Night of music passes on the gift of education
As audience members filed into Prestwick’s St Nicholas Church for a night of music from the Choir of Ayrshire Voices they couldn’t have known how much their generosity was helping people in a far- off African country.
Audience members contributed £ 220 to the Pass It On Uganda Trust, which paid for a desk to sit three of four children in addition to providing a school uniform for 10- year- old Peace Mutoni, paying her school fees for a year and providing her with a hot meal Monday to Friday.
The collection was arranged by the trust chair, Jean Innes who, with her husband Douglas, has raised several thousands of pounds over the past five years supporting the work of Pass It On Uganda.
The charity was set up by Ugandan woman Hellen Ziribagwa and her husband Andrew Apedel to bring an end to early and enforced marriages by empowering young Ugandans through skills education and to help Ugandans who are living well below the poverty line.
Most of the children have peasant farmers as parents who live a subsistence existence. Education is not free in Uganda, so they can’t afford to send their children to school.
So how did Jean, a life- long charity worker, become involved with a trust halfway around the world?
She said: “I met Hellen on Facebook. I had been knitting items for babies and sent them to her. I’ve done that with other organisations, but got little feedback.
“Hellen sent me pictures of her getting the parcel at the post office plus pics of her giving the clothes out.
“Then we found we had the same sense of humour. We first visited in 2016 and then ever year after.
“The four of us get on really well and the directors of both schools and everyone we met were of the highest integrity. So we were hooked.
“Hellen runs the charity as a volunteer while Andrew has a very god job with the civil service. Both are graduates who want to help their country and the poorer people who can’t afford anything real.”
Jean retired in 2018 from her job in charge of South Ayrshire Council’s libraries while Douglas is a retired Principal Teacher of English.
The Prestwick couple are keen supporters of literacy and education and Douglas does teacher training on his visits to Uganda, where there is little in- service training for teachers.
Besides helping with schooling, the trust has also started a sewing group, supplied piglets for women and helped to set up baking businesses.
They also run adult learning classes for 65 ladies who couldn’t read or write.
Money to run the trust comes from tireless Jean’s events and bottle stalls, while some of her friends are sponsoring individual children through school.
Jean added: “Hellen and I speak most days and we share the same vision. We all get on very well and have a good team of volunteers both here and in Uganda.”