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A report from Rosa Hunt, the FAU reporter on Mbale:
If you watched the most recent James Bond film you would have seen that the opening scenes are supposedly set in Mbale (though they were not in fact filmed there.) I have not yet had the privilege of visiting Mbale myself but I have seen photos of it and it looks beautiful, green and fertile.
So – what is ACET doing in Mbale? First of all we are trying to build a Sports Centre. This has run into significant problems as the local councillor has claimed user rights over the proposed site, so your prayers for a positive outcome would be much appreciated. Sports is a big thing for ACET Mbale – we have introduced a sports component to lifeskills education and the programme has targeted both the primary and secondary schools. The new “product” has seen an increase in attendance of the lifeskills sessions and a reawakened interest that has been perceived as a “breath of fresh air” by the schools. The programme however has come with needs for which ACET Mbale is seeking partnership with the National Cricket Association – equipment.
Secondly, we have set up a hostel programme. There has been a growth of hostels in Mbale area. Many of these are occupied by Kenyans that have come to get a secondary (A Level) education. These young people live in hostels and do not go home for holidays. The schools are not responsible for them since the hostels are in town. The resultant behaviour has been that there is a lot of freedom and left in its wake unguided youth facing a lot of pressure, disappointment, STIs (sexually transmitted infections etc). There has been a small outcry in the community about the young people ‘s wanton behaviour. The educators have started a programme among the hostels and this is designed to grow in the next few months. For this to happen however, ACET Mbale will need to increase its scope of partners. This programme needs the training and support of volunteers trained as peer educators. There has been an exciting development in that one of our lifeskills educators has moved to Kapchorwa. Kapchorwa region is significant in Ugandan behaviour change initiatives because this is an area where the people practice female circumcision (female genital mutilation).
Thirdly ACET Mbale is providing training programmes for Mbale churches.
ACET Mbale is aiming to become a local centre of excellence, and to this end a very successful corporate dinner was recently held there to encourage strategic partnerships. Please pray for ACET and all the people of Mbale. The church I attend (Temple Baptist Church in Pontypridd) is twinned with Mbale through an exciting and innovative partnership called PONT – see www.pont-mbale.org.uk and so I was thrilled to be asked by Friends of ACET Uganda to be their correspondent at large for Mbale. Look out for the next update from Mbale…
One of the drinking mens clubs that ACET Uganda works with at Mbale:
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