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April - 2009
The construction phase of the project has been completed. The school block was completed at the end of January, just in time for the beginning of school. This also included a much needed latrine for the girls who needed the additional 4 stalls.
School registration skyrocketed well beyond what we expected. We now have three hundred students attending classes from nursery to P7. The nursery class was split into two classes. Because of the qualified teachers, the porridge programme and the fine facilities, student from outside our immediate area have come to attend classes. Our next goal is to insure that the children perform to the best of their abilities and continue into secondary school. It is common for children in villages to stop after primary because of the high cost of secondary school which can be around $300 - $600 CDN per year. We are in the process of securing funding to assist the top students in the form of scholarships or bursaries. Approximately 40 children had to cross a river each day to get to school, some walking as much as 6 kilometres. They had to undress before crossing to keep their uniform dry. In the rainy season, the river rose to a very high level and they were unable to attend school. So, a meeting was called. The parents agreed to build the bridge if we supplied the materials. Over 30 parents pitched in and the bridge was built in three days. Another bridge much further up river which was in poor shape, was rebuilt and is now safe to cross.     
Over 680 mosquito nets have been distributed over the past six months. Efforts were made to insure that they were hung properly and used as intended. We will be following the results from the clinic to see if and how much the programme has reduced the malaria cases.
The dental clinic has continued to be very popular. Word has spread and we are now finding that people are coming as far as 10 km away. Even prisoners from the sub-county jail are coming. The dentist sees 16-24 people every Wednesday.
Masaka’s newest hotel, the Golf Lane, is now a customer for our produce. Business is slow at the moment but we expect it will grow in the near future.
Lately, we have had to deal with government offices. In any country, there is a certain degree of frustration expected but the Ugandan offices are the epitome of ineptness. After a great deal of running around in December & January, we finally got approval at the district level for the school registration. However, it doesn’t end there. The files (4) were taken to the Dept. of Education in Kampala where they were again reviewed and then deemed as satisfactory. We were told to pick up the certificate in two weeks. Two months later, we are still attempting to obtain the certificate. Compounding the problem is that the NGO board cannot issue a renewal without this certificate and we can’t obtain our residence status which enables us to work here without the NGO renewal. In all fairness, in spite of how busy the NGO board is, they have been very helpful and appear to be better organized.
The old truck has been struggling these past few months. In December, the engine quit and needed to be rebuilt. After that, the starter went, a spring broke and the accelerator pump refused to pump. If it was a person, it would be on a respirator in the critical ward. However, this is Africa where things get repaired with a piece a twine and some grease.
The staff have begun taking on far more responsibility, with the intent to have a full administration transition by next year. As volunteers, we’ll be able to guide and observe rather than be involved with the day to day operation.
Ritah, our midwife, left us at the end of February to return to school. Harriot, an enrolled nurse with three years of experience, began the first week of April. We wish Ritah all our best and thank her for the excellent job she did.

January 2009 - Looking back to 2008
It is difficult to document everything that has happened over the past year. It’s more a sense that things here have grown and progressed in the direction intended in our original mission statement. There have been many bumps during this growth, and many lessons learned.
None of this would have been possible without the support that has come from scattered parts of the globe since the birth of TRC.
TRC has become a vibrant community centre where everyone seems to feel welcome, judging by the number of feet that pass through every day, healthy and sick, young and old.
As our custom every year, we look back at the goals we projected. Here was our target:

1. Construct 2 more classrooms, a library and school office.
2. Add P6 and one teacher/headmaster
3. Expand the clinic area and add dental care
4. Have a physiotherapist at the clinic
5. Obtain land and plant trees, minimum 20 acres (pine and/or cashews)
6. Increase sales for farmers co-op by 25%
7. Install a water retention system
8. Build a latrine for the clinic.
9. Build a permanent nursery
10. Begin computer training for students
11. Obtain a reliable vehicle for the farmer’s co-op

We will also try to arrange some regular transport to and from the area to assist those that need to travel. Bodas alone are not a long term solution.

