Suubi Secondary School Blog

16-5-2016, SSVC Holiday Vocational Program Expands To Include New Subjects

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9-4-2016, Entebbe Adventure For SSVC Students To Officially Be Sworn In As Scouts

After more than a month of training, under the guidance of Masaka Scout leaders, Mr. Mugagga Andrew, Musoke Stephen and Mawejje Henry Hescom, 59 students from Suubi Secondary & Vocational College were thrilled to successfully graduate today. The culmination of all their hard work was made even more special when Tropical Bank Uganda agreed to support the SSVC students and staff to attend a Harvest Fest at SOS Children's Village in Entebbe. The bank had organised this very special event for SSVC, Oxford primary school Kawempe Kampala and SOS children, in line with their philosophy “We are part of the community that we serve.” This type of support gives worthy schools and organisations, who would otherwise struggle to afford to participate in such activities, exposure to experiences they can learn from, at the same time as for-filling the banks corporate social responsibility to give back to the community. For many of our students this was their very first time to leave the village and travel to the city, so we are enormously grateful to Tropical Bank and their partners for organising such a special day that everyone is sure to remember for years to come.

With the event due to start very early in Entebbe, the decision was made that SSVC students and staff attending the event would stay at the school compound overnight. This was to ensure that everyone would be ready for the necessary 4am start for the long journey.

A campfire was organised at SSVC compound and everyone got in to celebration mode as they played drums and danced the night away as they waited for the buses to leave.

At 4am the students excitedly lined up to board the buses that would take them for their big adventure to the city.

By 8.30am they were arriving at Entebbe in readiness for their big day.

While the main focus of the day was to graduate the SSVC scouts, there were many other activities, including music, dance and games to ensure the students had a fun filled day. The SSVC’s chicken project was also the talk of the day as the idea was shared with the other schools and NGO's in attendance. Many people appreciated the initiative and promised to learn more from the documentary that Mr Idris (Tropical Bank, deputy manager) and his film crew had created in February.

All students who attended were given a T-shirt and sun visor by the bank. They were also provided with food and drinks for the day, thanks to the generosity of the banks partner sponsors, Cafe Javas, Britannia and Lake Victoria Hotel.

Students lined up to participate in one of the first games of the day, the sack race.

Their was lots of laughing but also a very healthy amount of competition.

The wheelbarrow races were also a hit.

As is the case with scouting's many life lessons, a lot of the activities required students to co-oparate with each other to achieve success.

While the students enjoyed the games, many of the attending schools administrators and NGO's, including the KLM group, were keen to learn more about the SSVC chicken project for Suubi Centre director, Ssemwogerere David.

It was soon time to move on to the offical part of the day that was presided by the guest of honour, Mpamire, who is popularly know as Museveni thanks to his remarkable resemblance of the Ugandan President.

SSVC students were presented to the offical party.

SSVC staff members, Robert, Lydia, Shanitah and Israel were then officially inducted as scouting leaders,

before each of the 59 SSVC students were individually presented with a scouting tie from Mpamire to mark their graduation.

Being sworn in as the SSVC scouting group was very proud moment for everyone involved and surly created a memory that will always be treasured.

Our enormous thanks goes Mr. Idris who has been the driving force in getting the SSVC scouting group off the ground. He has been involved with scouting or over 40 years and saw that SSVC's philosophy of enabling our students to help themselves is clearly in line with the scouts principles. This is just the beginning of what we hope will be a long and rewarding association with the scouting movement and the Tropical Bank of Uganda.

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29-2-2016, Classes and Scouting Kicks Off At SSVC

The beginning of the 2016 school year has been a busy time at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College. The lead up to students return to academic classes was preceded with staff meetings to ensure that all necessary planning had been completed. With last years students moving on to Senior 2 and the next intake on Senior 1 students joining them, it was also important to hold a meeting with the parents so everyone clearly understood what was expected throughout the year ahead.

The dedicated SSVC staff put in many hours of preparation before the commencement of students academic classes last Monday.

With the number of students more than doubling, after the intake of our 2016 Senior 1 class, it was very important to make sure that all parents clearly understood their family's responsibilities and the expectations of their children through out the year.

The new Senior 1 students have been enthusiastic and keen to make a good start to their secondary education; they are steadily making the adjustment from life as a primary school student. The Senior 2 students, on the other hand, have quickly settled back in to the routine of their academic classes.

The Senior 1 students are making the transition from primary to secondary education. They are eagerly waiting for their school uniforms to be made by the Suubi ladies and the tailoring facilitator, who are being ably assisted by SSVC students who learnt knitting and tailoring skills throughout 2015.

