Suubi Update Blog

29/3/2011, International Women's Day Celebrations

The very first Lwengo District event was held on March 29th when International Women's Day celebrations were held at Kaboyo Primary school. The day proved to be a huge success with officials, schools and the wider community attending to celebrate the many wonderful things that are being achieved by women in the newly formed district.

Lwengo District was formed in July 2010 after Masaka District was officially divided in to two smaller sections. As Suubi Cenrtre is located in Lubanda Village, it now falls into the area being governed by the new Lwengo district. With this in mind, the Suubi ladies enthusiastically took part in the event. It was an ideal place for them to display the knitting, sewing, weaving and paper bead skills which they have learnt at Suubi. Through out the day many members of the wider community were also keen to hear about the knowledge the ladies now have in mushroom growing. The Suubi ladies also took the opportunity sell both fresh and dried mushrooms on the day.

Many people came to the Suubi stall to learn about mushroom growing and to buy the ladies produce.

Men, women and children were keen to see everything on show at the Suubi stall.

The International Women's Day was localised to meet Ugandan requirements with the theme for the day being, "Act Now - Promote Maternal Health". This was chosen for Uganda based on the high rates of maternal health related problems throughout out the country. It fitted in perfectly with the fact that we are currently establishing the Suubi Community Health Centre in the hope of addressing this very issue, among others.

With many officials from the newly formed Lwengo district and other state ministers at the event, Ssemwogerere David took the opportunity to explain the wide variety of activities taking place at Suubi Centre, including the building of our new Suubi Clinic. They were impressed with what they saw and heard and are now very keen to assist the ongoing development of the Centre.

State environment minister, Jesica Eriyo, was very interested to here about programs running at Suubi from Ssemwogerere David.

Another highlight of the day came when the Suubi Ladies were selected to be part of the entertaining group for invited guests and the large crowd. The Suubi ladies performance carried a message calling on men to take great care of their wives during pregnancy and after childbirth. Female students from Omding Primary School, one of the Suubi partner schools, also accompanied the Suubi team and they were thrilled to be given an opportunity to present a song before the invited guests.

The Suubi ladies performed for the large crowd and visiting officials.

Everyone from Suubi, who attended the very first Lwengo District event, thoroughly enjoyed the day and look forward to participating in many more in the future.

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12/3/2011 Christmas Livestock Finds Good Homes

Suubi was a hive of activity on Saturday when livestock, which was bought via the HUG shop as Christmas gifts, was given out to a whole new group of beneficiaries.

It was very exciting to see 14 piglets handed over to a group of young men who are now coming to Suubi on a regular basis. They first got together to be part of the World Environment Day sports tournament, held in the middle of last year, and have continued to flourish since then. It is wonderful to think that their love of football first bought them together and from this, they are now supporting each other to develop a variety of ways to improve their own lives. Some of them have already started growing coffee and the distribution of these piglets will further encourage the group to stay motivated. During meetings which they are now holding at Suubi, each Saturday evening, they will be able to share ideas and discuss how things are progressing. In this way they will continue to learn from each.

14, month old piglets, were distributed to this very happy group of men.

In addition to this a further 11 Christmas gift piglets were distributed amongst parents of three of Suubi's partner schools.

Also as encouragement to one of the girls in the area who has been very active at the centre, Namusoke Jane, was awarded a scholarship of 50 chickens and the feed and medication required to raise them. These chicken were purchased by St Augustine students in Kyabram who bought them at their school fete late last year. It is hoped that as these chickens grow, Jane will be able to use the money she makes to pay her school fees and return to school. What a lovely outcome; a group of students in Australia is able to provide someone of their own age with a means of returning to school. Not a hand out, more like a hand up!

Jane tenders to her 50 new little chickens.

With all of this livestock currently being distributed we are also very excitedly to let you know that some of the piglets distributed last years have also recently produced their first litter. This means that in a couple of weeks time we will be passing some of these on to another group of beneficiaries - gifts that keep giving - how exciting!

Check out the video below to see how the whole piggery project keeps snow balling.

A huge thank you to everyone that has made this all possible, you are making a 'real' difference to many peoples lives.

HUGs from the team!

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31/12/2010, Suubi Holiday Program Brings Excitement to the Village

Suubi has been buzzing with excitement since our school holiday program began earlier this month.

In mid December a week long screen printing work shop was enthusiastically attended by the teenagers of the village. 04no Charles, a skilled artist and screen printer form Bujagali in Eastern Uganda, travelled to Suubi to pass on his skills to the youth around Lubanda village. Participants were firstly taught how to make a simple screen from inexpensive timber and silk like fabric.

