Positive Planet Meets With Rakai District Local Council Chairman

During a recent visit to Uganda, Positive Planet co-founders Drs. Marc Sklar and Daniel Murokora met with Mr. Vincent Semukula, the Rakai District local council (LC5) chairman. In attendance at the meeting were also the chief education and communications officers. After a wide ranging discussion on the challenges facing the government in providing Universal Primary Education for all the district’s children, it was agreed that Positive Planet and the Rakai District government have common goals and that working together would be of mutual benefit.

In Uganda, the LC5 chairman might be considered at the political level of the Governor of a state in the US. We are grateful that Mr. Semukula is supporting our application of recognition as an Ugandan NGO.

Meeting w/Matale Hill Parents to Discuss Chronic Hunger

A recent survey of the head teachers of Positive Planet’s five Ugandan sister schools revealed that approximately 80% of our children do not eat lunch on a daily basis. Chronic hunger negatively impacts the health of our children and also has a profound effect on their ability to learn. Positive Planet co-founders Drs Daniel Murokora and Marc Sklar recently met with over 20 parents of our first sister school, the St. Andrews Matale Hill Primary School to discuss this serious problem. In a 2 hour meeting many of the difficult issues that underlie the problem of chronic hunger were discussed. Extreme poverty limits many of our parents’ ability to provide lunch for their children. The fact that over 50% of our children are orphans, often being cared for by elderly relatives with limited resources, also impacts their ability to fully address this dilemma. By the conclusion of our meeting it was clear that any solution would require full partnership with the entire school community. Positive Planet is always seeking creative partnerships to assist in the realization of our mission. To address this serious problem we are working with Egg Module.Org to begin researching the feasibility of establishing a small scale cooperative poultry farm. Our goal is to help create a sustainable business model which will support a school lunch program for the students of Matale Hill. For more information about The Egg Module, visit their web site.

Construction of New Classroom Building at Lwamaya Complete

For the first time Lwamaya Primary School will have classrooms for all of its seven grades. Up till now four grades have been meeting under the cover provided by the few trees on school property. Thanks to the generosity of their sister school, the Mary McDowell Center for Learning, this large four classroom building which also houses the head teacher's office and library was completed in February, 2008.

Throughout the two years it has taken to finish this project, Lwamaya parents have never stopped contributing to the completion of their new school building; donating over 10,000 bricks, sand, stones as well as hundreds of hours of hard work. Positive Planet promotes true partnership between our sister school communities and at Lwamaya the years of commitment have finally paid off.

Positive Planet Leads Trip of U.S. Teachers and Students to Uganda

After a year of planning and preparation, Positive Planet sponsored its first trip, visiting our sister schools in rural Uganda. Representing three of our U.S. sister schools 25 teachers, students and parents embarked on an exciting three-week journey throughout the physically beautiful and culturally rich nation of Uganda. Beginning with a ten-day eco-tour of the entire country, our hearty band of travelers withstood 12 hour drives over mountainous dirt roads to see Uganda’s breathtaking landscape while learning about the everyday lives of the people of Uganda. Visiting Uganda’s national parks we trekked the endangered mountain gorilla (over half the world’s population of 700 live in Uganda) and observed the rich diversity of African wildlife.

After completing a circuit of over 1000km we returned to the district capital of Masaka where we began the work, which was the focal point of our trip. In partnership with Ugandan educators from our sister schools, a three-day Teacher Skills Workshop was held attended by 26 Ugandan and 10 American teachers. Exchanging ideas and experiences, all of the participants discovered that there was much to learn from each other and left with a renewed dedication to deepen and expand our partnership to improve the quality of education for all of our children.

Teachers, students and their parents visited each of our sister schools where we shared our games, songs and dances with one another. As we ended our trip all who participated expressed that the trip was life changing. Life changing in that each of us was moved by the desperate conditions endured by our sister schools as well as the inspiration we received of our Ugandan friends to continue to build bridges between our sister school communities to impact the lives of all of our children.