You'll see...

Children's glasses for Uganda

I remember the first time I put on my glasses. Suddenly the world looked different - way more beautiful. I loved my glasses, my mum couldn't believe it when I told her I wanted to wear them all the time, I even insisted on sleeping with my glasses on.

We want to make sure that kids in Mpigi can get glasses if they need some, so we started a little project: Children's glasses for Uganda (German: Kinderbrillen für Uganda). Julian and I visited opticians in my hometown and asked them to accept donations of old children's glasses in their stores. Everyone we asked agreed to do so and eventhough were not sure what will actually come out of this, we're looking forward to receiving the glasses.

Anne

English Version

Fundraising for beginners

it's the little things ...

"Where's the money going to exactly? What happens with the money? Who knows if it'll really arrive where I want it to?" A lot of people would like to donate to charity but are insecure about whether the money will really arrive where it is supposed to. What people give to Julian and me will go directly to the children at Abato.

To collect some money my dad and I put together a handmade savings box, which my mum placed at the reception of her office. To inform the people about the Abato Foundation I also designed a flyer. We hope that our savings box will be filled until August so that we can bring the savings directly to Abato.


Anne

Deutsche Version

Tailoring school

the sewing machines are buzzing...

It is difficult to get a job without having graduated - especially for young women.

Abato managed to purchase six sewing machines and started a new project. The Abato Foundation wants to give young mothers that dropped out of school an opportunity to learn a specific profession: They measure, cut, and sew, until they finish the education programm and become a proud tailor. Right now the women in the tailoring school are making alot of new school uniforms for the children of Abato Junior School. They are doing such a great job in a very short time, you just have to take a look at the adorable uniforms the children are wearing to school. All thanks to these young women.


Anne

Deutsche Version

The joy of parenthood

King Arthur

Even through this is not directly linked to Abato it is still a huge thing for the friends of Abato and of course for the founders and leaders Moses ans Kirabo. The Kalanzi famliy has been blessed with a new member: On the 12th of February Arthur Mark Kalanzi has been born. Everything went well and the parents couldn't be more happy and proud. The little fellah will enlighten our days when we are finally in Uganda.

Deutsche Version

Schoolterm starts

"Finally going to school"

 When highschool students go back to school after vacation or so they may be annoyed by it. But every child, no matter if in the U.K., Germany or Uganda is proud and happy to go to school for the first time.
Abato Junior School opened it's doors for the children of Mpigi, Uganda on the 3rd of February 2014. 300 kids are getting a fair chance to the education, they deserve thanks to Abato Foundation Uganda.

The day starts early in the morning. The children line up and wait for their teachers to take them to class (which by the way is exactly how my elementary school started in Germany).

After wishing a good morning to their teachers they pray together (85 % of the people of Uganda are christian). Prayers are an important part of their daily lives.

The taught subjects are all the ones you may remember from your time in school: Science, mathematics, social studies, computer literacy (which you may actually not remember from your school time, but you can probably imagine how important this subject is nowadays), music and of course english.

With all the learning of course children also have to have some quality playtime. Abato Junior School has it's own playground for the students.

After a long period of playtime you also have to rest a little, and of course drink something to stay healthy.

The team of teachers, which Anne and I will support soon, is always looking out for the children, no matter if in class or at the playground. They are there to serve the children. In the picture you can see the teachers with the super proud founder of the school: Moses.
(a small riddle for you guys: Two of the people in the picture are not really teachers! Can you guess who?)

And just because I love this picture so much, here's my favourite shot from Abato Junior School so far. Isn't she just adorable?

I hope you could get an impression of what Abato Junior School looks like.

The current donations are used to make more school uniforms for the children, buy pencils, chalk, papers and other stuff that's necessary for the classes and to upgrade the building even further.

If you want to know how to donate please get in touch with us!
 

 Julian

Deutsche Version

a little behind schedule

Between university and catching up with Abato

It feels kind of good to finally be able to post something new again. As you guys might have noticed Anne and I haven't had the time to put something new up in the last few weeks. That's because we are both very busy with university projects/exams, working, I have just moved and Anne has suffered a leg injury. 

Eventhough we don't want this to be the case more often we are now in the comfortable position to have alot of new stuff to tell you about...
First thing (equals my next post) would be that school started on 3rd of February and is going really well. Shortly after all the excitement of the starting term Moses and Kirabo had even more exciting news: Their first child is born. His name is Arthur and the three of them are doing really good with their newest challenge called being a small family. We'll give you some details about that later this week. The next Abato-project is also in line. Moses came up with the idea of a tailoring school for women who weren't able to graduate. There women are taught how to tailor so they can earn their own salary later.
You see there's alot of excitement going on down in Uganda. Stay tuned as we give you more information about the listed subjects this week.

Do you have any questions or suggestions? Do you want to know anything specific about Anne and me going to Uganda? Feel free to write a comment or email us for further information!

 Julian

Deutsche Version

Booking flights

Just 11 months in advance

First of all, we wanted to get some information about the prices we'll have to pay for our flights. We crombed through several websites and checked airlines that connect Germany and Uganda. Out of question was that we will fly to Entebbe. The airport is about 4okm from Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Taking the country road, you need about 1 hour (3okm) to get to Mpigi, the city where Moses built up Abato.
Quite soon, there was a problem: No website could show any return flight. We're planning to fly back in April 2o15, after a backpacking trip we're planning.
We decided to get some help in a travel agency. To be honest, the advisor wasn't very helpful. She didn't get, that we have time, but no money. So we're very flexible about the dates, as long as it is as cheap as possible. We're going to visit some other agencies. But we're not in a rush: Airlines plan and publish their flights just 11 months in advance. For us that means, we can start looking for flights in May again. It does not make sense to book an outgoing flight now and later the return flight because it would be much more expensive. Same goes for booking a return ticket now and changing dates later.
So, we have to wait...


 Anne

Deutsche Version