Senior 2 students are already hard at work and giving the books a good workout.

Headmaster, Walugembe Robert, taking charge of a school assembly for both the 2016 Senior 1 and 2 classes.

All the 2016 students and staff were happy to have a school photo taken. It is very exciting to see the numbers increasing and to know a whole new group of youth will now be exposed to all the wonderful opportunities that are on offer at SSVC.

The beginning of the new school year has also bought excitement with the commencement of Scouting at SSVC. This came about following Mr Idris Elhalafi, Deputy Manager of Tropical Bank across Uganda, recently contacted the school about making a documentary about our home based chicken project; after he had read about its success in the Daily Monitor last year. During conversations Ssemwogerere David (Suubi Centre Director) and Idris had while discussing the documentary, Idris also told of his involvement with Scouting. They both very quickly came to the realisation that Souting would work perfectly at SSVC, as they share many of the same philosophies. Having made the decision to start a Scouting club at SSVC, Idris contacted the Masaka Scouting Group and organised for their trainers to visit the school.

Once at SSVC the trainers very quickly got the students excited about being involved in Scouts and the opportunities it will bring. We now have 68 students and 4 staff members who are taking part in Scouts training 3 times per week. Very exciting!

The Masaka Scouting Group Trainers first meet with all SSVC students and staff to explain more about Scouting.

Students listened intently as the trainer explained what it means to become a Scout.

68 students made the decision that they would like to become a Scouting member and enthusiastically got involved in each of the training sessions.

They had soon mastered the all important three fingered salute that Scouts use across the globe.

We are very excited that our connection with Scouts and the Tropical Bank, via Idris, has already lead to a wonderful opportunity for the SSVC students and staff. On March 19th the Tropical Bank has organised a fun fare, entertainment and games in Entebbe. This will be held in conduction with the SOS Children's Home, which Tropical Bank also supports. All costs for our students and staff to travel to and participate in this event will be covered by the bank. Many of our students have never been out of the village so what an amazing opportunity for them to travel to the city!! And of course being so close to the airport means that they will also get to see the airplanes too.

During this event the documentary that was made about the chicken project will be shared with everyone in attendance, including important dignitaries such as Ambassadors, Bank Board Directors and Scout Directors. So you never know what other opportunities this may lead to as well. There are certainly exciting time ahead!

Our enormous thanks go to Idris Elhalafi for organising our connection with the Scouting movement and of course a very special thanks to Tropical Bank for the financial support to make it all possible.

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3-2-2016, Documentary To Showcase SSVC Chicken Project

The current holiday break has definitely not meant that things have stood still at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College. While students and staff had certainly planned to be busy with a variety of vocational subjects, it came as somewhat of a surprise when Suubi Centre director, Ssemwogerere David, informed everyone that he had been contacted by a documentary crew who wanted to film and showcase the SSVC home-based chicken project.

Idris Elhalafi, a Libyan national who is the deputy general manager of the Tropical Bank in Uganda, had earlier read the national newspaper article about the SSVC chicken project that had appeared in the The Daily Monitor. So impressed with the simplicity of the project, that helps students to pay their own school fees, Idris decided that he should get involved and help spread the idea to students and schools in other parts of Uganda, Libya and Africa. With his son studying journalism it gave him the perfect opportunity to create a documentary that simply explains how and why the chicken project it having such a positive impact on young peoples lives. Through Idris's passion for the scouting movement and connections via the Tropical bank it is envisaged that the documentary will be shared with scouting groups and schools in Uganda, Libya and beyond. How exciting that a small idea that began in Lubanda Village now has the potential to empower so many other youth to help themselves!

It was very exciting when the film crew arrived and began to shoot the story behind why the chicken project works so well. The students and staff never would have dreamed, when the project first began last year, that they would one day be starring in a documentary! What an amazing opportunity for everyone involved, especially when you consider that SSVC is situated in such a tiny rural village in Uganda and soon they may be seen by communities across the African continent.

The SSVC students were thrilled to see the documentary crew waiting for them as they arrived in class today.

Once inside the day to day routine of class was filmed.

Students were then given the opportunity to explain about how they look after their chickens and bring their eggs to school to be sold.

SSVC project co-ordinator/bursar, Shanitah, also explained how eggs are collected, recorded in spreadsheets and then sold before the money is then used to help cover each students school fees.

We are now all eagerly waiting for filming and editing has been completed so we can see the finished documentary. That will definitely be a a VERY exciting day!

