"Kick Mosquitoes out of our school"

Students receive their new Mosquito nets: Oct. 2011

At last mosquitoes are being kicked out of Rubanda Solidarity Nursery and Primary school.

For many years mosquitoes have been the biggest trouble to our kids in our school. A month ago a curious visitor made a risk to ask the kids to mention to him the three good things  they are enjoying at their school and make Rubanda Solidarity school unique.

One of the kids said, '' studying well", another mentioned "eating three meals a day" yet  another said, " here we do not work too hard".

Pausing another question, the visitor asked the  kids to mention three things that trouble them most. With no hesitation, one jumped up to say, " at night we do not sleep because mosquitoes hummer us hard". It's amazing to see how all the children's answers are so innocent and clear to the point. They are what goes on at their school.

Kids excited learn how to prepare their beds: Oct. 2011

Let me say something more on what they mentioned as troubling them most (mosquitoes). Since the school started in 2004, we have seen kids come and go through one class to another. Many fall sick and recover with services from the nearby Rubanda healthy center that offers quality services amidst out numbering  patients to to being the only healthy facility in the community. Its well known that most of our kids get sick of malaria which is also the most common killer disease  in the community. Hence, the kid's last answer hit  right to the point.

Amazingly, May this year,  Dr. Bruce Murray from Grants Pass  Oregon, -USA, working with a team of doctors without borders, had paid a courtesy visit to this very school and looked in their dormitories noticing no single bed having a mosquito net. Wondering whether the community was exceptionally immune of mosquitoes, on his return, Dr. Bruce asked Fr. Dominc Tumusiime, who is a netive and founder of the school, if Rubanda community had mosquito problems like the rest of other communities do in Uganda. Knowing quite well that malaria is the first killer disease in the community, I confessed immediately with a yes.

Kids can't believe that they can be inside with no mosquitoes to bite

Through our discussion, I notices as if Dr. Bruce  seemed to be asking me if the lack of mosquito nets was lack of knowledge. This prompted me to say "no, actually the mosquito nets project is one of our major priorities in the school needs plan but its down  to the bottom due to greater priorities on our list with minimal funds from the community contribution".

It's amazing to see how much and swiftly Dr. Bruce has worked hard since then. He has been contacting his friends, finding time to narrate the beautiful and horrible experiences he saw and his friends have responded generously to his program, "Kick mosquitoes out of the school". Its targeting to raise about 4,000 dollars to buy 309 new mosquito nets for 309 students.  The photos in the article show a batch of kids who have benefited from the project's first circle. Each mosquito net costs about 12$ including other items, transport and labour.

"I have no enough words to express the happiness from these kids  and the entire community. These days, early in the morning, one notices serene faces unlike in the paste when kids would be seen sleepy right away on the first activity on assembly throughout the day", the head teacher recalls.

Look at the pictures to see how things have changed and how much happiness is revealed on the faces of our kids. They say, " mosquitoes are now history". The question now  is how about those kids who have not yet received?. You could be the next generous friend to add to the list and serenity.

"Thank you Dr. Bruce Murray for visiting us in Rubanda from all the way and donating  a big difference; healthy, life and a new smile to our community", the school directness Sr. Beatrice writes. Your mission to Uganda was real and as you once mentioned it to me, you are giving back to God what he has given you in life. Especially your energy and love. And special gratitude to all your friends and our partners.

To you all, our kids send special greetings to say, "you mean a lot to us", the projects coordinator Mr. Rogers noted on the ceremony of handing over the new mosquito nets to the kids.

We all  say, " Thank you and Welcome to Rubanda".

African smiles begin as early as a rising sun!!

These kids are learning how to make an African smile. They are cute. They are  proud because of their chance to early education knowing quite well that there are many visible and invisible children out there who starve of similar  smiles. Their great eyes and smiles invite you to a tireless defense of their rights. Your tender hand could hold them a candle that leads to the sun rise. 

