The eldest boy in 1moreChild, Lomilo John Bosco, recently completed his ‘O’ Levels and received very good results.  One dream option for him was to apply to probably Uganda’s top academy for ‘A’ Levels.  Cornerstone Leadership Academy only takes 25 pupils per year and hundreds apply from all over the country.

Lomilo went for an interview in Kampala and was chosen to go through to the second round of interviews which comprised a week-long stay at the school where the candidates were assessed in a number of different ways.  After a suspenseful week he received a letter saying he had been accepted!

The school is fully funded and has a number of MPs and top professionals amongst its alumni.  Lomilo will be there for two years doing ‘A’ Levels, learning numerous other skills and gaining a very valuable experience.  We’re going to miss having him around on a daily basis, but will look forward to having him ‘home’ in the holidays.

Last week a group of 13 dentists arrived from DentAid, a UK charity, to take a look at the 1moreChild teeth!  They were amazingly organised, full of fun and worked hard.  They managed to see 130 of our children and all the staff.

Overall the children’s teeth were very healthy as they have had very little sugar in their diet.  There were a few extractions and nervous moments with injections, but everyone survived.  The dentists also did some hygiene training which was tremendously helpful.

In the slum of Masese this has been a few days of extreme highs and extreme lows.  On Friday afternoon Sarah who works for us gave birth to a beautiful daughter, the following morning (Saturday) Sarah’s mother died.  She was also the mother of one of our boys.  Then yesterday, Sunday, the mother of another of our boys died in childbirth.  The baby boy survived and we are trying to help the family stay together and cope.

Sadly this is not uncommon in Masese.

It is district football season again and yesterday was the junior girls final.  Main Street Primary School had made it there again and as it was National Women’s Day there was a big crowd making a lot of noise.  Six 1moreChild girls were in the Main Street team including Abura Betty as captain and Namullen Helen the top goal scorer.

Girls football is taking off in Uganda and our girls have been enjoying training and improving their skills.  Main Street were undefeated coming into the final and are hoping to continue that run in order to reach the national finals next month.  Abura Betty proved a rock at the back and Namullen Helen was unstoppable as she scored both goals in Main Streets’ 2-0 win.  It was a fantastic experience for the girls and we are looking forward to the senior girls tournament next week.

Explore Outdoors is een Schotse wandelvereniging die mensen aanmoedigt om te doneren aan 1moreChild. We zijn hen zo dankbaar voor hun steun en hopen dat veel van jullie zullen gaan genieten van een mooie wandeling en dan denken aan de kwetsbare kinderen die jullie helpen. Hun website is www.explore-outdoors.co.uk

Voor diegenen die op zoek zijn naar een grote uitdaging… op www.1moreCycle.co.uk staan alle details. Al meer dan 100 mensen hebben zich opgegeven om van Parijs naar Genève te fietsen voor 1moreChild! En.. alle vier de jongens hebben hun paspoorten ontvangen! Dit is een hele prestatie! Nu zijn we druk bezig met het verkrijgen van visa’s voor Groot-Brittanie en Frankrijk.

De training (om 6.30u voordat de school begint) gaat goed, hoewel het nog lastig is om te fietsen en water drinken tegelijk. Maar daar werken we aan! De jongens hebben gisteren in Jinja Stephen Kiprotich ontmoet, de Olympische marathon kampioen. Ze zijn nu heel geïnspireerd om zijn voorbeeld te volgen!

Last June 42 amazing people cycled from near London to Paris to raise money for 1moreChild. It was a fantastic trip and raised a huge amount.

This June is stage 2, starting in Paris and ending in Geneva four days later. Please visit www.1moreCycle.co.uk for all the details and if you want to sign up.

Through the generosity of two of last years cyclists we have paid places for two 1moreChild boys to do the ride! We have actually chosen four boys to apply for passports and visas and do the training in case of any issues along the way. The passport application process is almost over after over thirty different meetings and signatures. One main issue is that none of the boys have birth certificates or know when they were born and relatives have been ferried in from all over the country.

Training has started…it has been a shock for the boys to go to a gym and two had barely ridden a bike before. Thankfully a Ugandan cycling champion lives round the corner and has agreed to help train us so we are getting there…

We are hoping to get visas in the next two months and then head to Europe in early June. If you would like to help sponsor one of the other two boys please let us know.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave so generously at our 1moreChild evening last month – we raised a fantastic amount and are able to keep making a difference in the lives of over 150 vulnerable children.

One of the highlights was watching three extremely generous donors give towards an ear operation for Ichumar Christine.  Christine has had bad hearing all her life and as a result has struggled at school where she is in a class of 80 children.

She has now had the operation and her hearing is almost perfect!  Thank you so much.

For those of you in London, our 1moreChild evening is next week on Thursday 20th September. It would be amazing if you could join us for live music, food, drink, auction and raffle prizes.

Please book tickets now on www.1moreChild.eventbrite.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you there

This week a local Jersey dairy donated some luxury ice cream to 1moreChild. It was on a day when only the 28 youngest children were around (all the others were on camps) so they got to eat the whole lot on their own!

Most had never tasted ice cream before so we asked them what they thought it was made from. We got a variety of answers like flour and water, before milk and sugar. Most had also never felt anything ice cold before so it was a few new experiences in one!

The school holidays have begun and our first event was an inter-house competition of singing, dance, poetry, debate and drama. The children have been practicing for days and there was high excitement today as they met for the final. The four topics for the competition were Respect, Integrity, Forgiveness and Family. A number of subjects were covered such as AIDS, defilement, suffering and poverty.

Below is a taste of the energy and noise!