But it isn't just the documentary that has had SSVC buzzing throughout the holiday period. Knitting and sewing classes have been in full swing, but it is one of our newest vocational subjects, carpentry, that is really getting a work out right now. With the 2016 school year set to start on Feb 22nd the students are excited to be able to learn how to build the tables and work benches that are needed for the new vocational training hall.

The students are putting the brand new carpentry planes, that arrived in the TWAM shipment late last year, to great use. The students are being overseen by our new carpentry facilitatory, Ssekabira, (in blue). He has produced many cabinetry pieces for Suubi Centre over the years and now he will be passing on his skills to the SSVC students.

Each student is given the opportunity to have their turn so they can all get used to using the new carpentry equipment.

Bulunya Richard certainly looks the part with hammer in hand and pencil behind his ear!

Inside the training hall there has also been a lot of action going on during the holidays. TeamMED volunteers from Australia were impressed to see the new knitting machines, from TWAM, in action.

Suubi ladies, Kizito and Betty, (both standing) who themselves learnt knitting at Suubi Centre, are also now vocational facilitators and have been busy passing on their skills to SSVC students.

So as you can see, although it has been holiday time, things clearly have continued to thrive at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College. This certainly bodes well for the upcoming start to the 2016 school year and we look forward to the arrival of the next intake of students who will also become part of all the wonderful things happening at SSVC.

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28-11-2015, SSVC Students Successfully Complete 1st Year!

Everyone at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College have had cause for celebration over the last couple of days; we have successfully completed our first year. How exciting! When we started classes at the beginning of 2015, with the inaugural Senior 1 students and 9 newly appointed teaching staff, we were hoping that everything would progress well throughout the year...... we have far exceeded all expectations!

Our hard working staff have blended together remarkably well to create an enthusiastic atmosphere where all students now feel like they are part of something exceptional. Students have certainly been encouraged to work hard at their academic subjects, but have also been given the opportunity to try out various vocational skills and extra curricular activities. They enthusiastically embraced the home based chicken project and were all very excited to participate in the study tour to the St Jude Agricultural Training Centre, both of which focused on teaching them how to create an income from livelihood and agricultural project, so that they will be able to help pay for they own education.

It has been wonderful to watch the 2015 students make such a fabulous start to their secondary education. As we truly believe that everybody has a skill, and it is simply a matter of tapping in to it; the most exciting thing has been watching the students develop excellent life skills and be inspired to pursue what they are really passion about.

The last two days have therefore been about celebrating the success of 2015 students. On Friday the students were encouraged to bring 2 of their friends, that have recently completed Primary 7 classes, to come for a party; a day of music and dancing to celebrate their graduation to Senior 2.

It was wonderful to see the students and their friends having such a great time together.

While this was obviously a fun day for everyone, it also provided an chance for the Primary 7 students to enrol for 2016 so they too can enjoy and benefit from all the fabulous opportunities at SSVC. We now have 47 applicants for the 50 place available for next years new Senior 1 students. Usually families in Uganda do not apply for a position at a school until early next year, once they get their results, but obvious everyone has heard great things about SSVC and do not want to miss out!

On Saturday we followed up by inviting the parents to join their children at the school as reports and awards were handed out. Although this was a more formal occasion it also saw many of the community joining in with all the excitement. Once again there was lots of dancing and singing to celebrate.

Our dedicated SSVC staff began on Saturday morning by holding their final staff meeting before the parents and wider community arrived.

The parents were happy to watch their children performing songs

and dances that they had learnt throughout the year.

A highlight of Saturday's event saw all students receive their final report and awards handed out to those who had excelled in certain areas. The awards were divided in to two separate areas; one to recognise excellent life skill qualities and the another for school based achievements. The awards went to:

NAKUYA CATHERINE - Best leadership skills.
JJAGGWE ARNOLD - Best interpersonal skills
NAKASAGGA SWABULA - The most supportive and kind student.
KAYABULA ALEX - The hardest working and most determined student.
LUWAGA VINCENT - Best academic performance.
SSESAAZI ISAAC - The most improvement in vocational skills.
SHANA SSUUBI - Best performance in the home base project.
MBAWADDE RHODA - Best english speaker.

The parents were very proud of their students as they received their awards from Suubi Centre director, Ssemwogerere David and Head Master, Walugembe Robert. Alex was recognised for his hard work and determination.

While Catherine was acknowledged for her excellent leadership qualities.

What a fabulous way to finish off the very first year at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College. An enormous thank you to EVERYONE that made it the huge success that it was!

And with the new vocational workshop and tools set to be utilised from the beginning of the 2016 school year it really is exciting to imagine what we might be writing about at this time next year!

