sanitation installation and site in general.

-finishing unit 2 (first phase): ceiling, doors and windows, wiring, plastering, flooring, glasses. Second phase: tiles kitchen and bathroom, guttering, veranda, painting.

Materials:

-equip classes and kitchen.

-didactic materials (cfr. activities on time table) including cooking materials. A very good collection of materials for teaching/learning activities is available.

-inventory. A list of the materials of the project is available. Photos of valuables are stored in the computer of the project.

-key management is real.

Finances:

-a budget 2017 is available. The budget estimates the cost of planned activities.

-accountability 2017 is available. The accountabilty registers the expenses.

-fundraising: make 2 attempts of fundraising inside Uganda.

Relations:

-an inventory of external relations is available.

-an up to date brochure is available.

-the blog is up to date.

Reports:

-termly reports are available.

-an annual report is available.

Some of these tasks are already done. E.g. the time table is available, we have written a first draft of the situation analysis (curriculum project) and defined the core curriculum, we have recruited the personnel, a great deal of finishing unit 1 and equipping the classes is done etc. But still a lot is to come. We will be at the mercy of Mercy!

Finishing unit 2 -kitchen and office

More doors and windows for unit 2. Left Innocent (worker); right Willy (welder and father from Elizabeth).

Thanks to positive fundraising outcomes in Flanders the construction program is advancing very well. We are busy finishing the first building of unit 2. This building houses the kitchen and the office. 

The boss himself is tiling the kitchen. Provisions for electricity are already there.

Justus and his team worked on making ceilings, plastering and flooring, fixing doors and windows, making provisions for water and power and tiling the kitchen. If erecting a building goes relatively fast, finishing takes more time.

Later this year we hope to finish the last details and to start to equip this building. The kitchen is already operational at least as far as cooking on charcoal stoves is concerned.

For more pictures look at the Page construction.

(Pele)

Finishing unit 1 -classes and sanitation

In February-March Justus Murangira and his team finished unit 1. They placed a plastic tank and builded a permanent tank to harvest water. At the same time water channels to drain water from unit 1 were constructed. Finally the wiring of the buildings of unit 1 was done.

Construction of a permanent tank

By doing so unit 1-classes and sanitation- is finished. We still have to connect to water and power. We're also making some adaptations at 1 toilet to secure accessability for wheelchair users.

The construction of unit 1 is finished!

Now that the buildings are finished we will concentrate on equipping these buildings.

For more pictures, go to the page Infrastructure.

By Pele

Who picks the children from school?

Children are taken from school by relatives or boda boda man. Here are some pictures.

His grand mother helps Ignatious

Ignatious is picked by his grand mother. Grand mother is helping him to put his clothes well.
       

Pritty resembles her grand mother

Pritty is also picked by her grand mother. Pritty resembles her grand mother. They have to climb a very steep hill to go home.

So the grand mothers go by foot with their grand children.

Praise is proud to travel by bike

Prize makes use of a transport system that is common in Kabale: a bike taxi. She is proud when she climbs the bike!
 

The boda boda man and the mother of Arinda came to pick Arinda

Arinda is picked by her father, who comes with his moto when he is not to busy with his timber bussiness. If not the parents hire a boda boda.
       

Elizabeth is happy to sit on the moto of her father Willy

Elizabeth likes to sit at the moto of her father. Willy is a welder. He produced metal doors and windows for PROUD Village.

     

The younger sister of Sarah (left) comes to pick Sarah (right) together with her schoolmates from Child Africa

The mother of Sarah sells shoes at Kabale market. So, it is the younger sister of Sarah who comes to pick Sarah at PROUD Village. Usually she is accompanied by her schoolmates from Child Africa. They are a colorfull group!

New pictures of the children

I have added pictures of the children attending PROUD project on the page 'Children'. These pictures date from the early days in PROUD Village. Children did not dispose of their uniforms at the time some of the pictures were taken.

Arinda looking at herself in the window

PROUD project welcomes 9 children at PROUD Village. Group 1 is for children of primary school age and counts 5 children, 4 girls and 1 boy. Group 2 are youngsters and counts 2 girls and 1 boy.
1 boy is attending Wise Parents Nursery School.

Group 1 and Ignatious showing the aprons with teacher Doreen

For more pictures open the page 'Children'.
Written by Pele

Karimunda's E.J. graduation

He was graduating on 31/03/2017 at Tourism Hotel and Training Institute in Kabale town. Many people were happy to see an old man graduating at his old age. People from the village crossed the lake to come to witness the graduation ceremony. Kiki, his daughter, was very happy also to see that her father has graduated and she gave him a gift to put on his neck with the word "congratulations"...

Kiki's father putting on a graduation gown

By Kiki

Nikandinda Joventah, teacher and curriculum agent

I'm Nikandinda Joventah from Rubanda District.

The first day in PROUD project

Joventah

I reached in the project as I was interviewed. The project was well constructed and looking smart. I was interviewed by the project manager and the director and later I was given a job as teacher and curriculum agent.

