Our 2017 newsletter is now available for download on the Newsletter page – sure where else would we put it?

It was a beautiful day for our annual walk – sun shining, no rain, birds singing, ducklings in the river  … and great chats at the refreshment stops. Thank you very much, all participants and helpers and supporters.

In 2015 the children in LANS had their feet treated for an infestation of jiggers. After treatment each child was given new clothes and shoes.

When Triona Connolly was talking to Kilkenny artist Andrew Small about UgaIrish Project, he offered to donate one of his paintings to raise funds for the charity. We gave him several photographs from Bbaale, and he chose to base his painting on one of 4-year old Lackboss Namirimu, walking off in her new clothes after treatment.

Recently Andrew presented the completed painting, titled “The Sound of the Earth” to UgaIrish, who are now raffling it to raise money for the fish farm project and for replacing the temporary LANS classrooms with permanent structures.

but this year it is on the real May Day, Monday May 1st. Our annual Barrow Walk will start from the Town Hall Car Park in Carlow Town at 11am, and we will walk to the picnic spot near the swimming pool in Bagenalstown. Refreshment stops are at Cloydagh and Leighlinbridge. We will organise transport back to Carlow  from Bagenalstown, or from the refreshment stops for those that only want a shorter walk. Come along and bring a friend.

There is a fund-raising table quiz in the Brog Maker, Kilkenny on Friday March 3rd. Bring a team. Bring several teams! There are details on the UIP facebook page, so share them with your friends (could we go viral?) and if you are on twitter, tweet it. Hope to see you there.

What started as a couple of temporary classrooms for the infants in 2014 grew another room at the start of 2016 to accommodate the children growing out of senior infants and into first class (P1 in Ugandan terminology). Now another year has passed, and the children from P1, promoted to P2, need a classroom, so our temporary little school, made from poles and papyrus mats (and some corrugated iron for the roof), needs four rooms. The swings have been moved to the back of the kitchen, so that the four rooms can be in a line, and the poles and mats have arrived.

The continued support of our generous donors makes it possible.

Thanks to your generosity we have again been able to buy extra food for the women’s cooperative for Christmas – rice, sugar, posho, curry, salt, oil and tea. They met in the school to share it out.

Now you can follow us on twitter!

We’ve added a page in the Gallery with some details and photos from our 2016 volunteer visit last June. The slideshow is a bit slow, so please be patient.

Download the fish-farm leaflet and share it around! We would like to start the project in the new year, but so far have no money.