There has been a great deal of activity at the centre since
our last update. Last week we were
visited by some representatives from the National Library of Uganda. They were very impressed with the progress
the centre had made since their last visit.
They were hopeful that we would be able to complete the next section in
the near future and encouraged us to keep attempting to expand the resource
centre. They informed us that ours was
one of the most impressive and busiest they had seen on their travels. Thank-you to everyone that has donated so
far!! We have started to use the funds
to begin activities to make the centre more self-reliant financially. We are going to start charging cell phones at
the centre for a small cost and hopefully soon host a movie night with a small
admission fee. We have spoken to Justin
and he believes we are on the right track and encouraged us to begin a new
website to display the progress of the centre.
We will soon be publishing a list of some targets we are hoping to meet
with our fundraising, including how much it will cost to finish the large room
at the resource centre. Justin is of the
mind that once we get some money we will start, because as he says, “if you
wait, nothing ever gets done.”
The children are beginning their Christmas
holidays soon which will last for two months.
In order to keep the interest in the centre high we have started a book
club to encourage more visitors and more reading by the older students. We have had to explain what a book mark is
and how the students can save their place in the books they are reading. Many have never had a book that they read
over time except for perhaps text books at school. We are going to make book marks for those
that want to read at the centre and have them record the title and author of
the books they are reading. We will also
meet once a week and allow the students to share with everyone in the club what
they have been reading. We have declared
December hygiene month at the centre and so one of the books the children must
read has to be related to hygiene. We
are excited at the momentum the centre is gaining as more and more students
continue to come. We are still trying to
attract the older members of the community to utilize the centre more, but
hopefully that will occur over time. As
we move into the next few weeks we are planning on having daily activities to
keep the children busy during their break.
We will also be continuing to look for funding to improve the conditions
of the centre and expand the resources available for our increasing number of
users.
