The government of Uganda has called for schools to reopen after 2 years of being closed and while Museveni has told the schools to not increase their fees, many schools are not following these instructions and have either hiked their fees or have added supplemental fees. Our Mamas were scrambling to suddenly come up with enough money to get all their children back into school (the reopening came with little warning) so we decided to support them. This is a one time school boost as the objective of the Mama program is for the women to have a business that provides funds for their children’s education but with all the closures and issues of the past 2 years, these Mamas have been scraping by (as you have read in Andrew’s previous reports). The water purification systems are still going to be purchased, we just felt that getting these children back into school took precedence. Once everyone is settled back in, we will continue to pursue the Purifaaya systems. Thanks for your continued support! -Erika

Greetings to you all,

I hope you are all well. 

As a country, the Covid 19 situation here seems to have calmed down a bit as the economy has continued to open more and more since the first reopen early this month. It is absurd that most of the businesses have been affected greatly and a number of them have closed. The night economy which includes the bars and street vendors has started to operate. Our Mamas like Hadijja will be able to work longer and as a matter of fact, she called me last week to see if she could look for a location for her local bar. Before the lockdown happened in 2020, Hadijja was doing very well so she has the desire to reopen the same venture.

This week was yet another wonderful week, with our main aim or objective of getting all children back into school. As most of you have been following, one of the biggest challenges or effects of the pandemic was economic and financial struggles among our Mamas’ in this case. It was to this effect that we were alluded to helping the Mamas’ financially enabling the children to enroll back into school. Therefore, I was charged with the responsibility to ensure all the children are in school so I made some calls and found out the financial requirements and scholastic materials for most of the children. The scholastic materials include pens, books, pencils, crayons, box files, reams of duplicating paper, rulers, geometric sets, school uniforms, etc.

There was no focus on the Mama business at all this time around but rather returning children to schools, so all my calls and visits were centered on finding out the childrens’ needs to return to school.

Below are the Mama’s and children that we worked with this ;

Name of Mama	Children	Class	School	Needs	Status
Hadija N	Ali	P.7		School fees bal	Paid
	Nassar	P.4		School fees & req	Paid
	Shafiq	P.1		School fees  &req	Paid
Dorah A	Rodney	S.3	Lakeside Secondary	School fees bal	Paid
	Imran	P.2	Neo Light Primary	School fees bal	Paid
	Muhammad	P.2	Neo Light Primary	School fees bal	Paid
	Mariam	P.7	Darlen Primary	School fees	Paid
Jane N	Prossy	S.3	Nansana SS	School fees	Paid
	Timothy	P.7	Volcano Academy	School fees	Paid
	Nicholas	P.2	Miracle Delight Pri.	School fees	Paid
Asia B	Fatuma	S.1	Mbogo Sec School	School fees	Paid
	Jalia	S.3	Mbogo Sec School	School fees	Paid
	Jamila	P.6	Mbogo Primary	School fees and Uniforms	Paid
	Rayan	P.3	Mbogo Primary	School fees and Uniforms	Paid
	Rahma	P.1	Mbogo Primary	School fees and Uniforms	Paid
	Shakima	Top	Mbogo Primary	School fees and Uniforms	Paid
Hamida N	Abas	P.3	Hope Day	School fees	Paid
	Muhsin	S.5	Kawempe High Sch	School fees	Paid
	Shuraihah	S.4	Mandela SS	School fees	Paid
Rashida S	Joan	S.4	Luzira SS	School fees	Paid
Florence	Bill Paul	P.4	St. Godfrey Pri	School fees and feeding	Paid
	Angel		St. Godfrey Pri	Feeding	Paid

It was such a pleasure going to these schools and families to support them in school. It was a great responsibility because the parents opened up about the children’s needs.  In most cases, I offered some kind of social and educational guidance to the children to encourage them to stay in school.

It was a great feeling seeing both the Mamas and children smile at every end of a school visit and talk. It is unfortunate that some of the children did not have the opportunity for me to speak to them and encourage them because I could not physically go to their schools because some of the children live and study in their ancestral villages. These villages are very far from the central district where I live and operate most of the time, therefore, inhibiting my ability to go to the schools.  

Thank you for a wonderful week of great support, I am looking forward to another week of making some dreams come true. It is always a pleasure seeing our Mamas and our community proud.

Report by;

Andrew Echel

Director of Programs, Uganda

ISEE Solutions Society 

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