Suubi youth learned how to make a screen which they then used for printing.

O4no then guided the students as they came up with individual designs which they were keen to screen print onto fabric. The skill of how to transfer their designs from paper on to the screen was one that fascinated the kids but it was the thrill of seeing their designs printed that gave them a real buzz!

04no showed participants how to transfer their design onto to the screen they had made.

The students were happy to see their designs coming to life on cloth.

The Suubi youth had lots of fun with 04no and we hope they will continue to develop the skills they were taught. Some may choose to refine their artistic skills, while others may opt to use their new found screen printing skills to establish an otherwise untapped line of work in the area.

04no and some of his students showed off the work which they had produced.

As December came to a close, the Suubi community was thrilled to see the return of, Kampala based hip hip group, Bonfire. Some of the group had performed at our schools music, dance and drama competition earlier in the year where Mcee Ugly, the group's leader, had been an enormous hit. Everyone was thrilled to see he had bought thirteen other performers back to the village for a variety of arts and entertainment workshops.

The three days were filled with excitement as all ages in the village were catered for. Everyone found something they were keen to learn about as workshops were held for singing, dancing, guitar, drawing and art.

Bonfire leader, Mcee Ugly, chatted with the local community.

Suubi tweens had fun at the dance workshops.

Older teenagers were keen on the singing workshops

And guitar tuition.

While younger kids were catered for with drawing and art classes.

The highlight of the visit was on New Years eve when all of the Suubi community came together for a night filled with entertainment. Some of the younger Suubi kids enthusiastically performed as the lead in for the night. They had been practicing for days with Doreen, one of the secondary students who had returned to the village for holidays, who was keen to pass on singing and dancing skills she had herself been fortunate enough to learn at school. This is definitely now the Suubi way - Everyone passes on their skills and knowledge so everyone can benefit!

Some of the younger children at Suubi were the lead in entertainment for the night.

With dusk descending adults from the community took to the stage and told riddles.They then joined the Bonfire crew to tell traditional stories which had been in danger of disappearing. Everyone in the audience actively participated and hopefully they have now been inspired to keep this tradition alive at home with their own families.

Locals told riddles and traditional stories to the large crowd that actively participated.

As the night progressed the Bonfire guys kicked into their hip hop performance which certainly thrilled the youth. By the time the clock ticked passed midnight everyone was dancing and laughing. What a wonderful way to see in the new year. Surely a sign of great things to come at Suubi in 2011!

The highlight of the night was the performance by Kampala based hip hop guys, Kings of Bonfire.

The Bonfire crew had a laugh while posing with some of the Suubi kids that gained so much from their visit.

So as you can see the Suubi school holiday program has been a wonderful success. A strong relationship was developed both with 04no and during Bonfire's visit as they interacted with the locals in a fun and entertaining way. This enabled them to council, particularly the youth, with many life skills which they are sure use in the future. It was a real thrill for people in the village to be exposed to city based entertainers and artists of this calibre and something everyone is sure to remember for a long time to come.

Well done to everyone involved.

HUGs from the team!

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26/11/2010, Livestock distributed at Suubi

Late in September we were deeply touched when we had a most generous donation from a Kyabram lady who had been watching the HUG journey and the success at Suubi, via our website. Sadly her husband had passed away earlier in the year and she had recently sold off part of their dairy herd. Amazingly, during this most difficult time in her life, she chose to donate the money raised from the sale of one those cows to HUG, so that livestock could be bought for families in Uganda. What an inspiration!

Recently the result of this extraordinary donation saw 40 piglets and two cows being distributed to many grateful Ugandans!

Building on the past success of distributing piglets to the Suubi ladies, we decided to go ahead and introduce a similar piggery scheme into some of our partner schools. Pivot Omiding, Busubi and Sharon were the three primary schools chosen as the lucky ones to be part of this extended partnership with Suubi.

Meetings were held at all four of the schools to explain to parents the responsibilities and expectations of being part of the project.

The project will work on the same pay it forward principle that has been so successful with the Suubi ladies. However this time, by working with parents at schools, it will help generate an income which will allow them to meet school fees. Also it will enable parents to cover the small cost for their children to participate in computer training and other events which are run by Suubi.

A number of parents were chosen from each school and each of them were given a piglet. After this piglet has grown and had it's first litter, two of those piglets will be returned to the school and will again be passed on to two more parents. Of course the original pig and the remaining piglets will always belong to the original family and they can decide how to run their business from then on. Suubi's technical advisory team will always be there to guide them, should they need assistance, but ultimately they will then be in charge of their own destiny.

