Bunabumali & Good Samaritan Newsletter

[Admin]

The Bunabumali community started the school building project back in 2004 after the landslides. On May 26 2007 I contacted VillageTalk to find out how we could move the project to the next stage, and I am proud to share with you what we have been talking about, and show you the first results. This newsletter also identifies a number of actions we can start, pending the receipt of money required to build the school & community center, as with the plans I had it turned out I was building more than a school

Introduction

We have identified many more options than in the original plan, ideas that will impact Bunabumali but at the same time will help find creative ways to finance the plans more effectively than we ever thought possible. The most important change is the combination of building and business development, whereby the business development will form one of the foundations of the building process.

Villagetalk's ideas are based on creating as much as what's need on-line, because this will show what funding is really needed. Many resources are available free of charge on Internet so our original budget is changing very fast. Since the main focus is the school, we started with creating an on-line school. The software is now being installed, and the on-line school will be officially opened on October 1 2007. By that date we will have all relevant training materials available for the Bunabumali Vocational Training Center and The Good Samaritan Orphan & Needy School .

Volunteer position.
We need people to assist in finding e-learning training courses and assist the local teachers in putting together a useful curriculum.Once we have found the proper content, the info needs to be made available via DotLRN.This may mean we need to set up deals with the e-learning resource providers for publication via DotLRN. Once done, all courses need to be translated into local language. This effort is part of a larger project in co-operation with Makerere University, Kampala to ensure the quality of translations. More info at the end of the newsletter.

Training material.
We will have English Training material available. This can be used by students in a large part of Uganda. More dialects can be added upon request. As a separate project all info will also be translated in Swahili. The on-line school can be changed into the users preferred language, so this project will be one of the first e-learning initiatives in local African languages and dialects.

We welcome other schools and orphanages to join this initiative and add content. At the moment we have contracts in Nigeria and have start talks with a number of Ugandan community leaders to increase effectiveness.

Building
Playing around Internet we came across some really fascinating ideas about how the building could look. This helped a lot in visualizing the ideas and in the end we contacted Rogers, who has been following our project ever since. Our first priority now is to find a budget to cover Rogers' fee so he can design the final plans, and assist us with the final budget, so we can start concentrating on finding 5 sponsors to fund the building process. Right now we have a basic plan consisting of 4 building blocks (24 x28 meters) that can be build over time, based on available funding.

Money matters?
The VillageTalk approach assumes we have no or little money and concentrates on creative action that doesn't require major investments. At the same time the relatively small steps we take ourselves will lead us to the solutions that will assist us to reach our goal. Some of the ideas may sound unusual, stupid and even impossible. On the other hand they may just help us to move to the next step(s). Over the last two months I have been talking a lot about what's really needed in Africa and learned about ideas that might just work for us. Many of the them will need a lot of discussion, but I really want to share them with you .

VillageTalk is also working on The Bottle Neck Fund, a financing model that facilitates the initial steps that are needed to make a success of our plans. More details on this in our next newsletter.

Creative ideas

Bunabumali Vocational training center.
The training center could be set up really fast and we have been thinking on a creative start, that will be both useful and educational. The Tree House project serves two purposes. Once finished it will be the temporary location for the Telecenter, and during the building students learn important skills and fills in some pressing needs

* Design
* Building
* How to use tools
* Accommodation for the telecenter
* A clear vision on how to master the the official building plans

We will be starting a campaign to get access to to good tools via donations, and are working on a small budget to cover the initial costs. We have already found a number of useful manuals ideas to create our own tools. We are now looking at how to set up the training program and looking forward from people who would like to participate in the The Tree House Project.

Mount Eglon fruit Juice.
This project aims to increase productiveness of our local resources, and generate more income to the community. A small research showed plenty of resources and volunteers have already started to put together a special site that will help to increase production, and develop a business model.

Bunabumali Communication Center
Fundamental of the Bunabumali development initiatives is Internet connectivity. An Infocom field engineer visited the site, and we have the final quotes. A special website has been created to cover all issues related to the telecenter. We are now studying on most cost effective set up that is fully under control of the community.

Bodaboda transport bike shop
Pedaling along Uganda's road by Bodadoda is one way to transport. In other parts of the world however, bikes are being used in many different ways. The bike shop idea identifies possible options that could well work in Uganda too, and in the process help to generate more income.

Tourism.
The Ugandan Tourist Board is working hard to increase the impact of tourism on the development of local development. The Bunabumali Tourism project is aimed at meeting the official initiatives and will providing us a voice in this global "game" Our initiatives will be promoted via a large global tourism network, eTurboNews

Media desk
Once Internet access is arranged we can start our ow media service. The Bunabumali website already offers a number of links to the press, and there are also many free tools to create our own radio and TV station. If you're interested to join the media desk, let us know as soon as possible.

Partners & Sponsors

* VillageTalk
* Infocom Uganda
* Stanbic Bank
* Western Union
* Moneybookers
* Rogers Muhindo
* dotLRN e-learning
* Makerere University

Milestones

Ngo status Good Samaritan Needy & Orphans School. The name has been filed. we're now in the process of finishing the application.

Banking.
We have a bank account at Stanbic Bank, Kampala and are connected to MoneyBookers and Western Union.

Telecenter. Infocom Uganda has done a site survey, and we're awaiting their new offer, essential for the development of the Internet initiatives.

Building. Rogers Muhindo is monitoring our building ideas and will provide a final design, once we have found the funds to cover his valuable services.

Web site. VillageTalk sponsors the web site, a platform where we we share information, talk to partners and gather useful information. It's also our showcase to the world, as it links our activities to people and organizations that would otherwise never know we exist.

(International) volunteer opportunities

Although it is our intention to involve as many local people as possible, so we create jobs locally, we do have We are now creating an action list for volunteers who are interested to assist to reach our goals there are limitations. Anybody who has time to spare and a reliable Internet connection is more than welcome to share the workload.

* Picture editing
* Research
* Fund raising
* Copy writing & Proofreading
* Translations
* Web development & training