Bricks, Tests and the Long Trek to Ik-land

The Family Care Uganda School has kicked off the New Year with a bang!.

January is dry season in this part of the world, so the FCU team and students are working hard to make the bricks they will need for the coming year. The kilns they built last year have been fired up and staff and students (during some of the breaks) are busy baking bricks around the clock. In the meantime new houses for the kids and several bathrooms are being built from bricks made last year.

While all this construction is going on, believe it or not, it’s National exam time.  The FCU team is arranging interviews for their outgoing students to help them get into good secondary schools. Four of the top students have already been accepted into Restore Leadership Academy, one of Gulu's top secondary schools. The Family Care Uganda school will sponsor these kids until they reach Senior 3 level when they are able to win a scholarship that will take them through the end of high school. It's a dream come true and each of the winners came from SUCH difficult backgrounds! 

In the meantime, some of the former FCU students had the opportunity to “pay it forward” by helping to build and deliver 100 desks to the South Sudan kiddos in the refugee camps on the Uganda/Sudan border. Getting to see how grateful the receiving children were for their efforts was so special. Up until now, these refugee children have been having to sit on the floor for class, but not anymore! -- Kids helping kids!

Somewhere in the midst of all the activity, Robin Yamaguchi was able to get away and make the long trek to the Kenya/Uganda border to visit some old friends in the remote Ik Tribe. Although it’s been some years since she made her last visit, the reunion was sweet. At their request, Robin rented a van and is bringing back 12 new students from the Ik villages to study at the FCU school.