A new chapter for Ugandan school with help from housing trusts

A Widnes teacher will travel to Uganda to help develop a library for African schoolchildren.

Fiona Kirkby, head teacher of Warrington Road Children’s Centre, has collected around 2,000 books, which have been sent to the school in Fort Portal in West Uganda.

Fiona has been supported by Halton Housing Trust in the project, which has funded shelving for the library and paid to transport the books.

She will be joined on her trip on July 30 by Dee Denton, head teacher of Lunt’s Heath Primary School, who also helped collect the books.

Noel Sharpe, Executive Director of Customer Services at Halton Housing Trust, said: “We have formed a strong link with Uganda and are delighted that we can continue to help in this way.”

Halton Housing Trust has been working in Uganda for the past three years through the charity One Brick at a Time.

Staff members have made several trips to Fort Portal along with employees from Chester and District Housing Trust to help renovate schools and share construction skills.

Gas safety and asset administrator Colin Knox, Mark Ferris, Chris Steele, Tom Bond and Steve Bounds, all from HHT, along with two members of staff from CDHT, are preparing for their next trip to the town in September, when they will spend a month helping to repair a school.

They will be working on the dilapidated school replacing the roof, putting in new doors and landscaping.

For Colin it will be his second trip to Uganda with the project. He said: “Working in Uganda on the One Brick at a Time project has been a life-changing experience.

“Builders there can’t go to the shop and buy materials and so they are very innovative with what they have. We have learned a lot from each other.”

Another team of workers from HHT and CDHT will fly out to continue the work in October.