Sports equipment totalling over £2000 was donated by the Rob Stephenson Trust. Thanks to this amazing donation the Uganda 2024 project was able to provide a number of sporting resources to our partner schools in Uganda. We began our trip with a visit to St Paul’s Secondary School in Bukinda. We donated footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, volleyball nets, basketball nets, a rounders set and field markers which St Paul’s were incredibly grateful for and put to use immediately. The picture (right) shows the St Paul’s pupils and UK students playing a game of basketball on their newly refurbished basketball court (which our project had funded).
The next day of the trip led us down the road to Giants Secondary School where we donated similar items as shown by the image (left) of our two head girls Lois and Emilia at a welcome ceremony hosted by Giant’s staff and pupils. During the ceremony, the football coach for Giant’s School informed us that the footballs Our Lady’s donated on their last visit (From RST) had allowed the pupils to practice their football skills on a regular basis which has led to some recent success in local football tournaments and fixtures for both the boys and girls football teams. The pupils from the school cheered and whistled with excitement when we announced that we were donating more footballs as well as a wide range of other sporting equipment such as basketballs, volleyballs and a rounders set.
After leaving Bukinda, we then visited Rubuguri. The first school we visited was St. Kizito’s Primary School who had just recently built an amazing new volleyball court (right). This meant the volley balls and volleyball nets we had donated were greatly received with much joy and gratitude and it has allowed the school to continue the development and success of their volleyball team.
The following day we visited St. Peter’s Primary School where we held a festival of sporting activities. We played parachute games (left), kick rounders and skipping games and the pupils and staff were incredibly happy to find out that all the equipment we used during that day had been donated to the school. The pupils fully engaged in all the activities throughout the day and thanked us for teaching them some new games and sports they had not previously had the chance to play before. The teachers of St. Peter’s were asking lots of questions throughout the day in order to learn more about the games and activities we were playing so they could continue to play them in the future.
That weekend, pupils from both St. Kizito’s and St. Peter’s attended a sports event hosted by Our Lady’s staff and pupils. The sports event was made up of a football game, tennis games, rounders, volleyball and a variety of races which made for an incredibly joyful day of sport and physical activity. Once again, after the event concluded, all of the sporting equipment was donated to the school’s pupils who were overjoyed to be receiving more sports equipment.
The event brought lots of interest from local community members and passers by as many stood round to watch the pupils take part in the various sporting activities. At the end of the event a young boy who had been watching the event asked if he could take a football for his local football academy as they had been practicing with balls they had made from recycled plastic bags and banana leaf fibres. After confirming that the football would in fact be going to the local football academy, we happily granted the boys request and donated some footballs to the team who were ecstatic to be receiving the surprise donation. The coach of the academy made his way down to the field to offer his gratitude and blessings to Our Lady’s and all of their sponsors, including the Rob Stephenson Trust.