Now in the project

-The project is going on forward. Proper sanitation and hygiene is the song of the project by the teachers.
-Emphasis and promotion of quality skills among the children is moving on well by the teachers.
Well, the project is shining.
All from Niwandinda Joventah

Doreen, teacher of group 2

My name is Ekyakunzire Doreen. I am a female Ugandan aged 23 yrs born in 1994 from a place called Rubaya Sub-county, Mugandu Parish, Kacerere Village, Kabale District in Ndorwa County. I am happy to be born in the place mentioned above b'se it has already helped me to grow very well with many experiences which have led me to be the way I am. And that will also help me to be better in future.

Ekyakunzire Doreen

I have all parents. My Father is Mr. Kamari Enock and my mother is Musinguzi Win. All of them have brought me to be grown up from birth up to now. They have given me a chance of taking my studies within the way they are b'se we are not in good living but not as far as not to servive our selves, b'se they have offered themselves in trying to pay for myself from primary level up to institution level as follows:

I started my primary level in 2000 & 2008 I finished it. Then 2009 I joined secondary & in 2012 I was finished secondary level while doing very well on that all levels but I remained at home for 2 yrs from 2012-2014 due to lack of school fees to continue my studies and I was at home while doing other activities e.g. household activities like cooking, washing both utensils & washing clothes, cleaning and doing income generating activities being helped wiz my parents like gardening activities, clotcheting, weaving mats, baskets & others.
Then in 2015 I got a plan to join the Nursery institution together with my parents b'se we have already got money from those activities. Then 2015 I joinded Kigezi Early Childhood Education Institute Kabale for 2yrs in-service programme up to 2016 i.e. I have finished my certificate in Nursery teaching.

Doreen teacher at PROUD UG

In 2017 I started to look far a job to do and I thank almighty God b'se He answered my prayers & I have got it on PROUD UG, Kekubo Village Kabale District. Per now I am working and PROUD UG is a very good project in looking after mentally retarded children. May be when it changes but per now it is a good project in both children and workers plus the neighbourhoods.

Written by Ekyakunzire Doreen

Black residents of Belgium 3

HIV patients

Although black Africans are only one percent of the population one in three HIV patients in Belgium came from black Africa.

Internet users

Black Africans use the Internet frequently. In order to communicate, but also for the reading of the African and international press. After all, they cannot find much information about their country of origin in our media.

Black residents of Belgium 2

Nationalities

The Congolese people are the largest group: they are 75,000. Comparatively most black migrants come from Rwanda, however: about 18,000. There are only about 600 Ugandans in Belgium, mostly in Flanders.

Students and asylum seekers

In the colonial period Congolese, Rwandans and Burundians did not get the right to travel to Belgium. So the influx is mainly a post-colonial phenomenon. Most black migrants came to Belgium as a student or as an asylum seeker.

Black residents of Belgium 1

Residents of foreign origin

1 in 5 residents of Belgium has a foreign origin. In Brussels, this is more than half; Flanders 1 to 8, in Wallonia 1 to 5. But what about the migration of people from black Africa to Belgium?

Where do you see most blacks in Belgium? Precisely, in Brussels. 6 to 7 per cent of the inhabitants of the Brussels region is black. And the least? In Flanders. Also correct: 1 to 100.

Black residents

Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are mainly found in Brussels and the outskirts of Brussels, Louvain-la-Neuve and the larger cities such as Liege and Antwerp. In Flanders, you will find them especially in the outskirts of Brussels, Denderleeuw, Antwerp, Aalst and Ghent. There are still a number of municipalities with no resident from black Africa.

Learning activities at PROUD Village

By the start of activities in PROUD Village in February 2017 we listed the following learning/teaching activities:

General education:

Morning devotion including singing-dancing

Physical exercises/Games

Cognitive games

Music: playing music; listening music

Drawing and shading

Joseph (group 1) shading with the help of teacher Patience (Eastern)

Group 2 drawing and shading with teacher Joventah

Open activity

Throughout all activities:

Communication

Social behaviour

Self care:

Eating

Eating during the first week at PROUD Village. Table covers and chairs were still not available.

Washing hands

Taking shower

Toilet training (throughout the day)

Dressing

Combing hair

Brushing teeth

Smearing jerry

Brushing shoes

Household activities:

Fetching water

Bridget fetching water

Collecting fire wood

Cooking

Bridget and Sarah preparing porridge with teacher Doreen

Setting the table

Serve food

Clear the table

Washing utensils

Praise and Ignatious taking cups to the kitchen

Washing clothes

Bridget collecting dry clothes

Cleaning (classes, sanitation, kitchen, compound)

Sarah cleaning classes and compound

Ignatious carrying bricks to organize them

Income generating activities:

Gardening: vegetables / flowers

Planting cabbages with teacher Doreen and Joventah

Watering plants

Weaving: baskets, mats

Clocheting

Bridget and Sarah clocheting with teacher Doreen

Making post cards

In the future we want to add:

Baking

Making jam

Flower shop

Coffeebar

Restaurant

Renting rooms

Parties

Income generating activities were split up in activities we could start with (like gardening) and activities we planned for in the future but for which we did not dispose of the necessary infrastructure and materials yet (like baking).

