CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:
“I cannot believe the momentum that has been achieved over the last two years culminating with the Ugandan visits earlier in November. After years of three steps forward and two back, I really believe that a sea change has occurred where both the Kumi Orphan’s Project and Dolen Ffermio are now known to a much wider public and as a result will now I am sure gain some measure of critical mass.
All of this is down to the unstinting hard work of Val Talbot with the invaluable help of Chas Nicholson, Emyr Owen and Derek Ward for the website. Lorna now has the support that she has very much deserved after over 15 years of effort in pursuing projects that she knew would make such a difference to the lives of those people in Uganda that are much less fortunate than ourselves.
I would also like to thank all those people that have contributed to this leap forward and the kind donations of those local communities which we have gone back to again and again.
We are very fortunate to have Miriam here as without her and Emmanuel’s hard work the money that we raise would not be spent so effectively in improving the daily lives and futures of those orphans in Kumi, giving them hope where there previously was none.”
ANNUAL REPORT:
1 Conference 6 December, 2007. This was held at Llanfyllin High School, mainly for their 6th formers, but for other visitors too. In the morning we had interesting and thought-provoking talks on the theme of “Pathways out of Rural Poverty” by eminent speakers from UK and overseas universities, the local farming community, Fairtrade and Christian Aid. The afternoon was taken up by 12 workshops on various aspects of the theme and the report-back session by students was analytical and constructive.
2 Visits to Uganda and India: Lorna flew almost straight after the conference to Uganda to meet Dr Pradip Ghalsasi from the Nimbkar Agricultural Institute in India who was in Uganda at this time to explore ways in which the Indian experience of goat improvement could assist our efforts in Uganda. This was a most fruitful experience and one which has resulted in many practical improvements at the Kamuli Goat Breeding Centre under the leadership of vet, Dr Gideon Nadiope. Eager to follow this up, Lorna visited India in April this year where she was able to learn a lot more not just on goat breeding but also on animal husbandry, feed management and the development of appropriate, affordable technologies to improve rural life, all of which hold out beneficial prospects for Uganda.
3 Christmas Catalogue 2007: amazingly, catalogue sales almost doubled last Christmas from £4,035 to £7,320, thanks to the generosity of the people of this area. A further £999 has been raised on gifts throughout the year. Miriam and Emmanuel Maraka work incredibly hard to make sure the gifts are distributed wisely, village committees are set up and prepared, older orphans trained in their supervisory duties and orphans and their carer families are well briefed before the gifts are distributed. This year’s appeal has raised over £3,000 already, which is very gratifying in view of the economic downturn.
4 Gold Star Communities: earlier this year we were given a grant of £1,250 by the Welsh Assembly to set up a community link photography project between Uganda and Wales, involving Emmanuel and Cordelia Weedon, a professional photographer from Llanfyllin. We applied for further funding in the summer to extend links to other community groupings and, though not successful, we received a “commendation for inspirational contributions towards developing links with Kumi in Uganda” and we were encouraged to re-apply in January.
5 School Links: Following her visit to Uganda at Easter with Lorna, Barbara Maycock set in motion links between Busoga High, Kamuli Boys Primary and Reverend Nayenga Primary Schools with their counterparts in Wales – Llanfyllin High, Llanfechain Primary and Llansanffraid Primary Schools. Thanks to a lot of work by Barbara and enthusiastic support from all the schools involved, she managed to obtain funding from the UK’s Department for International Development through the British Council to bring three Ugandan teachers over in November: Moses Kitimbo, Andrew Ibembe and Patrick Wakabi. The teachers were warmly welcomed and quickly became part of school, and wider community, life. They gained a great deal from the visit and so did the pupils, staff and parents of their schools. The return visit will take place next February, again funded by DFID.
6 Charity Status: We are proud to have the Charity Commission’s official stamp of approval and feel this should give us extra status and authenticity, especially for people who don’t know us personally and should help us to obtain grant funding in the future. Icing on the cake is being able to claim Gift Aid.
7 Goat Improvement Scheme: We are always looking for ways to raise funds for the vital work that is ongoing at the Kamuli Goat Breeding Centre (run by Gideon) and the village goat improvement schemes, set up and run by Moses Ekoi, a livestock specialist. We have provided funds for fencing and aim to assist with goat shelters, AI training and the much-needed supply of Boer goats from South Africa.
8 Fund-Raising: Obviously this an essential part of our activities in the UK and we would welcome any suggestions or ideas, or if you fancy doing something yourselves. One such event is a Christmas Fair at Dolanog Community Centre, organised by Pam James and Ruth Jones on Friday, 19 December at 7 pm, complete with silent auction of items from Lorna’s Summer Sale. Please try and get along to support it.
9 Membership: We now have 49 members – not bad going in just a year! If your membership is due for renewal, you can do so at the AGM and we will also provide you with a standing order mandate if you would like to pay this way. We will also ask you to fill in a Gift Aid declaration if you haven’t already done so. We mustn’t miss out on Gift Aid!
10 Closer Links with the Farming Community: We are really pleased to have built up contacts with the Montgomeryshire Federation of YFCs, Llanfyllin YFC and the Farmers Union of Wales (as well as many individual farmers) and we have found much enthusiasm for future collaboration with Dolen Ffermio and possible visits to Uganda. Throughout the year Lorna, Emyr and Richard have given talks to various organisations concerning our charitable work in Eastern Uganda and raising awareness of food and farming issues. We had stands at Llanfyllin and Llanfechain Shows in 2008. Llanfair Caereinion and District Agricultural and Horticultural Society has made a donation and agreed to allow us a trade stand area free of charge at their 2009 Show. Lorna is to be president of the Llanfyllin Show in 2009.
11 Website: This continues to be an invaluable source of information and we are most grateful to Derek Ward for setting it up and scrupulously keeping it up-to-date. A short video clip of Emmanuel will shortly be a feature.
12 Last but certainly not least – the visit by our Ugandan partners. As well as the school teachers, we were also delighted to welcome Emmanuel and Miriam Maraka in November. Emmanuel came on the photo diary exchange funded by the Welsh Assembly and the trustees couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Miriam behind so we clubbed together to fund her trip. It was a truly memorable visit and we can’t possibly do it justice in this short report. A comprehensive report will be on the website as soon as we have time to write it. The teachers spent most of their days in school, of course; Emmanuel and Cordelia worked in schools mostly and Miriam also visited a number of schools. There were visits to a wide variety of farms (dairy cattle, goats, mixed, one with a falconry unit), Cae Post (recycling and social enterprise) and many churches. There were meetings with church leaders, the business community, local politicians and Lembit Opik, MP. Moses Kitimbo gave a well-received talk to Llanfyllin Young Farmers Club. A very successful Open Meeting was held early in the visit, attended by a large number of people who responded very positively to the input provided by our visitors. Who can forget the stark image of a car battery on a chair which powered the only light bulb in the school? Certainly not Llansanffraid Primary School and its local community who, between them, managed to raise over £1,000 to have electricity put into the school. An equally enjoyable social evening enabled members and invited guests to meet our visitors informally. Newtown High School is ready to set up a link with Mukongoro High School, other schools have expressed interest in doing so and a large number of contacts have been made, projects discussed, sources of funding identified and applications encouraged – and it looks as if Uganda will have a lot of visitors in the coming year!