Many may not be aware that as well as working with the needy in its own local areas, part of St. Vincent de Paul's work is to Twin with African countries to fund and monitor projects that will make a difference to the poor in Africa. SVP in Donegal is Twinned with Uganda and its members have built a very special and successful working relationship with a school in the country's capital, Kampala.
Precious College is a second level school with almost 400 students and they sit GCSE and A-Level exams similar to the education system in the UK.
Buncrana man Kevin Cooley and Vice President of SVP in Donegal has visited Precious College School on two occasions, most recently in March 2010. Following the first visit to the school, improvements were made to the campus by providing funds for the construction of a safe road access to the school, new hygienic toilet facilities and the installation of a permanent power supply. These improvements made a difference to how the school operates it’s day to day schooling of some of the poorest children in Kampala. Tuition can now continue after dark, information technology can be used by teachers and students and the school was moved up one stage in the Ugandan education ranking system.
“Victim of its own success”
These improvements, along with the quality of schooling offered in Precious College, has caught the attention of parents living in its locality and has had a positive influence on the intake of new students in recent years. The school has doubled its student enrolment in the past three years and is effectively now a victim of its own success as it does not have the structures to accommodate all of its students meaning that some classes have to be taught in the open air. The school needs an additional 4 classrooms to accommodate all classes at one time.
Precious College School also provides lunch for all of its students and for two thirds of these students this is the only meal they receive every day. Cooks and students prepare meals every day of the year, except on Christmas day, using very basic but inadequate facilities. Joseph Mary Kayaterakera, Principal of Precious College School said on the visit in March that “providing food for this number is a big task and the equipment and structure we have is not suitable. Many students depend on this facility for their meal each day but our numbers are growing and we need to improve so that we can provide for them”.
Solo Cycle
In its latest effort to raise funds for Precious College School St. Vincent de Paul in Donegal are planning a sponsored cycle from Mizen Head to Malin Head this coming August. Kevin Cooley will cycle the route solo over a seven day period and hopes to raise money that will go towards the €20,000 needed to build the 4 classrooms and canteen for the school. The journey will begin on Sunday 8th August and stop off at Killarney, Limerick, Galway, Knock, Bundoran, Buncrana and finish with a short run to Malin Head on Sunday 15th August. “This is a big target to reach and we may not reach it on this one event but I’m hoping that people will show the generosity they always do when we have sought their support in the past for Precious College projects” said Kevin. “We have scheduled the completion of this project for this time next year and will have a few other smaller events before then, maybe even do the cycle again next year with more people involved. But it would be great to make good in-roads on the amount we need for the canteen and classrooms”.
More information on the project including photographs can be seen on Facebook at “Mizen to Malin – SVP to Uganda”.
Any contributions will be greatly appreciated and will make a real difference to the lives of many school children at Precious College. If you would like to support the project then donations can be made:
- Online at SVP’s National website in the ‘Fundraisers’ section at www.svp.ie/Fundraisers/kevincooley
- Using Sponsor Cards in shops and businesses all around the county, or
- By sending a cheque made payable to “SVP Twinning Uganda” to SVP Region Office, Meeting House, Raphoe, Co. Donegal Tel. 07491 73933.