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6-11-2015, Vocational Workshop & Tools Unveiled At Music, Dance & Drama Final

November 6th will definitely be long remembered at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College: the day when the new vocational workshop and tools were unveiled at Suubi's most successful MDD finals to date. Everyone had worked tirelessly to make sure the construction was finished in time, and all that hard work certainly paid off when more than 1600 people turned up on the day. It was wonderful to see them all enjoying the students performances that highlighted this years theme of "An educated community, is a transformed community”. This certainly tied in perfectly with the launch of the new SSVC vocational facilities.

With the finishing touches having been put on building, the new workshop is certainly an impressive sight.

The SSVC students opened the MDD finals by singing the national anthem and also performed a song about the importance of education. There are lots more wonderful photos of the other schools performing on the Suubi events blog for you to see.

Midway through the performances everyone was invited to have a tour of the school, in particular the new structure where they were also able check out the huge variety of vocational tools that had recently arrived. The combination of the new building and tools means that the start of the 2016 school year will see carpentry, metalwork and mechanics added to the tailoring, knitting and baking vocational subjects that have been offered this year. Importantly though, the availability of space and the necessary tools means that the vocational subjects can now be incorporated in to the day to day curriculum, rather than just during school holidays.

Once inside the new workshop everyone was surprised to see the huge number and variety of tools.

They eagerly checked out everything from electrical tools, through to bicycles, wheelchairs and even secretarial supplies.

Each set of boxes contained tools specific to different trades. Here are some for carpentry and plumbing.

There are even gardening tools that will be put to great use for agricultural studies.

Another thing that people were very interested to hear more about was the biogas; how it is now producing very bright light and also wonderful compost that is being used on the school gardens.

The biogas unit was recently serviced and is now performing perfectly.

The lights are now shining so brightly that they were perfect to use as the audio equipment was set up for the MDD finals the night before.

The compost produced from the biogas is definitely helping the schools matooke trees to flourish. It won't be long and the students and teachers will be enjoying this matooke for lunch. An added bonus; it will be prepared from the new kitchen that was also built as part of the 2nd phase construction. Perfect!

What a wonderful sight to see the structures of Suubi Secondary & Vocational Collage now standing side by side: the original classroom block, the biogas toilet block and now the complete workshop and kitchen.

We've put together a short video of the finals day so you can get a real feel of the excitement of the event and as the community toured the new workshop for the first time. Enjoy!

How wonderful to see the positive energy that SSVC is bringing to the whole community.

It is amazing to think how far we have come in such a short time. A huge thank you to everyone who has been part of making all of this possible. Well done everyone!

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28-10-2015, Phase 2 Construction Nearing Completion

With the preliminary rounds of the Suubi Music, Dance and Drama Festival completed last week and the finals now only a week away, everyone has been frantically working to have the new workshop/kitchen at SSVC finished in time to show off to everyone who attends on November 6th. Students, teachers, family and community members from the 8 remaining primary schools, and others planning to join the festivities from as far away as Masaka and Kampala, are sure to be suitably impressed with the new construction. Since our last update things have certainly been speeding towards completion:

The outside rendering was completed.

Guttering was installed so water can be directed into the new water tank.

Power point's were installed in the main workshop area

and electricity fitted off to the outside of the structure.

With the concrete floor down, the workshop certainly now looks and feels like an ideal space for vocational studies.

Once the inside floor was complete, the front verandah and steps in to the building were the next thing to be ticked off.

and then the skirting surrounding the entire building.

What an amazing sight to see the vocational workshop and kitchen now standing beside the original SSVC classroom block. It really is hard to believe that less than 18 months ago this was a vacant block of land!

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19-10-2015, Suubi To Collaborate With Like Minded Organisations

It is exciting to see that Suubi Centre's hard earned, proven track record is reaping rewards and our director, Ssemwogerere David, is now receiving regular request for Suubi to collaborate with other like minded organisations. Recently David and SSVC staff members, Sanitah and Lydia, attended an entrepreneurship training with ASPIRE TO INSPIRE in Masaka Town. This organisation is facilitated by Bana Uganda Ltd and focuses on social entrepreneurship initiatives that mainly target children attending school. The intention is to see how the girl child can remain in school and at the same time be empowered with business skills and opportunities. When the Aspire to Inspire team visited secondary schools in the area, prior to this workshop, they very quickly realised that Suubi Secondary & Vocational College shares the same philosophy and already has many of their concepts up and running; students are already learning tailoring, knitting and baking, and more vocational subjects are set to be added in 2016. With this in mind, they very quickly invited David and SSVC staff to attend their training. With the training now complete, the next step is that the selected schools will come up with business ideas that at least 20 of their female students will choose to run. As the program progresses the participating schools will compete and exhibits will be held to showcase which school businesses are proving to be the most successful.

