Schools Work – Life Bridging Works has been involved in the development of Fountain Primary School and Agape Mixed Secondary School in Northern Uganda. Agape Mixed is in its third year as a mixed school and Fountain Primary has been running since 2005. In 2007 2 pupils from Fountain out of 14 pupils nationally won Commonwealth prizes for Writing. The awards were presented jointly by Her Majesty the Queen and the President of Uganda. If that is not achievement enough in 2008 4 pupils from Fountain won the same awards and in 2010 the school became the 2nd best performing school in Northern Uganda.
In Southern Sudan Life Bridging Works is involved with a newly established school Kuleu Lights. This is one of the first schools in and around Kapoeta town and has been warmly received. It is associated with Salt & Light Outreach Ministries (SLM) and receives regular input from the team there. Presently the school has four years of education from Nursery 1 to Primary Year 4 that meet in a temporary structure. Life Bridging Works as of October 2010 started a building project to establish a permanent structure for years Nursery 1 to Primary 7. This project is estimated to cost £40'000 and currently we have raised over 1/3 of this amount.
Why set up school? The answer is easy as investing in education is investing in the future of that community and indeed nation. Providing children with education is giving them a hand up out of their current situation, enabling them to have a brighter future and a fuller life. As John F Kennedy once said ‘The progress of a nation can be no swifter than its progress in Education.’
Sponsoring Disadvantaged Children through Education - This excellent scheme sponsors a group of 28 children, mostly orphans, from an area in Southern Sudan where there is currently little educational opportunities and is sponsoring them through primary education and for some of them this has continued into secondary education too. It has been so eagerly received by the tribe in that area of Sudan that they have gathered together what funds they can to send a further 20 children along to the school. Life Bridging Works aims to continue this excellent scheme; whilst it develops Kuleu Lights school in South Sudan and then the primary level sponsorship programme will be transferred to there as it is nearer the children’s home land.
Small Business Enterprise - Empowering local entrepreneurs to start small scale business to provide for their families and offer employment in their local communities. Projects like pig farming, poultry, dairy farming, bee keeping and ox & ploughs. In line with this we are looking to help provide apprentiships to young people.
Kica Arwot Post Test Association (HIV/AIDS Support Group) – Uganda is a recognised area which has a high percentage of people who have contracted HIV/AIDS. Due to the recent conflicts in the North of the Uganda causing people to live in camps the number of known HIV/AIDS sufferers has dramatically increased. VOM has set up a support group that currently helps over 1200 sufferers of this disease. Life Bridging work is seeking to empower VOM to do more for these people and will look to see what works can be started through SLM in Sudan. The below clip explains more of what we are doing and why -
Village Health Workers – By working with Victory Outreach Ministries (VOM) Uganda Life Bridging Works seeks to support existing village health workers (VHW) by providing aid, resources and further training as required to maintain the work. Life Bridging Works helped develop Fountain School Clinic further to become large enough to be a community clinic. In addition the clinic manager oversees the VHW. In the long term the aim is to train more village health workers in Sudan and create health projects there which will bring long term improvement to health provision and life.