In Rubanda community, we have many kids who become parents at an early age. When kids lose both or one of the parents, kids get unwanted new name " orphan". From then, they become parents to themselves and to their siblings. Its sad but real. Within acute and chronic poverty environment, these kids start parenting each other at an early and tender age for both personal and family survival. You could imagine what they will not search for. That's what an orphan child goes through in Rubanda. And the order of their parenting skills follows the order of their seniority. The older become fathers and mothers to their younger. Why all this? HIV/AIDS is the greatest factor adding to the rising family and cultural social breakdown.  To know more on  the invisible children look at the picture below from the Uganda New Vision news paper and read the story among many that compels thousands of kind and generous hearts to act the way they amazingly do for children.

Facing Death at the hand of a spouse

Elsie Kamire's grandchildren. They were abandoned when their father killed their mother before hanging himself. PHOTO BY Johnson Mayamba. 

By Johnson Mayamba.

Posted  Monday, October 17  2011 at  00:00

In Summary

According to a review on gender based violence in Sub Saharan Africa, Uganda ranks number one with the highest percentage at 60. Unless efforts are made to deal with the problem, the country will experience more deaths of especially women and children.

On April 5, 2011, residents of Terere Village, Nkokonjeru Sub-County in Mukono District were shocked to find Shamim Nyunjimana brutally murdered by her husband who later hanged himself in the near by bush.

Nyunjimana who was eight months pregnant had been married to Ezekiel Masente for close to two years. When her mother Maria Kabanyana gave her away at the age of 16 to a 53-year-old man for a kilogramme of sugar and a bar of soap, she did not know that she was giving her away as a sacrificial lamb. Some people blame Kabanyana for her daughter’s death.

Elsie Kamiire, 76 years and Nyunjimana’s mother-in-law accuses Kabanyana of forcing her daughter to get married to Masente. She says that when Kabanyana realised that her daughter was in love with Masente, she forced her to demand an introduction from Masente which he was not ready to do at the time. It is alleged that Kabanyana then demanded that if Masente could not pay everything at once, he should first get Shs500,000 before taking her daughter, which Masente agreed to do.

Masente then bought a kilogramme of sugar and a bar of soap which he gave to Nyunjimana to take to her mother to get permission from her to be his wife. Kabanyana who admitted to have received the items and gave her daughter a go ahead, said this was Masente’s initiative and that she did not ask for the items but money from him. “That was Masente’s own initiative. He agreed to pay Shs500,000 before taking my daughter. When he sent the items, I thought he was serious, that is why I gave her a go a head,” Kabanyana said.

It is said that few months later, Nyunjimana got pregnant which prompted her mother to recall her from her husband’s place saying the man had not paid everything and that it was wrong for her to carry his child.

Nyunjimana then started spending most of her days at her mother’s place and would only go back to her husband’s place at 7pm till 6am. This became a problem according to Matia Ntagganila, a neighbour to the deceased.

Ntagganila says that Masente stopped providing for the family as he accused Nyunjimana several times of cheating on him with other men. “This is what caused the quarrel on that fateful night prompting the man to cut his wife into pieces,” Ntagganila said.

Nyunjimana’s death is one among many. In fact, on that same night, in the next village, Tom Ramech, 35, beat his wife Harriet Nabibu to death on allegations that she was dating other men for money. At Lugazi Police Station on April 7, Florence Kedodi, 40 years, had come to report her husband. She says he had promised to kill her.

Kedodi says that when she fell sick, her husband Sam Katerega, 50, abandoned her with their four children at Mulago Hospital. “He sold all the property at home including the house we had built and married a younger woman leaving me with nothing. When I complained, he said he will kill me,” Kedodi narrated. The stories of such women abound everyday in different parts of the country.

The three kids in the above story is one among many where children are forced to parenthood at ab early age in Rubanda. 

The Rubanda Solidarity's mission is to make a difference and provide hope to these kids. Because we are convinced that helping these visible and invisible kids to cope up with their new realities is all what their smile is about and deserves. 

Please, if you feel to join us in this mission, just post your comment and request and we shall reach you soon.

He died so young, just @ eight

Funeral Mass for Avitus Ainesaasi 30/9/2011

Children and staff of Rubanda Solidarity Nursery & Primary School  and the community of Rubanda are mourning the death of Avitus Ainesaasi.

