We would like to first apologize for our absence in keeping you updated with our newsletters. One of our sponsors volunteered to help us create this newsletter and will also help us with the upcoming ones. In this newsletter you can read some of the events from 2017. Happy reading.

Child Africa was selected by the government through the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities to host the Uganda 2017 tourism expo. This was because of our close working relationship with the government and the successes our organization has achieved over the year. The Honorary Minister of State for Tourism proceeded over the function and had very kind words for our children and the organization in general. The Honorary Minister was accompanied by the former Minister of Tourism in the Buganda government, managing director Child Africa Ms. Julie Solberg, as well as the Chairman of Child Africa Board Mr. Rino Solberg all witnessed the opening.

The Minister thanked Ms. Julie Solberg for hosting such a function and promised to liaise with the government to make the Equator the world’s tourist site in the near future. It was proven by the geographers that the equator line passes through Child Africa Junior School land and goes beyond boarders. Child Africa Junior School choir entertained the visitors with music, dance and drama. It is estimated that over 20 schools visited the expo and were happy to be at the equator.

In February 2017, a team from Strand High School in Norway visited Child Africa Junior School in Kabale, Uganda. The major purpose of their visit was to check on the academic progress of the sponsored children and to get additional feedback on a total of 32 children they sponsor.

Earlier our students had to sit at a different school to participate in examinations. Finally on March 1, 2017, the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) officially approved Child Africa Junior School in Kabale as an institution that can hold their own examinations. This is a milestone for our school as well as our Child Africa organization, and we are proud of being able to display our exam results under our school name.

We were also featured in newspapers, because of excellent results during exams. 28 students in first and second grade gave our junior (middle) school a third position in the whole district.

On June 23, 2017, Child Africa Kabale participated with partners in Kabale District to celebrate the Day of the African Child. Our school brass band and choir entertained the guests. Rebecca, one of our sponsored children, represented the Kabale children by giving a nice speech at the function. The theme for the day was “Increased protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children in Uganda by 2030.”

In July 2017, a total of 34 guests from the Littleover Community School in the UK visited Child Africa. Students and teachers from their school have made it a yearly event to conduct a working visit to our school projects in Kabale and at the Equator in Uganda.

Littleover implemented three projects:

• The painting project,
• The goat project, and
• The garden project

All three projects were successfully implemented within the end of their visit. Two school classroom blocks got painted, the goat house got built and stocked with 40 goats, and the school garden was cleared and planted with different vegetables and foods.

The top floor classroom in the block is yet to be built and could not be painted, but the ground floor was painted and looks beautiful. Child Africa is ever grateful for the Littleover Community school support. 

Child Africa hosted the Better Globe Team from the Scandinavian countries in mid-July 2017. A team of over 30 guests led by the Chairman of Better Globe AS visited and toured the Child Africa projects at the Equator and Kabale. The main function took place at Child Africa Junior School Kabale and we were honored to host the Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs as the Chief Guest.

The team from Better Globe brought a lot of gifts to our local children and also visited some of the children’s’ homes. Several of the team members started sponsoring some of the children, who now are getting an education at our Child Africa schools. We highly appreciate Better Globe’s constant support for Child Africa and for their contributions towards school building.

Child Africa’s school children and the school choir was selected among all schools in Uganda to make a presentation through music, dance and drama to the Commonwealth Ministers’ Conference held in Kampala, Uganda between July 31 and August 4, 2017. The children performed a unity song called “Share your Love,” which left all guest amazed at how our children are gifted with talent as well as creativity. The song is now a hot song across the country.

Little Green Hands Organization is an environmental conservation and education organization. They organized the Children Climate Change Festival in Uganda on September 3, 2017 to teach and educate the little ones on how to conserve the environment.

Child Africa participation was two-fold. One, because of our organization's involvement and support to children, and our involvment with teaching the children about environment through our tree planting projects. And two, because of our involvement with the fight against corruption and the publication and distribution of the Bingwa magazine, which teaches children about the dangers of corruption.

Solberg College is a Child Africa founded project and is located on Rutooma Hill, Central Division, Kabale Municipality in Uganda. The College is a result of the previous positive education progress of Child Africa's sponsorship program, which has seen many children qualify to join secondary school (high school), but cannot afford the school fees charged in other schoosl. Note that the term College or secondary school in Uganda means high school in some parts of the world.

We finalized the purchase of the land and premises December 2017 and started the renovations immediately. We officially opened the doors to the school in February 2018.

In October 2017, Child Africa was honored to host a team of over 30 Americans from California at our junior school in Kabale, Uganda. The visitors donated notice boards to the school and other scholastic materials. Child Africa is very grateful for their generous support.

Mr. Jens and his company Salgstinget in Norway donated eight Stanza toilets for the girl’s latrine in November 2017. This has helped the girls a lot at Child Africa’s Junior School in Kabale, where they earlier had to move long distances to share the previously single toilet. Child Africa, will ever remain grateful to Mr. Jens and his company for this generous support to our organization. Thank you Mr. Jens!

The Anti-Corruption Day is a national event organized by the government through the department of the Inspector General of Government and the Uganda Debt Network. This day is marked every year. Child Africa, being a key partner in the fight against corruption and all its evils, was selected to host this event on December 14, 2017 at its Child Africa Junior School grounds at the Equator.

The function started with a parade commanded by Willy Muwanga the Scouts Chief at Child Africa Junior School Equator, and accompanied by the Uganda Debt Network employees and the Equator/Kayabwe community. Child Africa as a partner in the fight of corruption was represented by the National Program Director Mr. Wilson Wanyama who gave a speech on the strategies.

Child Africa has laid to see that the future generation is corruption free. There were free issuances of Bingwa magazines to everyone who was at the function and it was a credit to Child Africa. As usual, entertainment of the guests was left in the hands of the Child Africa Junior School choir who sang songs corresponding to the theme of the day which was "Restoring Integrity in the Civil Service as a mechanism to fight Corruption." The scouts team gave out placards with a message aimed at fighting corruption.

Child Africa fights corruption by teaching honesty and integrity as a curriculum subject to all our children being the future leaders. The chief guest at the function was the area honorary member of parliament.

Nursery graduation is an annual event which is conducted every year in all our schools in December. The event is meant to celebrate the achievement and success of the young ones for crossing from one level of their education to another. At this function, parents join the school and management of Child Africa to witness and celebrate the success of the school and the children. Certificates are given to all children as a sign of acknowledging and qualifying them to join the primary section.