And it won't stop there! After all interested parents at the schools have received a piglet for their family, a piggery project will be established at each school. This will then generate an income for that school. Of course in the long run this will benefit students and teachers in that it will enable improvements to be made to the school and vital educational supplies to be bought.

Parents at Sharon Primary School were the first to receive their piglets.

On top of all that, two cows were also distributed to two different groups that have been very actively involved at Suubi. The first cow was given to the Suubi ladies group which now has over forty active members. These ladies have shown that they are prepared to work hard to improve their own lot in life and distributing this cow to them is another way of us helping those who want to help themselves. They have always been very supportive of each other and are already contributing part of the money they receive from their crafts sales into a fund pool. This will enable any of them to have access to these funds should they come up with other business ideas, again allowing the ladies to be in control of their own destiny. Raising the cow as a group and making decisions together about breeding, selling, etc will mean the ladies can expand their co-operation and therefore their ability to help each other.

The Suubi ladies were very excited to receive their new cow and send it to Nalwadda Benedict home where it will initially be cared for.

The second cow was given to a group of 24 youth, both boys and girls, who have shown a real desire to get involved at Suubi. Unlike the ladies group, who have been together since the centre first opened almost 2 years ago, the youth group has slowly developed since the sporting tournament which was held at Suubi in June. Since then we have looked to develop various initiatives which enable these young people to strive and reach their full potential, and become self-reliant. Recently, 100 coffee seedlings were distributed to an initial three youth who had shown interest in coffee farming and attended the coffee expo in Masaka Town. More youth will be supplied with seedlings shortly and training has began for all the youth to learn about nursery bed establishment and grafting coffee. Once these skill are learned the youth will be able to sell the seedlings they produce to other coffee farmers in the area, generating an income for themselves.

Now the cow has been given to the youth group, it is expected that the youth will follow in the steps of the ladies and work together to develop business opportunities together. Initially the cow will provide manure for supporting the coffee farming business but, somewhere down the track, the youth may decide to sell the cow and inject the money into other development initiatives they come up with. Again we are providing an opportunity for these youth to make decisions that will ultimately improve their own lives.

Bosco Ssembolanyi came to Suubi to collect the cow which he will keep at his home for the Suubi youth group.

And to think that all this was made possible from the sale of one cow in Australia!! Amazing!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

HUGs from the team!

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30/10/2010, Suubi Schools Music, Dance & Drama Festival

There was much excitement in Lubanda village on Saturday as Suubi's partner schools gathered to participate in our inaugural Music, Dance and Drama festival. Each of the seven primary schools performed with enthusiasm and high energy in acts that included a skit, a song, a poem and both creative and traditional dance numbers.

The theme for the day was "HUNGER AND EDUCATION" which looked at how the lack of food/meals in schools effects the learning and academic performance of students. Each of the performances reflected this theme and proved to be an entertaining way to pass on the message to teachers and parents that promoting school gardens is a positive step towards alleviating this problem.

The seven schools were judged on their overall performance by a panel of judges with PIVOT Primary School eventually taking out the honours on the day. All schools were congratulated on their efforts and everyone agreed that the inaugural competition was a huge success.

Children from Busubi Primary School wooed the crowd with their traditional dance number.

Sharon Primary School students beautifully performed their poem.

The students had a wonderful time as their amazing drumming skills backed up singing and dancing performances.

The creative dance number of PIVOT Primary School stole the show.

In addition to the primary school competition students from two secondary schools also put on inspiring performances on the day. Sylivia Naluwooza, one of the Suubi ladies, sang beautifully and a youth guitarist from the neighbouring village also showed off his skills. The highlight for many of the children though was when HIP HOP artists, Bon Fire, from the National Theatre in Kampala performed their hip hop hits. They did a great job to inspire the youth to continue to develop their musical talents and pursue a career in in this field if that is their dream.

The younger students were inspired to improve more for next years event by the performances from Regional College.

The large crowd listened intently to Sylivia Naluwooza as she sang.

To have national hip hop artists in the village was very exciting for everyone.

The opportunity was also taken during the days activities to distribute 100 coffee seedlings to youth who had participated in the Suubi Butonde Bwansi Tournament which was held as part of our World Environment Day celebrations. Some of them had recently attended a coffee expo in Masaka Town and Saturdays event was the ideal time to demonstrate to everyone in attendance that Suubi intends to continue to support and help those who help themselves. Arrangements are now in progress to specifically train these youth in how to produce coffee cuttings/seedlings which they will then be able to sell and generate income for themselves.

David distributed 100 coffee seedlings to youth in the area who have actively been participating in activities organised by Suubi.

And finally the last, but certainly not the least important, presentation was carried out. As part of the School Gardens Music, Dance and Drama festival a tour and evaluation of all partner schools, who have been supported with water tanks and garden tools in the past, was carried out in the lead up to the event. As we see the school gardens as playing a vital role in in educating students about up to date farming methods, which they can then pass on to their respective homes, we felt that the school with the best garden should be rewarded. The presentation to the winning school, Lubanda Primary School was a fitting way to finish off a fabulous day.

Lubanda's agricultural teacher, Issac, was thrilled to receive the best school garden award.

Lubanda children were excited to get their hands on the trophy which will be kept at their school until next years event.

With more than 500 people attending Saturdays event it is easy to see that Suubi is continuing to inspire people to strive for their best. Whether it be music, dance and drama or sporting events, livelihood projects or classes running at the centre, Suubi is truly living up to its name and creating real hope in the community. It is all very exciting!

HUGs from the team!

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17/9/2010, Suubi Group Attend Coffee Expo

On September 17th a group of five men from Suubi attended the District Coffee Show in Masaka Town. They had shown a keen interest in establishing a coffee crop for themselves and we felt they would benefit enormously from seeing and hearing what was on offer at the expo. Making their own way into town from the village would have proven difficult for them all. However by organising for them to travel together as group in the van it not only gave these guys a means of transport, but also the opportunity to support each other as they learned.

Masaka District Coffee Expo aimed to spread the word of how to make money from coffee growing.

Once in town the boys joined the large crowd and took many notes as they moved around the various exhibition sites. They listened intently and learned much from the information and training sessions which were held throughout the day. Correct planting methods and how to best maintain a coffee crop were discussed as organisers spelled out to participants what a lucrative business coffee farming can be if done correctly.

The large crowd listened intently and took notes about successful coffee farming techniques.

By the end of the day the Suubi group had gathered new found knowledge and skills, but as importantly, an even greater enthusiasm to go back home and find a way to establish their own coffee crops. Just as when we took the group of ladies to learn about mushroom farming we hope these boys will now pass on what they learnt from the expo and inspire others at Suubi to get involved.

Bosco Sebolanyi, Kizza Robert, Mwanje John, Kateittwa Ishmael and Henery all took home new found knowledge and skills. They also took coffee seedlings to make a start on their own crop.

This is a terrific example of why things are working so well at Suubi. Sharing new skills with others is what is helping to create real hope in the whole community.

HUGs from the team!

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26/7/2010, New Suubi Librarian & 1st Piglet Passed On!

With the volunteers being at Suubi for much of the last two months we have had to use much of the available internet time to update the trip blog so my apologies for not posting updates on this blog more regularly. We have however had a couple of really exciting things happen at Suubi during that time that I would like to let you know about.

A couple of weeks ago we were thrilled when we had the first piglet passed on from those that were distributed during last year. The initial piglets had been bought as gifts through the HUG shop and been dispersed amongst underprivileged families surrounding Suubi. As part of the recipients commitment they had all agreed that when their piglet had grown and produced it's own first litter they would then pass 2 piglets back to Suubi so they could in turn be passed on to other unprivileged families. We are now starting to see the 'pay it forward' system working beautifully!

Babirye's pig had given birth a month earlier and the piglets were now old enough to be taken from their mother. She will keep the original pig and she can chose what to do with the remaining three piglets from the first litter but it was very exciting to watch as she handed the first piglet on to Maxcensia who will now benefit in the same way as she has!! Very exciting!!

Babirye had raised a fine looking pig that produced healthy piglets.

The piglet was passed back to Suubi and David oversaw the handing over to the next recipient.

Babirye (left) was happy to pass a piglet onto Maxcensia.

Maxcensia headed home with her new piglet.

Also earlier this month David and Helen attended a library conference which was held by the Uganda Community Library Association. With over 60 members the association is a great way for small community libraries like ours to learn from each other and share ideas.

We had only recently decided to employ a full time librarian at Suubi so we took the opportunity to organise for her to spend time at three other libraries in our area. We are sure she will get a variety of ideas of how to promote reading to the wider community.

David and Helen participated in a number of workshops at the library conference.

We have been able to employ Zakia thanks to Jan Heap (a recent volunteer), her daughters and some of her book club members in Cohuna offering donate the $115 a month which will cover her wage. To Jan, her family and friends it will only be a small amount to find each month but it will make an enormous ongoing difference here at Suubi. A huge thank you goes to them all for seeing the importance of having a Ugandan to run the Suubi library.

Zakia will run all our reading sessions with our partner schools and she will be responsible for promoting the Suubi library to the wider community. She is currently working out ways to encourage the local ladies to come with their smaller children for reading. Soon she will begin translating some of the books into the local language so we can get local children to do music dance and drama performances to the community about important issues like HIV and malaria awareness and we are also organising to have her record some of the books so that we can have sessions for those who can't read at all. These are just a few of the initiatives to begin with but we are sure having a new librarian will help the Suubi library continue to grow.

Our new Suubi librarian, Najjuko Zakia

Zakia taking a reading session with children from Sharon Primary School.

So as you can see many great things continue to happen at Suubi. We hope you are as excited hearing about it as we are. We know the current bunch of volunteers are thrilled to be here to see it for themselves. To read all about what they have been up to please check out the trip blog as well.

HUGs from the team!

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30/6/2010, Overseas Volunteers at Suubi

The last six weeks at Suubi has been jam packed with action. We have had a steady stream of overseas volunteers, all who have left their positive mark on the place.

Some of them stayed the full six weeks while others passed through for a relatively short space of time but were touched by their Ugandan experience. They all have indicated that they which to be involved with HUG again, either in Australia or by returning to Uganda. This is very exciting that they have all had such a positive experience!

Jan Heap had a huge impact passing on her sewing skills to the Suubi Ladies.

Terry and Sue O'Brien bought much joy to the community at Sharon Primary School.

Lucynda Tomaino enjoyed spending time with Ugandans, but also learnt much from other volunteers.

In fact the whole Tomaino family left with a changed out look on life.

Fabulous new friendships were formed between the local community and overseas volunteers.

Jackie and Naomi learnt much about their teaching profession from visiting local primary schools.

We also had Kate Leeming's documentary crew visit during this time which was very exciting for everyone. And our World Environment Day celebrations at Suubi were a huge success. To read all about these and other exciting stories during this time at the centre please visit our 2010 volunteer blog for detailed coverage. Hopefully you will get inspired to be become a volunteer yourself!!

Kate's documentary crew learnt much about the Suubi projects during their two days at the centre.

HUGs from the team!

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2/5/2010, 80 New Books for Suubi Library

After entering a competition in early March, which was run by Uganda Community Libraries Association (UgCLA), everyone at Suubi was thrilled when we recently learned that our application had been successful!

Thanks to a very generous donation from a New York based organisation, "Pockets of Change", UgCLA had been able to run the Children's Book Project which aims to spread the love of reading to Ugandan children.

Prior to entering the competition the majority of reading material available at the Suubi Community Library had been non-fiction, adult, learning based books. We are very excited to have now added eighty (80) brand new children's books to our shelves. Stories that have been specially written and illustrated for children will now stimulate the joy of reading for our village children.

Eighty brand new children's books recently arrived at Suubi Community Library.

We at Suubi would like to say a huge thank you for the ongoing drive and enthusiasm of UgCLA and Pockets of Change. It is undoubtedly helping to improve literacy standard right across Uganda and we are thrilled to have been chosen to receive such a wonderful prize.

HUGs from the team!

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13/4/2010, Suubi FC Win Easter Tournament

There was extra reason to celebrate on Easter Sunday as the Suubi Football Club emerged the winners of the Easter Tournament. Local identity, David Baale, who plans to stand for an MP seat in the 2011 elections, had organised and supported the tournament between six local villages.

Lubanda Primary School's playground was completely surrounded by the many excited locals as they cheered on their teams during the final. It was an action packed match but at the end of the day, it was the Suubi supporters who celebrated the final outcome.

Suubi boys preparing for the big final.

The final match was watched by many of the local community on Easter Sunday.

With the match concluded, and the sun beginning to set, David Baale congratulated everyone who had been involved in the tournament. He then went on to hand over the prize to the winning team - a cow! For the Suubi team and Lubanda Village this must have been almost as exciting as winning the World Cup!

The Suubi team is congratulated by tournament organiser, David Baale.

The Suubi team was awarded with a cow for winning the tournament.

The fact that the Suubi FC was only formed at the beginning of this year, after a generous donation made by the Kyabram P-12 College, and they are already having such great success, is a wonderful a achievement. Well done everyone!

HUGs from the team!

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