Taking into account the age and abilities of the children/youngsters we attributed activities to group 1-children of beginning of primary school age and group 2-youngsters in secondary school age and organised them in 2 different time tables.

Written by Pele

Selling ladies' clothes

I am called Tumusiime Eunice working at Mwanjari market as a business woman dealing with selling ladies’ clothes.

Manjari market, every Monday and Friday

I sell nice skirts and brouses at a relatively good price. In my business I normally get customers on Friday but on Monday I don’t get many customers. 

Eunice's fitting room

Most of the girls from Kabale University come to me to buy office wear skirts because they always tell me that skirts that I have are good and are fittings to tie their buttocks.

University girl Kiki is one of the customers of Eunice

Written by Tumusiime Eunice

Opening of PROUD Village in Kabale

PROUD Village Unit 1 classes and sanitation

Exactly three years after the start of operations in Kabale (Uganda) we opened Unit 1 of PROUD Village, a facility for children with intellectual disabilities. The new construction is composed of 2 classes, 4 toilets, 3 showers and 1 laundry room. The unit has a separate enclosure and is equipped with 2 water tanks. Moreover, everything is prepared to connect to water and electricity. 

On February 6, the first 8 students with intellectual disabilities came to PROUD Village. Praise, Elizabeth, Arinda, Joseph and Pritty form group 1 (primary school age) and Sarah, Bridget and Ignatious group 2 (youth). We had to improvise to cook -the kitchen is still under construction- and the uniforms were not delivered yet. But it took not long before everyone was at ease. Watch the picture!

   

Kiconco Marcey, project leader, with Arinda, Praise and Elizabeth

By Pele

How the name Mercy changed to Marcey

This is Mercy...

She was called Mercy by her parents and later she joined primary school at Kisiizi Primary School where the teachers taught her to write her name as Marcey. So she grew up knowing to write her name as Marcey. 

When recently she was processing a passport they found that the name which was on her national identity card -Mercy- was not the same as that on her academic documents -Marcey. From there the Ministry of Internal Affairs -where they process the passports- sent her to National Identity Registration Agency (NIRA ) -where they process the national identity cards- for the correction of her name. At NIRA they sent her to the court to make an affidavit, it means she went to swear before the magistrate that she renounces the name Mercy and that she will be called Marcey forever.

...and this is Marcey

So Mercy became the owner of a national identity card and a passport where her names are spelled as Marcey.

Namugongo shrine

Namugongo shrine

This Uganda Martyrs Shrine is a catholic church dedicated to the martyrs of Uganda who shed their blood because of the word of God. They were killed by Kabaka Mwanga because they were worshipping the God of the whites.

There is a martyrs lake which was excavated at Namugongo. Many pilgrims have often drown water from this lake and later given testimonies that this has been healing them of various diseases.

By Kiki

The Obama's 2 The election night victory speech of ten years ago

By listening to the last speech of Michelle Obama I remembered a famous passage of 'the election night victory speech' of her husband now ten years ago. He said: “tonight is your answer”. And he continued: “It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled”…

Disabled asked themselves if they were hearing well. A newly elected president recognizing them as full citizens in his victory speech!

By Pele

The Obama's 1 The last speech of Michelle Obama as First Lady

The last word of the last speech of Michelle Obama as First Lady was… “proud”. As she finished with: “Being your First Lady has been the greatest honor of my life, and I hope I've made you proud.” 

But there were more ideas that can fit with our orientations as emphasizing the value of inclusion and celebrating diversity.

The value of inclusion

"Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don't matter, or like you don't have a place in our American story—because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are."

Celebrating diversity

“You see, our glorious diversity—our diversities of faiths and colors and creeds—that is not a threat to who we are, it makes us who we are.”

By Pele

Parents meeting held on 10th feb 2017

(Grand) parents of group 1 accompanied by Kiconco Marcey, project leader (right) and teacher Patience (left)

The meeting started with an opening prayer led by Ngabirano Patience. Kiconco Marcey opened the meeting by thanking parents and teachers for having attended the meeting. She also requested teachers to introduce themselves before the parents. She encouraged parents to always come in time whenever there is a meeting. 

We explained the time table to parents and discussed with them the activities which we want to teach our children. In the meeting Director explained the subjects and programs that is included in the time table for example general education, self-care, house hold activities and economic activities.

We discussed about the arrival time and departure time for the children and we agreed that arrival time is between 7:30 am and 8:30 am while departure time is between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm.

We also discussed about the new uniforms and Marcey showed the sample of uniforms to parents and all parents were happy and thanked Director by clapping the hands for him.

In the meeting Director and Marcey promised parents for home visits of each child to look at the activities a child does at home and see the activities their young brothers and sisters do at home.

By Kiki