Cornerstone School is near Kittiti in South West Uganda, and is situated in a small village near Lake Victoria. The area is mostly inhabited by woman, children and elderly and it is a very poor region of the country. Kate Oakley visited the area in 2007, and she was moved by the unimaginable poverty, hunger and disease that she found, and this was the driving force for change in her life as a retired teacher. Kate created her charity Planting for Hope Uganda and she employed Apollo Saku as the Ugandan Director of the charity. Their aim was to raise funds to develop sustainable projects and to create educational opportunities for the region. From these foundations of humanity, and from this vision, Cornerstones School and the Women’s Cooperative grew. Today the charity has so many successes and the vibrant community of well- educated young people and the sustainable farming community that grows pineapples, keeps chickens, cattle and goats is humbling. The community also has an excellent healthcare suite.
Year 7 and 9 InterAct students have been working in partnership with Bewdley Rotary Club and Kate Oakley from Planting for Hope Uganda to raise enough money to build a library for Cornerstone Primary School.
The students became increasingly aware that the children at the school had no reading books, and, as many of the Bewdley students were passionate readers themselves, they decided to raise over £3000 to fund a new library for the school.
During November 2019, the school successfully gained funding for a British Council Student Conference based on Global Happiness and it partnered with Cornerstone School to provide the necessary funding to enable four students aged 9-13 and two teachers to attend the successful UK conference. During their visit the student experienced a wide range of music, dance, therapeutic art, dance, singing, drumming and also story-telling! For the children, it was the first time they had ever been read to! This started our staff and students thinking! What if they could make a visit to the school to help finish off their dream of creating a working curriculum library?
The trip would be led by Kate Oakley, Becky Newbold, Kim Hartley and Gemma Evetts would take place in July 2020, and would cost £1600 per person. This would include the flight, accommodation, travel, visa, insurance and also a trip to the Queen Elizabeth National Park to visit Lake Victoria and view the many amazing wild animals that live in this beautiful country. The staff would take 10 students from the Year 7-9 Interact group and NHS Nurse Mrs Gayden, who will be visiting the school to provide healthcare training.
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Our Total So Far is: