Blog

Meeting Needs’ Latrine

latrine block for girls latrine block for girls

As we all know, you can never have too many toilets in a school!  Thanks to a generous grant from the charity Meeting Needs, Uphill now has a new 5 stance latrine block which has been designed for the girls at the school, with a private washing area at one end. The new latrine also […]

Uphill is building again!

excavating latrine block excavating latrine block

As The Uphill Trust approaches it’s 4th birthday we are delighted to be starting another year of building at Uphill Junior School. Thanks to the fabulous fundraising from our supporters last year, plus a very generous grant from the UK charity, Meeting Needs, we are building another block of Ventilated Improved Pit latrines plus 4 […]

You walk, we build

dollar academy donation cheque dollar academy donation cheque

The Uphill Trust has a special relationship with Dollar Academy. Three of the trustees are former pupils and, when Chairman Max approached the Dollar Academy Charities Committee in 2013 after his first visit to a fledgling school in the crater lake hills of western Uganda, they were happy to help. Since then the Trust has […]

School Garden Project

school vegetable garden school vegetable garden

In Ugandan rural communities, being able to raise food and livestock on a small scale is an essential life skill. For many children attending primary school, this will be the only formal education they receive, so any practical experience in agriculture and animal husbandry is extremely helpful. These topics are included in the Ugandan National […]

Legacy of Light

power for education power for education

Something we take for granted  – electric light – is a making a huge difference to the  pupils at Uphill Junior School. Thanks to a generous in memoriam donation from a family of regular Uphill Trust supporters, the Primary 5-7 classroom block (blue McNabb Building) is now wired and connected to the mains electricity supply […]

Soap and Hand Washing

regular handwashing regular handwashing

Did you know that only 0.05% of Ugandan rural school children have access to hand washing facilities? This means that over 99 % of rural school children do not wash their hands after using the latrine. Did you know that only 30% of rural schools clean their latrines with soap every day? Did you know […]

Kiltwalk Classroom for Uphill

dundee kiltwalk 2018 dundee kiltwalk 2018

Event report by Liddy Laird After weeks of glorious sunshine in Scotland, the morning of 19th August 2018 was cold, wet and windy – just the weather you need to embark on a 26 mile sponsored walk…NOT.  This didn’t deter the bunch of 12 hardy Scots lasses and two hardy Scots lads/gentlemen who had agreed […]

Accidents will happen

broken leg but no cast broken leg but no cast

Wherever there are children with high spirits and the joy of rising to the challenge, occasional accidents will happen. In this young boy’s case, his attempt to leap across the drainage ditch that channels water away from one of the Uphill classroom blocks didn’t go as planned. He fell in, breaking his leg when he […]

Clean Water for Uphill

water filters for Uphill water filters for Uphill

Clean water is essential for good health, everywhere in the world, but this can be difficult to achieve at times. When we first became involved with Uphill Junior School even access to water was difficult, as the community shallow well regularly ran dry and the next water source was some distance away. Providing water at […]

Power for Education

Power for Education Power for Education

We were very excited to receive these photos from School Director Elius in early June – Uphill Junior School now has electricity! Power for Education! At the moment only the new administration block, the Isobel Duncan Building, has been wired up and connected to the power lines that pass through Iruhuura community, but we plan […]

Teeth and Toothbrushes

toothbrushes for every pupil toothbrushes for every pupil

Whenever I say I am going to visit Uganda for the Uphill Trust, those who know my profession immediately say, “Ah, you’ll be going to look after their teeth.”  In fact, as we have a school to build, the pupils’ dental health is only a very small part of my role as a charity trustee […]

Uphill on the road

school boda boda school boda boda

When you think of school transport you probably think of a white minibus, or one of those yellow American school buses, and Uphill Junior School would LOVE to have such a thing. But, in Uganda, small rural schools have to start with small rural transport – and this usually means a bicycle or, it they […]

Low Tech, High Fun

Uphill children learn simple games Uphill children learn simple games

Sometimes it’s the simple things that bring the greatest rewards. As there is no electrical power at Uphill (yet) and it was the rainy season, the kids have very little to do during break times. It was a great fun to show them a few of the “low tech games” of my childhood. When I […]

Capturing Uphill on Film

Geraint Hill Geraint Hill

We were very privileged to introduce independent film maker and photographer Geraint Hill to Uphill Junior School during our recent trustee visit. By happy coincidence Geraint was staying in Fort Portal whilst we were there over the Easter period and an exchange of emails resulted in a meeting over coffee, a day at the Uphill, […]

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Director!

cutting the cake cutting the cake

On Sunday 25 March 2018 Elius Muhimbisemarried his lovely bride  Shalot Tushabe in St Peter’s Church, Iruhuura. Their gorgeous daughter Sandra celebrated the day with them, along with some 2,000 guests from the local community and further afield. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the Palm Sunday celebrations and the church was filled with […]

Thank you for our new website!

e-business-promotion e-business-promotion

We are hugely grateful to Phil Horne of Edinburgh-based e-business promotion for donating the considerable time and expertise of his team that has resulted in the new website for The Uphill Trust that you see today.   As with so much of the support we receive, personal contacts and networking were key to the offer to […]

School Nurse for Uphill

days for girls kits days for girls kits

All private schools in Uganda are expected to have at least one health care provider on site to attend to the first aid needs of the children. For the past two years, health care has been available on an intermittent basis in Iruhuura Trading Centre by Bagonza Evester, a qualified nursing assistant, and Nurse Eve, as […]

Ugandan paper bead jewellery

ugandan-paper-beads ugandan-paper-beads

Uganda is full of micro-enterprises, and making beads for paper bead jewellery is just one of them. The trust has forged a strong relationship with the Woro En Ryeko collective based in the Banda Kireka shanty town in Kampala, which makes beads using recycled paper from magazines and books. Uphill Trust Chairman, Max, buys beads […]

Meet Our Supported Pupils (3)

photo of an uphill junior school boy who has been supported by donors photo of an uphill junior school boy who has been supported by donors

Another in our series of posts about some of the children being supported in school by the  Pupil Support Fund: R joined Uphill Junior School in April 2016. At the end of his first academic year he achieved top marks across all subjects and he continued to do well, maintaining his position at the top […]

McNabb Classroom Block is Finished!

classroom-block classroom-block

The new McNabb classroom block was completed in August 2016, just in time for the beginning of the final term of the school year. The walls were still bare brick and there was a cavernous roof space over all three classrooms, but the teachers and pupils were keen to move in – the teaching space […]