Achievements in the last year

We are full of gratitude to so many people that have contributed to the Rock of Joy Trust over the last year. It is beyond our wildest dreams that so much has been given and this has already had a major impact on many lives.

Antioch Primary School

 This has been transformed into a happy school where teachers are paid every month. More buildings have been purchased so that the school grounds are big enough to develop the classes to a size where teaching can really happen. The burden has been taken off the church and they have now paid to put a proper roof on their church which is used as the school hall.

Rock of Joy Primary School, Masaka

Boarding Hostel  In September 2009 this hostel opened and within a short time 100 deprived children were in residence. This includes orphans, those who live a long way away from school who would otherwise be walking in the dark to and from school, and those who were not being fully cared for by their families.

The academic results are improving year on year with the numbers going to secondary school rising from seven in 2008 to 20 in 2010. This included the child with the highest mark in the district and the local member of parliament has agreed to sponsor his whole secondary education.

Football pitch and netball court  St Peter’s Primary School paid for this land and for having it graded flat. It is a full-sized pitch which at the moment is quite dry but when the rain comes it will covered by rich grass that will make a good pitch. The netball team are the best in the district and they are very grateful for the donation of trainers so that they can all wear trainers when they are playing.

Assembly Hall  This a huge new building which has transformed school life. They used to have assembly outside which was impossible in the rain and draining under a hot African sun. Now they can meet in a cool hall which has solar power so that they can have a keyboard to help them in singing and lights for evening activities without the fear of paraffin lamps burning everything down. The hall is used for dining, as an examination hall and for community meetings, including the parent teachers association. On Sundays there is a church meeting in there with 30 adults and 100 children.

The concrete building on the right is the new assembly hall

Store  This building is much more than a store. It has three rooms - one will be used for the school nurse to hold her clinics, one is a store and the other will be an office. However this is a large building and we anticipate using it for accommodation when the youth team go in 2011.

Fred’s Farm This goes from strength to strength. Fred has had very profitable crops of tomatoes, passion fruit and shortly a field of pineapples will be ready for harvest. Fred is very humble about the farm but it is having a major impact. Nearly all of the food for the 100 boarders comes from his farm. He has also been able to buy some extra land with the proceeds so that there is now space for a separate nursery school which the school inspectors have insisted on.

What is not so obvious at first is that the villagers in the community have seen the benefits of what Fred is doing and they are copying him which means that they have cash crops. The health and well being of the whole community is visibly improving.

Fred’s fish farm is not just a little pond but three big ponds which are teeming with hungry catfish and tilapia. The catfish will be harvested in December but the others will need longer to grow to a large size. They are currently the size of the palm of your hand. This should be a very good cash crop.

We have bought a maize mill and it is now up and running. This is already bringing in profits which we can invest in some of the projects listed here. Once we have a good supply of maize in the new season this should take off.

Maintenance  We want to give thanks for all the regular giving which pays teachers’ salaries, feeds children in the middle of the day, pays for a nurse, equipment and so on. Without these basic needs being met we would never be able to expand and improve the conditions in the schools.

Challenges ahead

Income generation to achieve self sufficiency

Over the last three years we have found that the main way that income can be generated is through farming. The passion fruit, tomatoes and pineapples have made big profits but the same bit of land cannot be used for the same crop year after year when you have no artificial fertilisers. Therefore if we want to have all three crops per year we need more land. Similarly the maize mill will bring significant profit in the coming year, but if we produced the maize as well then the profits would be even greater. We are also looking at a 50 acre site at Fred’s farm which will cost £15,000 but has the potential to make the Rock of Joy Trust self sufficient in the long term. Fred wants to use this for mixed farming with cows, pigs, goats and chicken which will produce natural fertilisation for the crops that can also be grown here. He also wants to plant hard wood trees like ebony which will be ready to harvest in about 20 - 30 years. In the current year we hope to have income from the farm of at least £12,000 which the RoJ trustees can use for capital projects. This includes about £6000 from catfish in  the fish farm which will rise further next year as the tilapia grow to a size where they can be harvested. In addition to this, the farm produces most of the food needs of the staff and 100 children in the boarding hostel.

Antioch Feeding Programme

Most children at Antioch School come from very poor families and arrive at school having not eaten breakfast. It is difficult to teach children who are hungry and because funds are very limited it is not possible to give the children food or drinks during the day.

Presently the children are fed according to funds raised by sponsorship of children through the Rock of Joy Trust. Whilst funds are limited the most vulnerable children are fed. This is about 30 children per day. These children receive posho and beans for lunch and 30 nursery children receive a cup of running maize porridge in the morning. A different group of 30 children receive food each day so that more children can get some nourishment in the school week.

A few children buy a small cup of weak juice at 100 Ugandan shillings (4p) from a local lady but most children cannot afford to do this.

If we could provide porridge for every child as we do at Rock of Joy Masaka then it would provide liquid and some nutrition for all the children. We could finance this by increasing the number of child sponsors for Antioch.

Capital Projects

Antioch School: Having bought a number of buildings over the last year, these buildings now need to be modified for use by the school. This includes moving the kitchen from a shack to a room, knocking down a poor building to make a playground, knocking down some walls and rebuilding to create larger classrooms, concrete floors for classrooms and passageways etc.

The shop that opens out onto the road we hope will become a mini-supermarket run by church members both to serve the community and be a place of mission as well as earning money for the school. Total cost: £5000

Masaka School: Fred’s first priority is to build a separate nursery school block. He has bought extra land with the money from crops. He has already got the initial sand and bricks on site and is praying earnestly for funds. The four rooms built to a high standard will cost £16,000.

Additional Running Costs

Masaka                                                                       Antioch

5 Omega School Teachers £1800/year                Feeding Program £2700/yr

2 Teacher Training £700/year                                 1 Teacher Training £350/yr

                                                                                      Share nurse with nearby Rock of Joy School, Lungujja

Total increase in running costs: £5600