With the support of the Friedrich Pongratz Foundation, we were able to purchase 600 picture books for preschoolers. Small children are learning visually and through play and imagination, so they naturally love picture books. In Uganda, reading and writing in school often begins at a very young age, but is often taught far too abstract. This abstract learning is too difficult to grasp for the child’s brain and pictures are much easier to remember. In addition, students learn best when the school material is packaged in stories, then the learning material feels alive and can therefore be processed in a child-friendly way. Our children were very happy about the books.
Support for school meals in Uganda: The Deseret Foundation e.V. receives 1,111 euros in prize money. V. As part of its 11th foundation award, the Town & Country Foundation supports work with children and young people. At the same time, it recognizes the people who are involved in the projects – many of them on a voluntary basis. The Leipzig Deseret Foundation e. As a sponsor, V. is committed to providing children with a qualified education in a good social and economic environment in which they can grow into independent young people mentally and emotionally. The club has now been recognized for its commitment as part of the 11th Town & Country Foundation Prize. The prize money of 1,111 euros will be used for school meals for the approximately 300 school and preschool children. On behalf of the foundation, foundation ambassador Manuela Bellmann, managing director of Bellmann Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG in Geithain, presented the certificate and praised the commitment of the awardees: “They are ready to give a lot for the future of the children. Supporting you and promoting work with ‘your’ children: This is very important to me. It always gives me joy to hand over the checks to the Town & Country Foundation and thus honor this indispensable work with children and young people.”
School hygiene and a child’s education are inextricably linked. The school’s toilets were in very poor condition (outhouses without sinks). Due to poor hygiene, urinary tract infections and diarrhea occasionally occurred because boys and girls occasionally left the latrines without washing their hands and then touching food, etc. Therefore, we built more modern sanitary facilities with sinks. We realized the project with the support of the Edith Haberland-Wagner Foundation. Thank you for that!
Africans have rhythm in their blood. While dancing in Europe is largely aestheticized and children here receive training in a wide variety of dance styles in private and state music and art schools, the dancing and movement of African children is an elementary expression of their joy, vitality and creativity and simply happens. The graceful striding and apparent floating in ballet seems very far removed from the rhythmic stamping and the impulsive upper body and arm movements in African dance. But: isn’t it precisely the strangeness and contrast that makes us humans understand our own culture more deeply and love it more deeply? Together with the Leipzig dance teacher Dagmar Stolle-Stollberg, who traveled with me to Uganda in July, we carried out the dance project and the African children were carefully introduced to classical ballet training by her and learned simple ballet steps, turns and jumps in space . This all happened to classical music. Concentration, endurance and stamina were required, which were new to dance for the children, but are important in school and later in life. But above all, one thing can be recapitulated: the children had immense joy in ballet and couldn’t get enough of it. Many thanks again to Ms. Stollberg and also to the companies Tanzmuster and Cospo Art for donating the ballet clothing. (That made the girls happy!)
With the support of the LIBRA Foundation, we initiated a chess course at school. Chess is rightly called “THE GAME OF KINGS”. You learn to think strategically, combine ideas and think ahead tactically. Very good development factors for children in Uganda. And the nice thing is that you learn it through the game, in a playful way! It has also been proven that children achieve much better academic performance if they learn to play chess under competent professional guidance. Chess, for example, promotes character traits and important skills such as decision-making, strategic and complex thinking and forward-looking action. And the children really enjoy it!
Since food prices continue to rise due to inflation and the rain has been very irregular this year, people in Uganda fear an impending famine. For this reason and because there is a general nutritional shortage, we have now decided, with the support of the Peter Ustinov Foundation, to buy 2 acres of land in order to grow the staple foods of corn and beans ourselves. On the one hand, this is intended to provide school supplies and, on the other hand, to help the completely destitute in the community.
With the support of the Peter Ustinov Foundation we were able to purchase a real piano for our school. This is something very special in Uganda. And the children love the piano. You now learn to play yourself and of course the piano also serves as accompaniment for singing together. In November 2022 I was finally back in Uganda after a long time and we were able to make some music together:
With the support of the Friedrich Pongratz Foundation, we were able to install a photovoltaic system in the school. With solar power you can produce enough of your own clean electricity locally, especially in Africa, and at the same time save money because you have to get less electricity from the grid and electricity is very expensive in Uganda and also often goes out. We can now prevent power outages, which very often hindered school activities. For devices that require strong electricity, such as large printers, we still use regular electricity. Everything else can now be covered with the photovoltaic system. This is good for the environment and saves money.
