Greetings to all friends of Lulwanda, I hope each of you is doing well. This month of February has been relatively good on our side. The environment of Lulwanda has completely changed with the construction of the new houses. Most of the time, children are kept busy in their respective houses doing different activities like in any regular family setting. All the children are happy — they feel loved because there are few children per house and their needs are addressed immediately by the house mothers.
HEALTH
All our children and staff are in good health. We have had a few cases of malaria due to the rainy season but this has been handled through our daily routine of testing and giving medicine to those found to be sick. We have cleared the nearby bushes and burnt areas where mosquitos can breed and be a danger to our children. We have medicine in stock to treat all sorts of illness. House moms have been given drugs to treat minor illness like flu, cough and wounds in case a child gets a minor injury. Medically all is well at Lulwanda and I thank the Almighty God for keeping our children safe.
EDUCATION
All of our children reported back to school apart from the candidates who are on their vacation. We bought all the school requirements and personal items to enable them to study well. We made payment of school fees for each child.
It was a great joy having our own children who sat for their Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education excel in the national exams. The UACE are the final exams that determine a child’s entry into a degree program at a quality University. The maximum that one can score is 20 points and below is how they performed.
| S.N | NAME | POINTS SCORED |
| 1 | Malvin Nakayenze | 19 |
| 2 | Andrew Dezi | 14 |
| 3 | Peace Ayombe | 13 |
| 4 | Mary Nalumansi | 13 |
| 5 | Joseph Wabuyi | 12 |
| 6 | Ambrose Mutema | 09 |
Malvin made us proud as she was the best student in Tororo District and of course the best student in the school. She appeared in the Uganda national newspapers as one the best and genius students in the country. The school offered a small envelope to her as an appreciation for the outstanding performance. Malvin will be joining the University on government bursary (scholarship) for the next 3 years. She now joins her LCH sister Maliza who went on government bursary last year. We give glory and honor to the Almighty God who granted knowledge and understanding to our children.
We have secured admission letters for our children who sat for S4 last year (2019) and passed to join A’ Level. Mary Namubi and Sarah Fatuma Namubya went back to Tororo Girls School. Mary is doing Literature, Entrepreneurship, Divinity and I.C.T while Sarah Fatuma Namubya is doing History, Entrepreneurship, Literature and I.C.T. The two girls are aspiring to become lawyers. Andrew Masiga joined Mbale Secondary School and he is taking Divinity, Art, Geography and ICT.
Some who did not make it to A’ Level successfully are admitted to trade schools to study courses as listed below;
| S/N | NAME | COURSE | INSTITUTION |
| 1 | Florence Naali | Certificate in Hotel and institutional catering | Christian Childcare project |
| 2 | Jimmy Wambi | Certificate in ICT | MTAC |
| 3 | Sarah Kainza | Certificate in ICT | MTAC |
| 4 | Faith Alinga | Certificate in ICT | MTAC |
| 5 | Wycliff Seddu | Certificate in ICT | MTAC |
| 6 | Grace Egulansi | Fashion and design | MTAC |
| 7 | Hellen Namulinda | Fashion and design | MTAC |
| 8 | Yusuf Mukasa | Certificate in commercial Art | Miken Vocational Institute |
Sarah Gimono, who excelled at O’ level decided to join Nursing instead of A’ level and she is currently admitted at Salem Brotherhood — Kolonyi for a certificate in Nursing. She dreams of becoming a professional medical personnel and help in improving the health of the community people.
LPS
Lulwanda Primary School opened this year 2020 successfully under the headship of Irene Nasike, deputized by Sarah Ajalo together with Saul Wabomba as director of studies. The school is following the implementation of the new strategies as agreed by the LMC and GICF. The school has an enrolment of 245 children. The communities children are 193 while the home children are 52. The administration has identified gaps in the teaching and learning which they are trying to address through remedial classes. The expenditure for the school has drastically gone down due to the proper use of the available resources. We also hired new teachers to handle areas that were lacking and these new teachers include the following.
- Simon Peter Wesonga – Math
- Samuel Masolo _ Science
- Mike Opiris _ English
- Joseph Emukada _ Science
- Dison Junior. O. _ Math
Dison Junior Osangada was raised up at Lulwanda and we are glad that we have started employing our own children. We hope to bring more on board so that they become role models for the other kids. We want them to see that if they work hard and remain disciplined, they can have a bright future.
PEER LEARNING
Lulwanda is now a model home care facility for other institutions to learn the good practices about caring for the children. These institutions are referred to us by the District government officials like the Senior Probation and Welfare Officer. We had a team of members from another child care institution around Mbale. They wanted to learn from Lulwanda Children’s Home how we do our work like organizing and review of records in the children’s files, documentation, and housekeeping of children among other things. At the end of the day, they were grateful to Lulwanda for the insights given and went back happily to clean up their house.
CONCLUSION
We extend our sincere gratitude to our beloved donors and sponsors for the moral and financial support given to Lulwanda to enable us to execute our duties. Great thanks go to the GICF and LMC for instituting policies and guidelines that enable our children to reach their full potential. May the merciful Lord reward you according to His will and God bless.
In Him
Paul Isabirye
Administrator
LCH