SSVC was selected to attend the Aspire to Inspire workshop as participants. As you can see Shanitah doing here, they were often asked to explain to others attending how SSVC is already going about running vocational studies to empower students.

In addition to the exciting opportunities to arise from the workshop above, Ssemwogerere David has also been in discussion with Kizza Josephine, from St Jude Rural Training Centre, after SSVC students had an excursion there earlier this year. They are both very keen to see SSVC become part of St Jude's school agricultural extension program.

Kizza Josephine, (c) from St Jude Family Rural Training Centre recently visited SSVC to check out the facilities and programs currently running.

So there are definitely exciting times ahead for Suubi as we build on these new relationships. Stay tuned to watch as everything continues to grow and create real hope in the community.

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14-10-2015, SSVC Workshop Construction In Overdrive

With the vocational tools having arrived safely from the UK less than 2 weeks ago, and the finals of Suubi's Schools Music, Dance and Drama Festival due to be held at SSVC on November 6th, phase 2 of construction at the school has gone in to overdrive.

Suubi's annual MDD finals alway attracts many people from Suubi's partnering primary schools and the wider community; it continues to grow in popularity year after year. So this will provide the perfect opportunity to unveil the new purpose built workshop/kitchen and the many vocational tools. Participating primary school students, their parents, teachers and the wider community will all be able to check out everything for themselves. They will also learn more about the SSVC philosophy and exactly how we plan to incorporate the variety of vocational subjects in to the 2016 curriculum. Those wishing to apply to enrol for the 2016 intake at SSVC will be encouraged to do so on the finals day.

With only a few weeks to go before this much anticipated event, all the tradesman working on the new structure are determined to have everything finished in time. Check out the amazing amount of work they have done since our last blog post just 12 days ago............

The windows and doors were finished being constructed and painted, and have since been installed.

The inside of the workshop area has had the walls rendered.

The skirting around the bottom of the entire structure, which protects the foundations from damage during the wet season, has been added.

Inside the kitchen a new fuel efficient stove has been constructed.

Tiles were fitted to the outside to give it additional strength and heat retention.

The finished oven is an impressive sight and will definitely save on the large quantity of wood that is ordinarily needed to prepare meals.

SSVC cook, Frank, (R) has been given instructions on the best way to use the stove to make sure of the most fuel efficiency.

Outside, a 2nd water tank has been installed on the school site. Water from here will be used predominately in the kitchen it is located next to.

Many hands are now at work as the outside rending is being completed.

How exciting to see what can be done in such a short space of time when many people work together. At this rate, we are sure to see the large crowds at the upcoming MDD finals buzzing around the completed building in the next update!

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2-10-2015, Excitement At SSVC As Vocational Tools Arrive

There was much excitement at Suubi today as everyone awoke to find that the vocational tools, that have slowly been making their way from the UK since July, had made the final part of the journey to Lubanda Village over night.

Suubi Centre director, Ssemwogerere David, had taken a large truck to the TWAM warehouse, in Kampala, the previous day to collect the many tools that had arrived: Full sets of carpentry, motor mechanic, plumbing, electrician, bicycle and shoe repair kits, as well as an assortment of power tools and sewing and knitting machines were among the long list of items donated. All of these pieces will soon fit out the vocational workshop that is currently under construction at SSVC. How exciting to think that the 2016 school year will now be able to offer so many valuable vocational subjects to the students!

The many boxes of tools for SSVC were firstly sorted from other donated items in the TWAM warehouse in Kampala.

Next they were loaded on to the truck to make the final leg of their long journey to SSVC in Lubanda Village.

SSVC Headmaster, Walugembe Robert and the students (L) were filled with excitement when Ssemwogerere David (R) showed them the many boxes of tools that have arrived.

Equally as important as the tools arriving, it is fabulous to see the progress that has been made on the construction of the workshop. Knowing the tools have now arrived safely at Suubi, it will be even more exciting to watch as the finishing touches are put to the building. It seems like just a blink ago that we were drawing up the first plans for Suubi Secondary & Vocational College, so to think about the positive impact the combination of the tools and workshop will have at SSVC in 2016 is like a dream come true!

Since our last construction update, the verandah poles were the next thing to be added.

Ventilator bricks were then installed in the kitchen area to make sure any excess smoke from the fuel efficient stove can easily escape, making it a far healthier environment for the cooks and students.