THE headmaster of Shebbear College, Bob Barnes, and teacher Fran Lovett recently visited Uganda in East Africa as part of the wchool's world AIMS scheme, when they investigated partnerships with local schools and charity projects. During the two week visit they visited secondary and primary schools around the capital, Kampala, and looked into the education system within the country. They also looked at the work of charities run by the Methodist Relief and Development Fund. One organisation they visited was the Voluntary Action for Development (VAD), run by Benedict Male. The group is helping improve awareness of health and sanitation by providing schools and communities with new and safe latrines and washing facilities. They have also provided water tanks to store rain water, water jars and shallow wells. Provision of these reduces the number of deaths and illnesses related to unsafe water — it also means children and adults do not have to walk miles to the nearest water source. Another project visited was the Katosi Women's Development Trust (KWDT), run by Margaret Nakato. This has empowered women to keep livestock and grow crops in order to support their families. The project has greatly improved the lives of those involved and has had a major impact on families. The third organisation visited by Shebbear was the Rural health Promotion and Poverty Alleviation Initiative (RUHEPAI). The project is based at Mbarara in the South West of Uganda and encourages communities to work as a team, pooling resources to grow crops and keep livestock. They encourage and educate about the importance of good sanitation and hold training sessions for members to learn effective ways of farming on smallholdings. Members attending training sessions are given a tree sapling they can plant to increase their earning power.
