"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

the truth – how quickly it can change

As if from out of nowhere, on Monday, the President of Uganda announced a program of Universal Secondary Education for all qualified students in the country! This is extraordinary news, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to know that the children whose truth we want to change will have this opportunity. In an e-mail I received from Rosemary, the director of St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood, she expressed her gladness on behalf of the children, but also indicated that the implementation of the program has not been without challenges.

“About the Free Secondary Education (USE), it has just been introduced by the government of Uganda. This year some schools were selected to take part in the USE program, majority of the schools are in villages, a few schools in Kampala. The number of students turning up for senior one has overwhelmed the schools, as they cannot accommodate them. We will however carry out further research to see how best the children at the orphanage that are starting their secondary education can best benefit from this program. All the children selected by Change the Truth Fund are in school now. A detailed report about this will be sent to you soon.”

While this is such encouraging news, and could mean that we will no longer need to provide financial support for secondary education for the children at the orphanage, there is so much more that needs to be done and to which we will now turn our attention. The needs of the orphanage are many, from basic necessities like food and clothing, to infrastructure like buildings and technology, to financial support for University education. The Change the Truth Fund will continue to play an important role. As I learn more from Rosemary, I will keep you posted.

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