And this is what we did:

1.  We have completed the construction of 3 classrooms, a library and school office
2.  A headmistress was hired with one teacher. In September, we replaced 3 teachers for 
     inadequate performance. The third term proved to be very successful.           
3.  We were unable to expand the clinic area but a dental clinic was added.
4.  A physiotherapist could not be obtained.
5.  Only one acre of land was obtained and will be used for maize in 2009. We continue
     to look for suitable land at a reasonable cost
6.  Due to a very dry rainy season (Sept. – Dec.), farming sales decreased 20%.
7.  A water retention was completed and now rain is needed! The system has a capacity
     of 57,000 litres.
8.  The latrine was constructed in March/08
9.  A permanent nursery is now projected for 2009.
10. In order to teach the students, teachers have been taking lessons in order to teach
     the students. With the newly acquired alphasmarts, students begin computer lesson 
     the first term of 2009.
11. It will take divine intervention to obtain a reliable vehicle. A good truck is well beyond
     our budget.
We have applied for funding for a matatu (14 passenger van) but have not yet been successful. We will continue applying until we obtain funding. Low cost transportation remains a high priority for the area.

 GOALS FOR 2009

1. Build a maize mill. This will encourage the increase of crops by farmers and provide
     some employment. It will also be beneficial for the school as a major market.
2. Build a tree nursery. There is a huge demand for trees in Uganda and the local area.
    The depletion rate is alarming since wood is the major source for cooking and needed
    for charcoal. There are no nurseries in the area and could be a great opportunity for
    development.
3. Obtain funding for a matatu and begin providing affordable public transportation.
    Profits from this would be used for funding the services of the centre.
4. Obtain at least 20 acres of land for tree planting.
The above are income generating projects to fund all the services and maintain other services like the boreholes. This will also assist farmers with their income and opportunities to develop land. The final step of the community development is education and training to continue services in the future without the need for foreign funds or personnel. There will, however, be observers to insure that the systems put in place are maintained.
5. Expand the medical clinic and dental services.
6. Increase farm gross income to 12 million per year.
7. Obtain funding for deserving students to further their education in secondary school.
Most families cannot afford the secondary school fees so many children fail to advance in their studies.

 THE CENTRE

TRC has Irish support with TRC Ireland, now registered in Ireland, thanks to Frances Haworth, a previous volunteer who is a co-worker from her home in Ireland and Killian Kehoe, one of the original founders who remain involved and supportive.

Givemeaning has assisted us to be able to issue tax receipts to our Canadian and American donors as we pursue our own charitable status in Canada. For the first time in three years, funding has matched expenditures.

The centre has had numerous visitors and volunteers, from Canada, Ireland and the US with lots of good positive energy.

Income from phone charging has increased and, as a result, additional solar panels were purchased. Some days, we were charging as many as 36 phones. This could be a sign of a positive economic influence.

CLINIC

 Patients now average 20-25 per day with some days exceeding 50. Pesos and cash are used almost equally. We remain a one room, daylight hours clinic but have included a dental clinic which operates every Wednesday in a separate room. Due to the increase of patients, we plan on adding another staff member to assist in the clinic.

The clinic hosted a health information session and prepared the community for a large   mosquito net distribution. Altogether, over 600 nets were distributed. The distribution was made possible initially by Chris Ryckman, Connecticut, Gabrielle Tambre of British Columbia and the Grinvalds family of Burlington, On, Canada. Later, others joined in to assist the cause.

Careful follow-up was done by our 2 current volunteers, Pauls & Sonia, as they visited every home to ensure that the nets were being used properly. We are hoping to see a decline of malaria cases within the next several months. Malaria remains the biggest and deadliest enemy in Uganda, far exceeding deaths from AIDS.

Blood donations continue every 3 months