Here is the latest message from Peter Kisirinya, Director of the Isaac Newton Schools, on how he has been working hard to fight the threat from evil spirit rumours at the Humanist School at Mbute.

“The situation has calmed down and since the incident reported in the previous post.

I have been sleeping at the school, on the floor of the kitchen storeroom* to demonstrate that there are no evil spirits to fear. The concern goes back many years when Mbute Hill used to be the site where witch craft and rituals were performed – long before the school was built.

I have had several meetings with parents, students, teachers and local government leaders of the area. They have shown a lot of support for the school and we have set up a committee headed by the PTA chairman to visit the homes of our students to reassure families.

We have invited the local community to an open meeting on Friday next week. At this meeting they will have talks from lecturers in Psychology from Kyambogo University school of Education. The Education Department at the university has set up a team to allay the fears of the general public on issues such as witch craft and exorcism in Ugandan schools and to share research findings. In some parts of Uganda there are still instances of children being abducted from schools and taken away for ritual sacrifice. The government is fighting a national campaign against such practices (see campaign poster).

The meeting will be attended by the Mpigi District Inspector of schools and the Head of the CID at Kammengo Police. Moses Kamya, from Mustard Seed School, will also come to give his support by speaking about the rational and caring philosophy of Humanist schools.

Now the school is well fenced there is little worry about security. However, I am proposing that as a matter of priority we seek funds from supporters to construct some teachers’ housing on the school site. Having people sleeping on the site will reassure local people that evil spirits are not still in the place.”

*When sleeping on the floor of the kitchen with no bed net, Peter was badly pestered by mosquitoes and he is currently suffering from malaria.

We have just received this disturbing report from Peter Kisirinya, the Director of the Isaac Newton Schools, on the latest attempt to use witch craft to undermine the Humanist School at Mbute:

” In recent months Isaac Newton High School at Mbute has had to cope with false claims of spirits invading the students at the school. We have learned that the rumours have been spread by a local group who are trying to establish their own competing school within the vicinity.

Four students attending school at Mbute, who come from families with links to the proposed new school, faked possession by spirits and claimed that there were evil spirits in the school which were aiming to kill two students and three teachers.

Information was sent to local press that the spirits had burnt down school buildings, because the managing director of the school had opposed their claims publicly and humiliated them in front of the school community.  They informed the newspaper that our school, being a humanist school, did not believe in the existence of spirits. Consequently the spirits were annoyed to the extent of burning the school down.

However, local reporters called Peter Kisirinya, the School’s Director, and came to the school to interview him and the school bursar. They were surprised and reassured to find absolutely nothing related to the story they had been given. There had been no fire and they could see that the school was operating normally. As we are concerned for the safety of the staff and students, we have now officially reported the matter to police and the Ministry of Education and Sports.

The clear purpose of the rumours and actions was to instil fear in students and parents so that they transfer their children to the new school at the beginning of the new year. It was also intended to persuade our teachers abandon the school under fear of witchcraft killing some of them.

In order to allay fears in the local community, I am holding a series of meetings with all local stakeholders, parents and community leaders. I have allayed their fears in open meetings (see photograph of parents in school above) and they have been in to the school to see that it is operating normally and that the staff and students are happy and working purposefully.  I am staying at the school, day and night, to demonstrate to students and parents that they need have no fear of spirits and the super-natural. I have opened up my daily S4 and S3 science practical lessons so that parents can come along and be reassured that their children are receiving a high standard of teaching.

We have also strengthened staffing at the school by offering part-time, temporary contracts to four of the brightest A-level students from INHS Masaka, who are now going to be teaching at Mbute before they go off to university. Two will be studying education to train as teachers and two have been given government scholarships to study diplomas in Agriculture and Secondary education.”

There is widespread disappointment that the Ugandan Humanist School Directors had their application for entry visas into the UK turned down by the Home Office, and that they were only offered an appeal interview in Kampala the day after they were due to fly to the UK.

The expenses of the trip for all three would have been substantially covered by a grant to the BHA from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This would have allowed the Directors to participate in the World Humanist Congress in Oxford at little personal cost.  Unfortunately their visa applications fell foul of the new stricter immigration regime implemented by the Home Office over the past two years. This requires applicants to provide documentary evidence of strong economic and family ties in the source country, Uganda, such that there is a high probability that they will want to return there.

The BHA and IHEU transferred funds for flights and visa expenses more than 6 to 8 weeks before Peter, Moses and Robert had to fly to the UK for the World Humanist Congress. However, given the relatively slow pace of visa reviews, it proved too short to allow both for an initial failed application and the completion of a full appeal process.

Each of them furnished bank statements to show the extent of their income and savings. Unfortunately, a current account balance of £7 and no savings accounts did not convince the visa authorities that they had strong economic reasons to stay in Uganda. The schools are essentially in the the rural subsistence sector of the economy. Staff are paid on a casual basis and none earn enough to be included in the national social security system, so they could not furnish formal pay slips as evidence of earnings. People living and working in the subsistence sector of a developing country are clearly not expected to travel to another country, even if a first-world organisation is paying their expenses!?

Although all three have stable partnerships with families, they had local community ceremonies, not recognised by the state. As a result they could not provide documentary evidence, marriage certificates, of their family status.

The following extract from the Home Office letter reveals all:

The Decision

• You have declared that you are employed as a teacher, that you have a fiancée and two children and that the purpose of your visit is to attend the World Humanist Congress.
• Your personal bank statement shows a balance of £7. You have given no evidence of family ties in Uganda and there is no evidence of how your income could support a family. You appear to have no savings or other assets.
• The letter from the British Humanist Association says your visit is part financed by the FCO. But there is no evidence that you are personally being sponsored.
• I am not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry for a limited period.

UHST Trustees submitted appeals with the support of the local Conservative MP for mid-Staffordshire and the Liberal MP for Cambridge. The BHA also made high level representations to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and, in truth, the FCO did all it could do to accelerate the visa review process. In the end, however, everyone’s efforts came to nought and three very disappointed school Directors remain in Uganda. They have each had to make made 3 or 4 trips to Kampala, round trips of between 6 and 20 hours, at considerable personal cost in money, time and anxiety.

If we were able to raise funds for them to come at a later date it is difficult to see how we could satisfy the Home Office that the guys are absolutely genuine. If any of you have advice on what Peter, Moses and Robert should do to be successful the next time then it would be very much welcomed.

For now it remains for me to apologise to those of you who had planned to come to our proposed “Meet the School Directors Meeting” in Crewe on Wednesday 13th August, which we have had to cancel.