Despite access to tap water, hygiene and sanitation are always a challenge. This is due to the limitations associated with tap water use, including high utility bills, frequent water outages, and water cleanliness. Using a professional water pump, the groundwater is now pumped out of the ground and then into a water tank that holds 5,000 liters. So we now have a reliable source of water, which is very beneficial for a good education. The water is clean, plentiful and free. The Merck Family Foundation made this possible for us and we would like to express our thanks to them.
With the support of the Friedrich-Pongratz Foundation, we were able to purchase new school sweaters for our students at the Deseret Community School for their school attendance. In Uganda it is common for students to wear school uniforms. Due to the Corona crisis, most parents are unable to afford the financial outlay for school uniforms for their children. In order to enable the children to have a dignified everyday school life, we have purchased school sweaters for 200 children and hope to also be able to purchase sturdy shoes, sports equipment and school uniforms in the future.
Our children now receive balanced school meals every day with the support of “A Heart for Children”. This is a very important support for us, as the children often had difficulty concentrating because there was simply not enough food. This is the basis for everything else. Therefore, many thanks again to “A Heart for Children”!
With the support of the Friedrich Pongratz Foundation, we were able to buy blankets, pillows and mattresses for some older people in our community over Christmas, as they often don’t even have the bare necessities. They were very happy. Almost no one in Germany needs to worry about the necessary basic supplies, but in Uganda they do. We would like to give a little help to the people who no one helps and who no longer have the chance to help themselves and make their living conditions a little easier and thus make their own human dignity a little more noticeable again.
Despite difficult circumstances at school at the moment, we decided to buy sewing machines and organize a sewing course for the girls at our school. As a result, the students learn an important craft at school that can be useful to them after school and could earn them a living. An experienced teacher took over the sewing course and she helps the students learn to use the sewing machines so that they can then make patterns for the dresses, shirts and trousers. The sewing course increases the girls’ self-confidence and lays an important foundation for self-help.
With the support of the “Merck Family Foundation” we purchased new play equipment for our Deseret Community School in Uganda. The play equipment gives the children fun and exercise during school breaks and in general. In addition to mental activity, children urgently and necessarily need physical balance and exercise. Through active activities in play, children get to know the world in which they live better and, above all, they enjoy it.
In 2020/2021, with the support of the “BK Kids Foundation”, we organized an acrylic painting course at the Deseret Community School in Uganda to support the children’s development of their potential. The course was very well received and inspired the children artistically and opened up new worlds to them. They have really blossomed and want more of it. Through creativity and artistic activity, the children regain more self-confidence and their love for life grows. The purpose of arts education is not necessarily to produce professional painters or artists. For now, it’s about creating more complete people who can think critically, are curious and can and want to lead a constructive life! Some had great talent and really took to the field. So the children loved the course and we will continue it with the support of the Peter Ustinov Foundation.
In 2020/2021 we purchased new school furniture for our Deseret Community School in Uganda with the support of the “Edith-Haberland-Wagner Foundation”. The new school furniture now significantly improves the school situation, even if not all students can benefit from it at the moment, as school operations have been brought to a standstill due to the Corona measures and only the 6th and 7th grades are allowed to study. We hope that this will change soon. The furniture is very beautiful and was made by hand. Now the students have their own desk and chair, which means they can learn more concentratedly and individually. We have purchased furniture in different colors for the very little ones in order to relieve them of the typically dreary Ugandan everyday life and to give them a little joy. The large tables for the new school library have also become very nice and now give the children the opportunity to read stories or play games together. In general, equipping the school with the new furniture has greatly improved its standard and significantly optimized the learning environment. We hope that by improving the learning environment, children will enjoy learning more.