Ainesaasi died on 28/9/2011 at the age of eight years at Rugarama hospital in Kabale.

Prial to his death, Avitus spent the whole day at school learning and playing normally without signs of healthy discomforts.

In the evening, as usual, Avitus joined other kids to the assembly and as the school closed he joined his friends, brother and sister going home.

After dinner, he joined his brothers and sisters to play and later went to sleep.Early in the morning as it was his habit, Avitus did not wake up raising fears among his parents who went to check on him. To their dismay, they found he was in bad shape and only fit for hospital emergency. With the nearest hospital at a distance of more that 20 kilometers away and with none existent ambulances, he was rushed to a nearby Rubanda healthy center who found that his health condition had deteriorated and referred him to Kabale hospital where he died shortly after arriving. The  cause of his death is not yet known with certainty.


More than the staff, his fellow children miss him a lot. However, they have been  assured and consoled by Rev.Dominic Tumusiime, the founder of the school, that at the tender age Ainesaasi has met his death, blameless as he was, has gone to God in heaven as the first saint from the school and is praying for all of us.

Ainesaasi, your family, your sponsor, our school and the whole community of Rubanda will  miss your smiles and love. However, as we all feel the pitch of the deep hole you have left behind, your death at that tender age is your blameless journey to behold the eternal life.

We will miss you but hope to see you once again when our time comes.

Good bye.

Rest in Eternal Peace.

Eight years walking

From the humble beginnings of 2004 these kids are now the teens below

Welcome back to school Kids!!

When asked why in a hurry, one of the students responded, "We are going back to our books".

In less than a month at home, these kids have been pestering their parents to go back to school. They  know and love the school that cares and in return make surprises to everyone. They simply love to go and their movement fills the air with their awesome smiles.

With the discovery of how many kids in the households do not eat adequate  food or sleep on empty stomachs, Rubanda Solidarity school is making an incredible difference.

Eight years later 2011  these teens are able to sit for their National examination in 2012

We struggle to provide three meals a day, something that has created a big smile on our children's faces and hearts.
Its just a dream for many kids who were never sure whether the next meal would be possible or when it would be served back in their family.

This could be one of the many reasons why these kids enjoy beginning their busy day with a thanksgiving and praising prayer to God each morning they rise up. They know quite well that all they have is from God's providence. He therefore deserves recognition.

In the 2011 picture above, these children are celebrating their "Thanksgiving Mass". They are thanking God for ending and returning well from their vacation. 

In those big baskets that you see on their heads are some of their scholastic assorted items  and hand written small letters expressing each ones special intention to God for the new academic term. They thank, praise and invoke God's blessing.  "Oh God thank you for enabling us to be in a good school which many kids like us are unable to have...", once one of the kids was heard praying. They are cute.

Just as kids know that eating is essential to life, students at Rubanda Solidarity have discovered how God is another essential  ingredient to quality education and successful future. With this discovery, they do amazing things.

They wake up early in the morning to praise God just like morning birds do. They thank God for accompanying them through the tense darkness of the night with no candle nor burning charcoal  for light but with God as their only hope, and guide and light. Lastly then, they also pray to God for their new long day's blessing.

As they clean up their faces they greet each other with that gentle and soft Rukiga word , "Oreiregye" which is synonymous to saying, "Did you sleep well" in English. They have made it one of their new morning culture.

When the day scholars arrive, together they join for breakfast, always with God. At that moment, they always remember that there are other thousands of kids in the community  and around the world who are less fortunate and unable to have even a mug of porridge each morning. And when all is done, they move to their shades put up for their classrooms and open their books.  They are normally well composed and attentive listeners because their stomachs are warm and they are cute. 

However, once in a while there are some abstractions as there are some fall offs from congested benches due to limited furniture. Most kids sit shoulder to shoulder squeezed on small benches a struggle that may also serve as a solution for the  scramble over the few text books available, if any.

Its incredible to see these kids go through this limitless list of poverty and yet still have the stamina to make it to the end. And Rubanda Solidarity has discovered their real needs of which we are committed with a slow but sure  process due to limited resources.

Its therefore not surprising to see kids falling in love with Rubanda Solidarity School  when its mission is all to the kids interests providing child healthy development  and quality education care. This is all what kids need. They just need someone to lean  to and provide for security. And with combined efforts Rubanda community through Rubanda Solidarity initiatives is creating a new culture for child care, protection and provision for  quality education and better life.

We have many positive signs already: increasing community participation, expanding school enrollment, reduced school resentment and dropouts, increasing community volunteers, better security for kids and increased community financial contribution and sustainability of the project by the community..

Lastly, Children are a gift from God to a family and community. They have a right to healthy and good life that requires collective responsibility. And this is why Rubanda Solidarity is doing all it can afford, in its meager resources, to attain its goal. All in the interest of children.

Please, if you feel moved to join us on our journey to our mission just post to us your desire and request in the comment box provided below this article and we will reach you soon.

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Landslides burry people in Uganda

Calamity after calamity hit Uganda this year.

Just one month with Ugandans still recovering from the July Thunderstorms that claimed over 18 lives; school  children including their teachers died while many others  were left hospitalized in this months landslides.

After a heavy down power, early this week, mudslides came down the hills uprooting trees, bulldozing soaked grounds and burying many households and properties deep.

Its believed that about 27 people; "16 in Sisiyi and 11 in Buluganya sub-counties", have died and many others have been made homeless or displaced. Look at these horrifying pictures of a helpless mother.

She is being consoled by the relatives as she learns of the death of her family members still trapped  in the mud with no hope to find them soon and alive.

Calamities are surprises but technology has saved many lives in the combat of unpredictable weather concerns like in the current hurricane Irene hitting the East cost of the USA. Technology helped to forecast its strength and an alert system developed. Many who listened to the warning, their lives have been saved. Even if one was caught up and suffered the effect, it didn't appear a surprise. There was an early warning system that populations trust.

Its so sad when it comes to developing countries like Uganda where everything is a strangle and a day's concern. Its so saddening to find oneself in a situation of such disaster where technology is a myth. No spade, no excavator, ambulance, no    helicopter for airlifting and so on. Even where one thing is possible to find, the other becomes an obstacle until lives are no more. Such situations remind one how poverty is a real sting and in human society. However, our failures could be an opportunity for the better. They can always facilitate our minds, motivation  and hope to do things better and differently, if we are able to learn from them..

Today, with natural world disasters at the increase, one would say why not develop a global weather focus center that would assist in saving lives and reduce disaster emergencies?  More efforts could be invested in developing or expanding available modern technologies for a better early warning system even for poor nations and populations. More than a relief charity, we could think of donating an early warning system technology to a country. Perhaps this could save many lives, more monies and be more timely and sustainable. We should work contrary to the story of that guy who was never concerned of the needs of  his sick neighbor's  healthy  in the hospital but more so on his funeral. It seems funny.

Give your comment.

Meet the African Missionaries in USA

Dear Parishioners, special greetings from my fellow priests of the order of the Apostles of Jesus at our Annual Assembly in Easton, USA.

Apostles of Jesus pause for a group pic. after celebration

As you recall, I left here July 24^th and was able to arrive in Philadelphia on time. I know most of you have been praying for me. I have enjoyed the fruits of your prayers and just two days ago returned to St. Ann’s sound and safe. Thank you.

My journey out of Grants Pass to Medford was less nervous for I was in the company of Biagini, Ray and Janet and their two friends to the Air port. It was fun being with them and given a ride to the airport.

From Medford my journey was fantastic though I regretted running short of the information that they do not offer meals in internal flights. Any way, it was all fine.

In Philadelphia, Easton, I was able to meet fifty five of our sixty confreres working in different states of America. It was a special brotherly and gracious moment to share, pray and learn from each other in the spirit of the Apostles of the Lord.

AJs enjoy healthy discussion during the assembly

The Apostles of Jesus is my Order of a religious and missionary character. What’s unique about this Order is that it’s the first ever religious and missionary congregation of the Catholic Church founded on the African soil in Uganda in 1968 and already supplying religious missionaries to all continents of the world with Asia coming next.

