Worth-Uganda Friendship

Committee members: Father Paul, Ali and Paul Ambridge (chairpersons), Julian Gabriel, Steven Barnes, James Tanner, Joe O’Dwyer, Kirsten Horner, Mike Harman and Sheila Pike.

Running Well provides communities in Uganda with clean water, primarily by building water boreholes. Working closely with Father Stephen and, together with Julian’s own trusted engineers, communities are identified as being in need of access to clean water.  Each borehole lasts for at least 20-30 years providing clean water for one person for £3-£4 for life. Julian fundraises through donors and sponsorship of extreme sporting challenges such as the Marathon des Sables, 6 marathons in 7 days across the Sahara Desert. He has spoken to the parish on several occasions about the work of his charity and the importance of access to clean water in disease prevention

5th January 2023 Julian writes to thank the donors to Running Well for your contributions over the last year.

Happy New Year! I hope you had a happy and peaceful Christmas. I am attaching an update report for you on the water borehole projects that we managed to complete last year with the help of the donations we received from WUF. It also gives you some information about the charity’s plans for the coming year and the next water borehole projects that we are going to be undertaking.

We are so grateful for the support that WUF and the parish have given to Running Well again last year. Your donations have meant that we could get clean water to another 4,700 people including 1,300 school children.

We are organising a trip to Uganda this year (likely to be from the 4th-11th May including travel days) to visit the charity’s projects and communities whom we have helped, as well as see Fr. Stephen. If there is anyone in the parish who would like to join us please do let me know.

 If there is any more information you need or you have any questions about the work we did last year or our plans for this year, please do not hesitate to ask.

 Wishing you a healthy and prosperous 2023.

 Best wishes, Julian

Running Well Projects Update Report  4th January 2023

 

Running Well Projects Report May 2022 at Budini and Bulanga Primary Schools, Uganda, May 2022

 

 

 

With financial assistance from Worth Abbey Parish, Running Well has successfully built 2 water boreholes at Nabitende and Namungwale in Itanda Parish in Uganda.The water borehole at Nabitende has been built next to the local primary school which has 1,000 students. Building a water borehole next to a school means that children can fill up their jerry cans without missing classes. The water borehole at Namungwale has been built close to the trading centre and serves all the surrounding households. Handover of the completed wells to the communities tool place in February 2021 and are now helping approximately 3,700 people have access to clean water. Find out more and view slides here.

 

 

Running Well update from Julian December 2021

Thank you on behalf of everyone at Running Well for the support you have given the charity again this year. I also wanted to let you know that we have successfully completed our site surveys for our next two water boreholes at Budini and Bulanga, and we have found a sufficiently good water yield at both sites to serve the communities there. Both water boreholes will hopefully be completed by the end of January and they will benefit approximately 4,700 people, including 1,750 children who attend the local Catholic schools and where the boreholes are being built. I will of course let you know when they have been completed and send you some pictures and videos of the communities and boreholes when I receive them from our project team.

Project report from Julian September 2021: Whilst recorded cases of Covid-19 and deaths from the virus remain relatively low across Africa, it is likely the actual numbers are significantly higher and a very small proportion of the population have been vaccinated. The situation is therefore unlikely to improve in the short term and it could be some time before we are able to travel safely to Uganda again, which also makes our work more challenging. Read more in the Running Well Projects Report September 2021

Every penny raised by Worth Abbey Parish is used directly to build the boreholes. All the costs of running the charity are covered by Julian. Please consider becoming a monthly donor by contacting Father Paul or Maria in the Parish Office on 01342 710313 or email parish@worth.org.uk

 

History of Worth-Uganda Friendship

Our friendship began in 2007 following a reconnaissance trip by a group of parishioners in 2005 to find a parish in Uganda with which Worth Abbey Parish could form a meaningful relationship, one in which we could learn from each other. They settled on the parish of St Matia Malumba in Irundu, north of Jinja in one of the poorest, most rural and in terms of population structure, one of the most youthful areas in Uganda. By chance, also working in the parish was a group of the Benedictine Sisters of Grace and Compassion, the religious order which in the past ran a training facility in Compass House at Worth. The Parish Priest was Fr Stephen Mudoola, a man who the people saw as a father figure who would take care of them and he, in turn, told them that God would always provide for them.

Health Centre

Much has been achieved in Irundu, not least the provision of a Health Centre, focusing on maternity services. The Centre has in-patient care, a pharmacy, a rudimentary lab and is viewed very positively by the local population. With financial assistance from Worth School a Vocational School has been established with training courses in hairdressing, carpentry, tailoring and motor mechanics, providing a much needed qualification for employment opportunities other than subsistence farming. The Friendship House was built initially to house visitors from Worth. Funding has been provided for an eco-friendly latrine for the school.

 

In 2018 when Father Stephen visited Worth he had just learned that he was being transfered to Itanda Parish, much nearer to Jinja but just as poor. The Worth-Irundu Friendship Committee felt that it was time to move with him to an equally-deserving parish having achieved all we could hope to in Irundu.

Our arrangements in Irundu were carried out in a manner no longer deemed to be appropriate in an era of heightened safeguarding. Our new support for Itanda required adherence to strict safeguarding guidelines. Julian Gabriel, a new Committee member and an Old Boy of Worth School, had recently established a UK-based charity, Running Well, with all the necessary guidelines in place and it seemed provident to support his charity through the Parish.

The Future: an Update from the Committee, June 2020

“As of January 2020, with a largely new Committee, the Worth-Irundu Friendship was set for a big rename and relaunch with events planned and the aim of funding a borehole by the end of the year. We managed to get one event done days before all fundraising events were cancelled due to the pandemic. We raised £400 at Java and Jazz in Forest Row thanks to the owners, John and Annie, who have always been great supporters of our charity.

We aren’t deterred and will press on in the future, although our big restart will probably be over 20/21 instead. Although work has been suspended here, work still carries on in Uganda and we have heard that the borehole already funded by Worth Abbey Parish is now operational and providing clean water for 2500 people.

This is thanks mainly to our regular monthly donors in the Parish who made a commitment many moons ago and have achieved so much in Irundu through their generosity.”