We are pleased to announce that we were able to build a school library with the support of the Georg Krauss Foundation! Due to the Corona measures in 2020, there were significant delays due to a lack of personnel and materials, as well as restrictions. Ultimately, the construction project went ahead without any difficulties or problems during execution. The new school library now houses the first books and, especially in the restrictive Corona period, it ensures that the free time gained is put to good use. Ugandan children have very poor reading skills because they are not taught it properly and there is no reading tradition. We now want to try to break this down slowly and carefully and slowly introduce the children to reading, starting with picture books for the very little ones. We not only want to teach the children how to pronounce the letters, words and sentences, but also talk to them about the meaning of what they have read. After reading a story or fairy tale, the children sit together in small groups and talk about it with the teachers. The children should experience how fascinating it is to lose yourself in a story, how your imagination blossoms and gives wings to your soul. Only when they experience this themselves will they want to learn to read.
As you can see in the picture below, the mud situation at school when it rained was unbearable! Because of this, it was impossible to keep both the children and the classrooms clean. It was also easy to slip, which could be dangerous. For this reason, we decided to use the Corona period and cement the sidewalks and started doing it in October. Construction work is currently in full swing.
We at Deseret Foundation e.V. wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Thank you to all the wonderful supporters for your loyalty and generosity! It wasn’t an easy year, not even for us. How will everything continue? What are we facing? “But now faith, hope, love remain, these three; but love is the greatest of them.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) And love has the power to counteract the pessimism of the mind with the optimism of the will. Let us move into the new year with this strength in our hearts!
The companies Carletto Deutschland GmbH, Schleich GmbH and Molten Europe GmbH gave us a wonderful toy donation last year. The first load was brought to Uganda in January and the children were really happy. Due to the lack of abundance in Uganda, the children there are infinitely happier with the toys. Very few children have any toys in Uganda and when they do get some, they are usually in seventh heaven. Rose Lufafa (director) immediately sewed a school uniform for the doll in the first picture (left)!
With the support of “A Heart for Children” we built a new school kitchen for our Deseret Community School. The new school kitchen now supplies the approximately 300 students and teachers. For some Deseret students, school lunch is the only real meal of the day. It is all the more important that the necessary infrastructure works and is adequately set up for the constantly growing number of students. The school’s cooks now feel comfortable and can cook with peace of mind without the risk of harm to their health. The cooking process is more efficient and faster and uses far more energy than before because the firewood required burns in an air-protected space and not in an open space as before. The new kitchen also has a small storage room for poscho, corn and firewood, which can now be stored safely and protected from the rain. A small anteroom for serving food was also created so that in the event of heavy rain the children can pick up their food and enjoy it in a dry place.
At this point we would like to thank Mr. Wolf and his children’s aid foundation. Mr. Wolf has been very generously supporting our work since 2018. If you want to carry out larger projects as an association, you always have to invest a certain amount of equity in project applications. This is often difficult to find for a small club like ours. For this reason, the Peter Wolf Children’s Aid Foundation has already supported us in many of our ventures, such as building classrooms, school fences, school kitchens, school buses, renovating the school, etc. … So we are infinitely grateful to Mr. Wolf, he is has become the heart of our school and we hope for further fruitful cooperation.
In Uganda there are many challenges that we no longer have in the developed countries to the extent that they exist there, or have already been able to overcome successfully. Theft and even some vandalism still occur quite often in Uganda, due to the high level of poverty and shortages everywhere. Our school has developed well over the last 2 years and standards have improved greatly. To protect school property, we built a school fence. But not only that, the most important thing is of course the safety of our children. Without a fence, strangers could easily get into the school grounds and overview and control was significantly more difficult. A school fence offers children a safer environment and thus the quality of school transport is significantly improved.
With the support of the Günter Voßebrecker Foundation, we were able to purchase school books for EUR 1000. The tradition of reading is not very widespread in Uganda because it is not encouraged in childhood. This limits learning even in adulthood. Books can make learning easier and, above all, inspire children’s curiosity and desire to learn and prepare them for a more modern life. The children love the storybooks and of course the books with pictures, because abstract information is difficult for the child’s brain to grasp, but pictures are much easier to remember. In addition, students learn best when the school material is wrapped up in stories. Abstract content literally comes to life. The new books are a real blessing for our school. If you introduce children to reading at an early age, they can benefit from it later on and their lives can be greatly enriched.
