More new arrivals...

Over the past month there have been many new developments here at St. Denis Secondary School!

Our S4 students have finished their O-Levels (GSCEs) and are now enjoying their newly gained freedom. S1 – S3 are still in full exam mode working hard to achieve good marks for their end of year examinations, but they too are looking forward to finishing them at the end of this week.

The month of November started with the arrival of Charles, a healthy bull who has joined our dairy business family. Now that Charles is old enough and does not depend on his mother’s full milk supply anymore, our milk production has increased substantially. Although this is great news, we now need to investigate new markets in the surrounding villages in order to ensure there are enough customers for our milk.





In order to make sure our cows continue to be well cared for, the agriculture club has planted nutritious elephant grass all across the school premises. The grass, which takes around 6 months to grow, will be a great supplement to the cow’s nutrition and will further contribute to improving the milk production. Although this was an important step in the right direction, there is more work to be done and more grass to be planted in order to ensure that we can supply each cow with enough feed. Therefore we are planning to plant even more grass over the next month and we will also investigate the possibility of acquiring more land for this.

Next to planting grass, the students have done a lot of work on the cow’s shelter, removing weeds and other hiding places for potentially dangerous insects and replacing the soil in the shelter which also will contribute towards the cow’s well being. Some students applied some very creative means in order to speed up the progress of removing the weeds…

The ‘Send a Piglet Home’ (SAPH) programme too has lots of new arrivals to report. Six pigs have had piglets over the past month and a further eight pigs are pregnant! This is good news for those SAPH beneficiaries who will soon be able to sell the piglets and pay for essential supplies for them and their families.

Godfrey Kalungi, the SAPH project coordinator, is very pleased with the progress and is positive about the successful growth of the project. 30 new beneficiaries have been selected, 10 of which have already received their piglets.

The school’s Computer Business Centre has also achieved solid progress thanks to the commitment and hard work of its staff. We have researched and identified a more reliable internet provider which the school will switch to in February, when our current internet subscription expires. Over the Christmas holidays the Computer Business Centre will also offer beginners computer courses. In order to promote this and the Computer Business as such, over the next weeks we will start an advertising campaign within the neighbouring community.

The final new arrival has been eagerly awaited by everyone here at St. Denis! A generator, sponsored by Into Your Hands has been installed and will supply the school and its businesses with electricity when needed. Due to the rainy season, power cuts have increased over the past weeks, and the generator will now enable us not only to ensure the work in the Computer Business Centre, but also supply the border students with light for study purposes in the evening.

As the rainy season has now finally set in, our Matooke has also resumed growing and we are expecting output from the plantation to increase again over the next months.

In all three businesses there are now detailed records being kept, which for the first time will enable us to produce a financial report at the end of this month. Regular financial reports will be vital for monitoring the progress of the St. Denis Self Sufficiency Project, and as we are all curious to find out about how we are doing, everyone here is looking forward to the report and its results.

Goodbye and Welcome!

It is about one month since I arrived here in Makondo to take over as new project officer from Gemma. Saying good bye to Gemma was a sad occasion for everyone here in the village as she has done a brilliant job and will be dearly missed. However, everyone was really friendly and welcomed me to the community with open arms.


After two weeks of working hand in hand with Gemma, I am now on my own and continuing the work of helping to make St. Denis a self sufficient school. As we are waiting for the approval of funding to implement further income generating projects, I am focusing on making sure everyone here at St. Denis is prepared for the new businesses. We are now running weekly Excel courses for staff who will be involved in running the businesses with a focus on record keeping. The group has grown from 3 to 6 and we have extended the length of the class to two hours per week. My keen students are progressing very quickly and have even agreed to do a little exam next week.



Another focus right now is to improve the current businesses. Unfortunately Makondo parish has been hit by a drought and a very late arriving rainy season means the Matoke plantation and the dairy business have not been productive. The main goal for the dairy business will be to find ways to cost-efficiently counteract the malnutrition of the cows to increase output. Purchasing cow feed from the profits made or acquiring more land to plant nutritious elephant grass could be possible solutions which will be investigated. There have also been discussions about the possibility of extending the Matoke plantation to cope with the large demand for banana in the school kitchen. As for the internet and copy business - our current internet provider seems to be a bit like the electricity supply in Uganda – very temperamental. Therefore we are investigating alternatives to improve the internet service.


Furthermore there was also a revival of the agriculture club, but, in a slightly different format. To get students excited about the planned introduction of a new course called ‘Creating a Profitable Business’ next term, there is now a fortnightly ‘guest speaker series’. Guest speakers, owners of successful start up businesses, will share their experience with the students, to give them an insight but also inspiration about running a business. The first guest speaker last Wednesday was Father Edward, who, next to running a school also has a cattle and eucalyptus tree business. Father Edward’s talk, which was truly inspirational, has definitely worked up the student’ appetite, who are looking forward to our next guest speaker in 2 weeks time.



Alternating with the guest speakers, every Wednesday the agriculture club will take place with its focus on involving the students in the agricultural businesses at St. Denis. Next week, after planning and discussing future activities of the club, there will be a ‘treasure hunt’. Students need to solve a total of 10 tricky tasks such as estimating the number of Matoke plants in the school’s plantation or calculating the amount of cows needed to give every student at St. Denis with a cup of milk per day. The best 3 groups will be awarded with an exciting prize!