Newsletter: March 2019

Dear Supporter(s),

Stop Press! Mt Kilimanjaro forms an awesome background to Arise School. We have just heard that it has now been successfully climbed in aid of ACE. Having set himself this tremendous challenge, we were contacted by Andrew a short while ago to say he would like to use his climb to support the charity. The money he has raised will go towards classroom furniture and a football pitch. Very many congratulations, Andrew, on your tremendous effort!

What a difference a few months can make! You will know from our December Newsletter that all efforts are now focussing on the goal of enabling Arise School to become self-sustaining. Irrigation of the land is continuing to go extremely well and the goat herd ever increases in numbers!

At New Year, these efforts received a tremendous boost in a very unexpected way. An ACE supporter pledged an extremely generous donation which he wanted to be used specifically towards this end and in a way that would also benefit the community.

As a result, ten houses are being built on land owned by, and adjacent to, the school. They will be for rent by community members with income going directly to the school. Once again, the construction work is boosting the local economy with the creation of new jobs. We expect that, from January 2020, Arise will be able to assume full sponsorship of new children at the same level as the ACE Sponsorship Scheme i.e. an average of 25% children in each year.

You will also know from our last Newsletter that we have been giving much thought to the issue of secondary education for those children in the ACE Sponsorship Scheme. Arise now has 362 pupils registered. Next January, this will rise to 400 – a full school. For the eldest students, it will be their last year of primary education.

After a lot of consideration, our Management Committee has now decided that, in principle, the charity should support all 85 children sponsored by ACE to continue their education at the local Government secondary school.

We very much hope that all our sponsors will wish to continue to support their child at secondary level. There are still a lot of issues to be addressed in terms of how this will be administered and overseen in the coming years. This is especially so as the youngest sponsored children are only three years old. This means that we will both be well in to our 80’s by the time they complete secondary school! We will continue to keep you informed as the situation develops.

Meanwhile, in January, we were delighted to receive the national exam results for last year’s Class 4 pupils (aged 10/11 years). All passed with flying colours! Of 34 children, no child received less than a Grade C overall. Twenty four were awarded Grade B and five Grade A.

The top student (with five Grade A’s in his individual exams and only one Grade B) was delighted to become the very proud new owner of a bicycle awarded by the school as an incentive for the children to give their very best.

They certainly all appear to have done that!

In particular, one of our sponsored pupils gained Grade A. Having seen ourselves the poverty of his home and family, this is an amazing achievement. Without sponsorship, he never would have had the opportunity of an education. Many congratulations to all the children and staff who worked so hard to achieve these results.

Thank you to everyone for all your ongoing interest and support in ACE and for helping us to achieve so much more for the children of Arise School and the local community.