Friday 28th November was the last day of the school year at Mustard Seed School. Cooks were preparing the end of year staff party, and teachers and other workers were waiting to receive their end of year bonuses. This is one months pay provided by UHST to reward teachers for their loyalty to the school and to help them through the school vacation. Ugandan workers do not receive holiday pay. The introduction of the bonus, 3 years ago, has had a dramatic effect. Between 2015 and 2016 only two teachers left the school, both going back to university for further training; whereas, in earlier years, up to a quarter of staff failed to return after the long vacation. Sadly, on this occasion, the bonus was not to be.
UHST transferred the money, roughly £1,500, to Barclays branch in Jinja, Uganda. During the afternoon of November 28th Moses Kamya, the School’s Director, with a colleague Tedeo, collected the bonus money from the bank – 7 million Uganda shillings. Unfortunately, robbers, who must have seen them at the bank, lay in wait along the road. They placed a car across the road and stopped Moses’s vehicle. Moses was told to hand over the money and, to demonstrate their seriousness, they shot Tedeo in the arm with a Kalashnikov rifle. Naturally, at this point, Moses handed over all the money and the robbers fled from the scene.
Moses did what he could to stem the bleeding from Tedeo’s wound and then rushed him to hospital (see picture above). Fortunately, the bullet went through the flesh without shattering the bone and, after 3 days in hospital, Tedeo is now recovering at home. Although treatment in hospital is subsidised, they have been presented with a substantial bill for medicines and for board and lodging. After leaving the hospital, Moses spent hours at the police station filing a report on the incident (see picture of report below). The police hold out little hope of apprehending the gang of robbers. So, a key worker has a serious injury, there are hospital bills to pay and the school has lost its annual staff bonus from UHST.
Every month the school has to collect cash from the bank for staff salaries. Uganda is largely a cash economy so this is normal. Now the robbers know this is a regular occurrence Moses needs to find an alternative. He is trying to persuade all his teachers to open bank accounts so that, from the start of 2017, the school can pay salaries by direct transfer into their bank accounts.
For UHST, like all charities, money is scarce and we do not feel we can justify sending the same money twice, particularly as the same thing could happen again. We are, however, opening a fund so that supporters who wish to help can make donations to replace the bonus money and help the school in more general ways. If you would like to help Mustard Seed School pleased send a cheque made out to “Uganda Humanist Schools Trust” to: UHST, 31 Greenmeadows Road, Madeley Crewe, CW3 9EY (or use the donation form on our website: https://uhst.org/donate/).
It is such a pity that this has happened, because it shakes everyone’s confidence. Moses had just sent us a very up-beat report on the considerable progress the school has made over the past year (see Mustard Seed Directors Report for 2016). In the report, he shows that recruitment is buoyant, staff retention is high, they are making great strides in developing the Humanist Ethos of the school, boys and girls sporting achievements have been high, piped water is coming to the school, the school clinic is making a major contribution to the school and the community and the school has benefited from new computers and a high speed printer. The school management and staff can be proud of their achievements in 2016.
Armed robbers steal Mustard Seed staff bonuses
Posted: December 7, 2016 by Steve Hurd
UHST transferred the money, roughly £1,500, to Barclays branch in Jinja, Uganda. During the afternoon of November 28th Moses Kamya, the School’s Director, with a colleague Tedeo, collected the bonus money from the bank – 7 million Uganda shillings. Unfortunately, robbers, who must have seen them at the bank, lay in wait along the road. They placed a car across the road and stopped Moses’s vehicle. Moses was told to hand over the money and, to demonstrate their seriousness, they shot Tedeo in the arm with a Kalashnikov rifle. Naturally, at this point, Moses handed over all the money and the robbers fled from the scene.
Moses did what he could to stem the bleeding from Tedeo’s wound and then rushed him to hospital (see picture above). Fortunately, the bullet went through the flesh without shattering the bone and, after 3 days in hospital, Tedeo is now recovering at home. Although treatment in hospital is subsidised, they have been presented with a substantial bill for medicines and for board and lodging. After leaving the hospital, Moses spent hours at the police station filing a report on the incident (see picture of report below). The police hold out little hope of apprehending the gang of robbers. So, a key worker has a serious injury, there are hospital bills to pay and the school has lost its annual staff bonus from UHST.
Every month the school has to collect cash from the bank for staff salaries. Uganda is largely a cash economy so this is normal. Now the robbers know this is a regular occurrence Moses needs to find an alternative. He is trying to persuade all his teachers to open bank accounts so that, from the start of 2017, the school can pay salaries by direct transfer into their bank accounts.
For UHST, like all charities, money is scarce and we do not feel we can justify sending the same money twice, particularly as the same thing could happen again. We are, however, opening a fund so that supporters who wish to help can make donations to replace the bonus money and help the school in more general ways. If you would like to help Mustard Seed School pleased send a cheque made out to “Uganda Humanist Schools Trust” to: UHST, 31 Greenmeadows Road, Madeley Crewe, CW3 9EY (or use the donation form on our website: https://uhst.org/donate/).
It is such a pity that this has happened, because it shakes everyone’s confidence. Moses had just sent us a very up-beat report on the considerable progress the school has made over the past year (see Mustard Seed Directors Report for 2016). In the report, he shows that recruitment is buoyant, staff retention is high, they are making great strides in developing the Humanist Ethos of the school, boys and girls sporting achievements have been high, piped water is coming to the school, the school clinic is making a major contribution to the school and the community and the school has benefited from new computers and a high speed printer. The school management and staff can be proud of their achievements in 2016.
Category: News