 Apostles of Jesus were founded during the famous episodes of 1960s of the then Sudanese government with the North Islam and South Christianity. During that period the government in Khartoum expelled most missionaries from the south Sudan.

On their run, missionaries of the religious order of St. Daniel Combon, Bishop Sixtus Mazzoldi and Fr. John Marengon both of great memory, went through northern Uganda and took refugee in Moroto Diocese from where they got an inspiration to start a congregation of African religious and missionaries that would keep their evangelization work moving forward with no risk of repatriation or expulsion from their own continent and countries.

Superior General (middle) enjoys classmates photo

Indeed the church and the world have started enjoying the fruits of the vision of these two great men with  the current ability of this Order supplying over 399 missionaries around the world within a period of forty years since its birth in 1968.

To the amazement of all priests present at the assembly was the reflection on the newest country of the world, the South Sudan that just received its independence. The Superior General reminded all of us present that our congregation was conceived in the Sudan, born in Uganda and now working in the world of which the united sates of America is privileged to have over sixty members serving the church and the nation in various professions and fields.  It’s always amazing to see how bitter beginnings procure lots of blessings and graces for one who has faith and God as the anchor of life.

One of the first members in the USA reminded all present of the universality of the church when he said, “We, the Apostles of Jesus have a noble mission here in the United States of America. We have the mission to serve the church here but also the mission to assist the poor in Africa”, he added.

It was an energizing moment of laughter when different representatives narrated the work being done in different missions including Grants Pass, St. Ann’s. Our superior General sent his blessing and greetings to all Bishops, pastors and Christians with whom we work and I am honored to deliver the one of Grants Pass, St. Ann’s parish.

God bless you

Fr. Dominic Tumusiime,AJ..

Kids of Darkiness plead for light

These kids smile in the day but walk by the heart at night

 Think of yourself walking in your house just for one week without light at all. For generations, people in Rubanda community have done so and their kids are keeping suit. Actually once asked of how they managed to live in darkness, one of them sarcastically said, “We have become immune to darkness”.

Seemingly normal, in 2002 Fr. Dominic Tumusiime initiated a community based organization (CBO) known as Rubanda Solidarity Development Association (RSDA), a non profit making organization with an intention to assist vulnerable mothers, children and school drop out youths. In 2005 this association was approved and registered with the government of Uganda with a registration number 160.

To the children, in 2004 the association initiated child study program with the intention of finding out why many kids resented going to school in many families. The tool was to provide just a cup of corn porridge to each kid every morning as they arrived at the school under a designated tree serving
their classroom for a period of one year.

See the density of darkness kids endure each night

The findings were very successful and in 2005 Rubanda Solidarity Nursery/Primary School was started with a Day and Boarding school program. The interest and number of kids to this school has since increased overwhelmingly that financial constraints are our only limitation. In a period of seven years the number of kids has moved from 90 to 260 just concentrating on the neediest kids.

With this huge number of needy kids one would imagine how a non income generating organization can manage to push from one year to another. It’s through lots of sacrifices and tough methods of coping with situations. The community makes lots of sacrifices and the administration does a good job to bring to the attention of our friends and people of good will, the situation of Rubanda community and our kids. It’s working and things are certainly getting better for our kids.

Kids have many needs; they need to sleep, eat and drink, dress, shower, see, write, play and pray, read, study trips, treatment but above all, "light to see". Follow this link to see lights wonders before these children's song: http://www.murphylightworks.com/winterland/

“Light, Light, we need light TO our toilets, Light, Light we need light IN our toilets”, was one of their songs at their school’s 7^th anniversary last year. They certainly need light not only to and in the toilets but also  to the whole compound. It’s an amazing reality to see how much these kids suffer when it comes to nights. They wake up to go to a toilet which is 500 miters away in total darkness, on a steep hill, in torrential rains. Just look keenly through the darkness on the photo above, you will be amazed of little kids tossing darkness to find their way to the toilet.

Do you feel moved and concerned about the situation of these kids? Would you like to contribute in improving  to their safe environment and security by providing a solar energy light?