Following on the heels of the celebratory mood at the start of the new school year last month, March began with tragic news.  Just when we were ready to send out the AAH newsletter, we got word that a major disaster had hit Bududa district in Uganda where AAH is based. On March 1, a huge landslide swept the villages of Nametsi and Kubewo, burying a trading center, a church, a clinic and a school.  More than 400 people are estimated to have died, including 100 school children, and the government is urging 10,000 people to relocate because of threats of additional landslides.  A temporary campsite for displaced persons has been established several miles from the landslide area.  Thankfully AAH students, teachers, staff and immediate family members are safe.  I wish to express my deep gratitude to the AAH community, both in the United States and in Uganda, for helping support the landslide survivors in critical ways.  Thus far, contributions totaling more than $15,000 have been received. Donated funds from AAH supporters are being used to build a kitchen for mass food preparation in the temporary camp, and the AAH Emergency Response Task Force is partnering with relief agencies on the ground to support temporary classrooms and a health center for survivors.  In the long-term, AAH is exploring partnerships to address the problems of deforestation and prevent future landslides.  Thank you to all who have contributed so generously to this critical effort.  For more information about the landslide, AAH’s emergency response efforts and how to donate, please check the AAH blog.

On a positive note, we wish to again share the good news about the wonderful performance of AAH students in the 2009 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).  We congratulate our students, our teachers, and our parents for this remarkable performance. As in the past, we shall work with the other schools in the region to help them get better.

As the new school year began in Uganda, we were privileged to have four new U.S. volunteers at the school. Retired teacher Catherine Reising-Jones and her husband Jeff Jones and brother-in-law Peter Sims arrived at AAH on February 5, and volunteered there for 6 weeks. AAH also welcomed a new Volunteer Coordinator, Carolyn Edlebeck, who will provide nearly a year of service supporting AAH in Uganda. We are grateful to these dedicated friends of AAH for their support, time, energy and commitment.

Continue reading Note from John Wanda

Message from John Wanda
December 17, 2009

There are less than two weeks to the end of the year 2009. As I write this note, the children in Uganda are out of school, home for their long holidays. Uganda schools close for two months at this time, allowing the children a break to enjoy time with their families.

This has been a special year for AAH and the community in Uganda. It is a year where the partnership between the U.S., the Uganda government, the school and the local community has blossomed.

We began the year with a grant from USAID that enabled us to send more than 60 students to secondary school. USAID increased that support later in the year, enabling us to provide school supplies and teacher training to more than 10,000 others at local primary schools. Such generous support allowed us to extend our outreach programs to the four districts in eastern Uganda – Bududa, Manafwa, Mbale and Sironko. And our donors in the U.S. have continued to support us generously, ensuring that all 325 students at AAH are well supported and that our clinics continue to provide medical treatment to thousands more. Continue reading What a Year at AAH