We should like to congratulate Katumba Parents Humanist Primary School on being accepted as the 4th member of Uganda Humanist Schools Association.

The school is on the outskirts of the small town of Bundibugyo, situated on the remote western border of Uganda. It was set up in 2010 by a group of parents living in a mountain village, which had no accessible school for their children. The three founding parents gave up part of their own land to create a small plot on which classrooms could be built using local materials. Juma, one of the founding parents, who had been brought up a Moslem, became disillusioned with organised religion and found that the principles of Humanism struck a chord with him. His views were reinforced in 2014, when a bloody insurrection inspired by a local witchdoctor left 180 children in the school without fathers. Following this tragic incident, Juma persuaded the parents to rewrite the school’s constitution on the basis of the recommendations of Uganda Humanist Schools Association in 2016. The full story is in the attached report following our visit to the school in July this year.

The school provides nursery and primary education to 285 children. Full local day-school fees are the equivalent of £58 per child per year. This is far too low to provide the resources the school needs or indeed to pay the teachers adequately. Many children in the school pay nothing and rely on the generosity of others in the community. However, despite all of these difficulties, we were impressed during our visit by the standard of education being achieved. The children seemed to feel secure and happy in the school. They were making very good progress in reading and speaking English and they had the confidence to speak and to perform music, dance and drama in public.

At out next trustees meetings in September we shall most certainly be considering the ways in which UHST might be able to help the school. I should be delighted if our supporters would read the full report on the school and let us have their views on whether and how we should help the school.

Moses Kamya, the Mustard Seed School Director, has just sent the following report of progress at the school over the past year:

“The support of Uganda Humanist Schools Trust (UHST) has enabled the Mustard Seed School Busota to continuously transform; not just in infrastructure and facilities, but
also the lives of learners therein.  Scholarships enabled over 60 bright but financially disadvantaged children to attain education that would have been beyond their reach.

In the 2017 UCE “O-level” UNEB results, we gained 12 first grades, 6 of whom were on UHST scholarships. In A-level, our best student scored 14 points and had been on a UHST scholarship through out her secondary schooling. Joan is now pursuing a B.A. degree course at university.

UHST provided all girls with reusable sanitary pads which has tremendously improved retention of girls in school. The steady supply of text books, science materials and equipment have been responsible for continuous
academic improvements at our school. Solar systems donated by UHST enable students in the boarding section to study even when mains power goes off, as it often does. Our children are happy at this development.

The RISO graphics printer now allows students to have printed handouts at minimum cost. Additional computers have made IT education fun for the whole school not just for passing of UNEB exams but for
computer literacy, general education and as a leisure activity for the whole school.

Most importantly, we have been able to take out long-term leases on all school land, except for one plot remaining, with legal fees met by UHST. The school now has safe piped water supplied by national water which has greatly improved on hygiene and sanitation.

The Four class room block at the lower campus(football field) funded by UHST has allowed us to reduce class sizes. Furthermore, the entire campus is fenced with chain link for children’s security.

In spite of the above developments, Mustard Seed School continues to face challenges:

• The computer room is still small and needs a bigger space to allow it serve its intended purpose.
• The same applies to the existing library.
• Dormitories are no longer enough for the children.
• A multi purpose hall is needed to have children served meals from one place as opposed to eating from dormitories, and to use for school meetings, concerts and examinations.

Nonetheless, we shall reach there.
We are grateful to all our supporters for standing with us in helping the Mustard Seed School Busota provide Humanist education to children in Uganda.”