Dear Supporters and Friends,

Last month I wrote to you about my trip to the U.S and provided  local updates. I am done with my final written MBA exams, and am now only handling research work which does not consume as much time as the normal study did. This gives me the flexibility  to visit with Amor village projects and schools as well as monitor what goes on in the bakery and new kindergarten school renovation activities. 

In  Uganda for the past two weeks, so many people have been trekking from different regions and countries to Namugongo to celebrate the Uganda Martyrs Day; an event held annually on 3rd June in memory of a group of 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican converts to Christianity in the historical kingdom of Buganda. The converts were executed on the orders of the Kabaka (King) Mwanga between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887. While I drove to Amor village and to Kampala, from Jinja, I met crowds of people young and old trekking from as far as Kenya, Tanzania and from all corners of Uganda singing and praying, with their luggage and cans for fetching holy water from the Namugongo shrines. It is amazing to see and to imagine people making such sacrifices for the faith and hope they have.

I bring you great news from Portland High school; the Uganda National Examinations Board has granted Portland High School a license to seat National examinations at the school. The teachers and learners at the school are so excited and are looking forward to their first examinations come November. We appreciate all you our supporters who helped us meet the required standard for this award.

Portland schools (Nursery, Primary and High) had a short school break on 3rd May and resumed operations on Monday 27th May. There were no cases of major illnesses registered in any of  the schools. We appreciate Pauline Oakley for donating to support the health and hygiene of the schools for the past 3 years. 

Two of our sponsored students, Isaac and Joan, just completed their undergraduate degree programs in Business Computing and Human Nutrition respectively. It has been 7 and 9 years of educational support for  these young people; their lives are transformed beyond anything they could have ever dreamed of. Many thanks to Krystina Kilde and Shelby and Max Young who have been respectively supporting these young people. We have matched 449 young women and 55 young men with sponsors who have had direct contact and mentorship with their sponsors since 2012. Many of these young people are now career working young women and men, some already have families. 

One year has elapsed since the people of Amor village (Tororo) and those of Buwenda village (Jinja) created a friendship association. Forty Five (45) people from Jinja are paired with 45 from Tororo who are friends who exchange gifts during their visit. There is now  a bond between friends and also cultures of the Jupadhola (Tororo) and Basoga (Jinja) tribes. On May 18, the people of Jinja visited the people of Tororo for their second time  (their first visit was in August 2023). It was a wonderful celebration. The group of 90 came up with an idea of starting a Savings and Credit Cooperative  (SACCO) in  June.  This  is a special type of cooperative offering financial services with a primary focus on mobilization of funds and provision of affordable credits to its members who are both owners and users. We at PCE are not only promoting this cultural exchange program but are also empowering these communities to take charge of their own development – which is the journey towards our vision. 

Let me officially announce to you that the Titan Schools of East Africa, Jinja Nursery and Primary school is NOW a reality in Buwenda community, Jinja. For the past three months we have written to you about starting a kindergarten in Jinja; we are now completing  all possible constructions and renovations to start the kindergarten on June 20th. The house we purchased with the help of 12 donors championed by Karen Bentlage and a loan from Dr. Dianne Ashton in 2020 is the building that will be used  for the kindergarten. Since the beginning of May, a kitchen and cook-stoves have been built, while classroom renovations, walk ways, assembly grounds, and a playground are still works in progress. Many thanks to Nina Hahn, Deanna Inman, Alison Harrower, Haidee Wong, Kathryn Gray and April Lukasik for their generous donations that have moved us steps towards this dream. The branding of the school badge/logo, colors and general branding is being handled by one of the members of the Gathering of Titans (GOT) conference, Tamara’s Organization Beusail Academy – www.beusailacademy.com. We appreciate their offer to help us brand the school. Bringing the school to reality, we have already purchased 10 tables, 55 chairs, 6 large cooking pots, 24 plates and 36 bowls  with support from Kathryn Gray.

We appreciate all of you who have supported us  because this journey and everything realized has been largely due to  your generosity . We continue to call out to anyone who is able and willing to support us to please get in touch with me.  We still have a lot of needs  both in the Portland school community and in Titan,  including solar panels and batteries, computers, furniture, textbooks, more classrooms and ramps, among others . We also have many young people in need of educational sponsorship. 

We appreciate all the individual child sponsors; the students you support are enjoying school life and their lives are being greatly transformed. We also appreciate Shelby Young, Sumru Erkut and Rita Reutner for their generous monthly donations which help us coordinate the PCEF activities and programs. 

Thank you for your time. We hope that you will share our work with others  who might be interested in supporting our work in any way. We need volunteers with any expertise, fundraisers, donations and people who will give us feedback and encourage us.

We wish you a Happy new month of June and a great start of the next half of the year, 2024!