In order to better coordinate structural processes so that work processes and daily work can be carried out better, faster and more effectively, we have decided to build a new school office. Only those who keep order in their workplace have their head free to work effectively. This was always very difficult to achieve at school, as there was only a sporadically inadequate, far too small temporary office – a room that was actually intended as a storage room. With the new office we can create a constructive working atmosphere and establish a working atmosphere in which everyone feels comfortable and can work professionally. We would like to once again thank the Ernst Prost Foundation for Africa and the Toni Garrn Foundation for their support!
We have purchased a large copier for the school. Examination and work materials could only be copied in the city with great effort and expense. This hindered and slowed down the flow of work immensely and over the years a lot of money was wasted on expensive copies and travel costs into the city. With a large printer or copier, our teachers no longer have to make the laborious journey into the city to reproduce teaching materials or texts in a copy shop. A large copier therefore saves time and money. Every correspondence and organizational matter always means double the effort without a printer or copier. We can also now more easily send interesting learning material from Germany and copy it for the children. The same applies to training material for teachers, as well as coloring pages for the little ones etc…
On June 27th, 2019 we welcomed 4 wonderful ladies from the African Women and Girls Organization for Holistic Knowledge in Uganda to our school. They have explained the basics and benefits of meditation to our children and in the coming lessons they will introduce the children practically to the art of meditation. Meditation will help children become more aware of themselves and their surroundings. This will sharpen their comprehension skills and they will then learn to understand themselves and the world better. They will then be able to see more clearly what they really want and what makes them happy. And when they are happy themselves, they can share this with others and create a happier and more contented society. Meditation, when done correctly, can also improve health and well-being, as well as relationships and productivity in all areas of life. It can help reduce stress and it has been observed that the atmosphere between people who meditate in a community is more harmonious and peaceful. We hope that we can set up regular meditation classes in our school so that it becomes natural for our children. We would especially like to thank Judith Nassali, Grace Nankya, Teddy Nassali and Night Kiconco from Kampala for visiting us and for working tirelessly to create a more harmonious society in Uganda.
from July 5th. – August 4th, 2019 you can see pictures by Ms. Knobloch about Uganda and Deseret Foundation e.V. in the Pfalzmuseum Forchheim. Victoria Knobloch is, among other things, a professional photographer and of course always had her camera with her on her many trips to Uganda. This resulted in many great shots from the project, but she also traveled to other corners of Uganda and captured the many facets of this fascinating country. Victoria Knobloch was particularly enthusiastic about the Karamojong region in the north of the country, where the original tribal life is still intact. The photographer’s portraits are like windows into people’s souls. The photographer says: “As far as portraits and generally good motifs are concerned, the most important thing when traveling is: run, run, run until you are “given” a good situation or encounter. I see every good portrait as a gift, or Blessings. After all, it can only “happen” to me and I can’t “do” it. From my point of view, I just have to be aware of the situation and have enough awareness and openness to be able to perceive it good dialogue or like an intense encounter, even if only for a moment. This happens non-verbally and on a deeper level and both parties are aware when the person portrayed opens up and gives me an insight into their innermost being, that is a magical moment . This doesn’t always happen, of course, but when it does, these are always the best portraits.”
Purchasing a school bus is important for several reasons: Children who have to travel a long way to school and often have to walk 2 hours to school do not come to school regularly or are sometimes completely overtired. We can make it easier for you to get to school and it is also much safer for you with the school bus. There is no public transport in Uganda as we know it in Germany. If someone falls ill at school or in the community, we can quickly drive those affected to the hospital. Many older people in the community in particular do not have access to medical care due to logistical restrictions, and we can counteract this. We can also act quickly in the event of medical incidents at school and drive the children to the doctor or hospital in an emergency. School trips can also be organized on a small scale, which will greatly help to broaden the horizons of children who never leave the village. Large errands in the city for school such as posho and beans for lunch, firewood, school books and exercise books, building materials etc… can be carried out by school bus, saving a lot of time and transport costs. We would like to thank the “RTL-We Help Children” foundation, which made it possible for us to purchase the school bus.
We are pleased that our schoolgirls have received their new cloth pads. Girls in Uganda often cannot afford sanitary pads, are embarrassed during menstruation and often miss school as a result. As a stopgap measure, some girls even use chicken feathers! This campaign helps our girls a lot so that they can go to school easily, fearlessly and safely even during their menstruation: We would like to thank Ms. Bettina Steinbrugger and the team from erdbeerwoche GmbH, who donated the cloth pads to us, for this wonderful project.
