Dr. James Keyene, Uganda

THE MBABAALI MEMORIAL SCHOOL FOR ORPHANS

Report by Loudon McAndrew

In the present climate where too much of the news is negative, it was a pleasure to welcome Dr. James Keyene to give a presentation on the above orphanage. Dr Keyene is a Rotarian as well as being a Doctor of Divinity and a Bachelor of Education.
The orphanage is in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda and was founded in 2000 as an educational institution for severely under privileged children. Dr Keyene, a director, on vacation in Scotland, was delighted to be given the opportunity to make a presentation to Ayr Rotary.
Over 100 children were originally considered for a placement but to begin with, places were only available for 30 children. The school has grown considerably since opening and the current roll consists of 124 boys and 112 girls of which 102 are currently undergoing secondary education. Since its foundation, around 450 pupils have gone on to further education.
The speaker particularly emphasised the current financial position of the school as in the past, the main source of income was through friends and charitable donations.
However, this income has for the past few years has diminished due to the effect of Covid and the general economic climate. Most importantly, the school is still using pit latrines and the authorities have insisted that they be replaced by flush toilets. Classrooms and other integral parts of the school are badly in need of refurbishment.
Current income is only £18,333 against expenditure of £81,347, a deficit of £63,014.

Hugh Millar thanked Dr Keyene for his presentation and jokingly noted that absenteeism was nil compared with Scottish schools!