And once again we are very happy – 2 new classrooms are ready and our school shines so beautifully ;-)! Many thanks to “A Heart for Children” for their great support. The new look of the school makes it clear how important the learning environment and learning conditions are for successful and high-quality school education. The girls and boys at Deseret Community School are of course very happy about their new classrooms.
Through donations we were able to buy 50 blankets for Christmas for our elders in the community, which they were very happy about, because even in Uganda it can get cold at night and many don’t even have the money for a blanket, cover themselves with leftover clothes or something similar and sleep quite uncomfortably. Therefore, there was great joy at the Christmas party for our older ones at school. We at Deseret Foundation e.V. wish everyone a merry and merry Christmas!
During the last trip to Uganda in September, some important donations in kind were taken to school, such as 3 kg of seeds, 50 menstrual cups, 80 English. School books with pictures, soft balls for the little ones and lots of vitamins. We would like to thank the following companies and companies: Selenacup, Philipp Klein GmbH, Vitaminwelten GmbH, Orthomol Kübler Sport GmbH and the Westermann Group!
We have set up a volleyball and netball court with a net and baskets. Since then, the breaks have become much livelier and the children love these ball games. Ball games promote coordination skills, awaken team spirit and improve children’s motor skills. But of course the most important thing is: they are fun! Netball is a basketball-like team game played primarily by girls and women. Netball is played primarily in English-speaking countries, particularly in Australia, Great Britain and Africa.
We bought a water tank for the school. We do have a water pipe, but the water costs are always incredibly high. Water for washing hands, cleaning, construction work and the garden can now be used from the water tank. This saves us a lot of money, which we can use for more important things.
We are incredibly happy – the 2 new classrooms are ready! Our 2nd and 3rd graders are now very proud of their new classrooms. Thanks to all supporters. The learning environment is crucial and in the new classrooms children will be able to concentrate better and learn with more joy, inspiration and motivation. Many thanks again especially to the North-South Bridges Foundation in Berlin.
The 2 new classrooms at Deseret Community School are taking shape and there is not much left until the students can move into them.
Dear friends and club supporters of Deseret Foundation e.V.! We are pleased to announce that we were able to expand the multi-purpose hall in January 2018 and that the inauguration party took place on February 10, 2018. We celebrated this happy event with a lot of dancing, pride and laughter. The hall can now host events, music concerts, dance activities, meetings and consultation sessions. Two newly renovated classrooms were also created. At this point we would like to warmly thank the Working Group for Development Policy and Self-Taxation. V. in Bavaria and the North-South Bridges Foundation in Berlin for their support.
Dear friends and club sponsors of Deseret Foundation e.V.! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support, your gifts large and small, and your enthusiasm for our project! All of this is an important and indispensable contribution to our work, to our school, our community and our wonderful children. Thanks alot!
Dear friends, we are very happy about the Town & Country Foundation Prize and the presentation by Ms. Isabell Bellmont in the Town&Country Foundation House in Leipzig. We were able to use the money to renovate half of the school – as you can see, there is now an African half (left) and a German half (right). 🙂 We also bought a table tennis table, which the children were really happy about!
Dear friends, we are pleased to inform you that, thanks to your generous support, the cementing of a classroom in our school was realized in February 2017. I was there myself during this time and you can follow the work here: The classroom has become very beautiful and improves the children’s learning situation immensely. That’s why we at the Deseret Foundation would like to thank all donors from the bottom of our hearts! You are great! Of course, the work continues tirelessly and there is still a lot to do. We would be happy if you continued to support our vision. You can be assured of the children’s gratitude and with every donation you enable the children to have a better life in which they can grow and develop.
On my last trip to Uganda in February, I was able to bring some materials with me and do crafts with the students, coloring and doing all sorts of things that children enjoy. They thought it was really great! Children in Africa rarely have the opportunity to express their creativity, so this was something very special for everyone and you can see the enthusiasm in the pictures!
We thank you all for your wonderful support!With your help we were able to organize a little Christmas party for the children and they were very happy!We at the Deseret Foundation wish you all a Merry Christmasand a Happy, Blessed New Year!