KAMPALA SCHOOL FOR THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED
In short, the KSPH is a wonderful organization that provides opportunities for physically (some mentally) disabled children and teenagers in Uganda. Their mission is to "...educate, rehabilitate, and equip physically handicapped children for self-reliance and development." The school is a primary educating boarding school with over 100 students. The school follows the national standard for education, including sports, music, dance, and drama.
Amie Adelman and I were able, with the support of friends and family, to bring much needed supplies to the school. We received the warmest welcome, beyond expectation. Our one day to drop off the supplies turned into a great friendship with the director, Joy Mwesigwa and the students and teachers.
The vocational students at the KSPH create exceptionally BEAUTIFUL handmade cloth and ceramic beads. The day that Amie and I arrived to drop off supplies, we were opened to a beautiful world of bright, colorful fabric. It was Tuesday, the day the vocational students work on the dyeing process. Winnie, one of the vocational training teachers, along with Knight, Joshua, Yusef, and many other teachers and students, instructed us on the processes of creating hand dyed cloth.
Techniques using a porridge, a mixture of water and corn meal type paste, was stretched out in the sun (well actually, it was not sunny that day) to dry so that it could be dyed to create cloth to be sold to the markets, and buyers who come to the school.
Other dyeing techniques are called sugarcaning and marbling and are a result of the way 6 meters of fabric is gathered and/or folded. The result is cloth with an enormous amount of depth and color. One of the previous students, Knight, works with the tailoring program, and is an excellent tailor. Amie and I sorted through yards of gorgeous material to find the right pattern and color for wedding outfits.
Adelina Lubogo, the ceramics instructor has formed a wonderful direction for the production of ceramic beads. The supplies we brought enabled the finishing of literally THOUSANDS of greenware beads (of course, I neglected to get a photos of the large buckets of these beads). (IF ANYONE HAS EXPERIENCE IN FAIR TRADE GOODS, these products would be a wonderful item to import!)
No amount of photos or writing can adequately describe the experience at the school. The warmth of the teachers, the beauty of the students, the energy and life that surround the school are amazing. I have to leave you with a story of our last day. We were invited to a tea to thank us for bringing the supplies. During our time at the school we walked around and ended up sitting on some mats with many of the girls. They were clapping and singing, we joined in when we could. The laughter, life and then the dancing were some of the best moments during the trip, until we were ushered into one of the classrooms for the music class. The teacher was great with the group of 30 or more students, all piled into a room, sitting all around. He handed out traditional Buganda instruments and proceeded to direct those playing in a cacophony of sound, or rather noise, that somehow followed the rhythm of his hands. After that, the tea was one of the humblest moments, we were told of the difference the supplies made, the encouragement they brought to the students - of how they were unable to continue with making the beads because they were unable to get the stains and glazes. How wonderful and how humbling to know that what we gave was so little on our part and so much for them. I HAVE TO THANK ALL OF THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO DONATED MONEY AND PRODUCTS (THANK YOU TRINITY CERAMICS) I WISH THAT YOU WERE THERE TO EXPERIENCE THE GRATEFULNESS OF JOY AND THE STUDENTS.
There is so much more to share about the school, students and teachers. What began as one day to drop supplies turned into some of the best memories and experiences while in Uganda.
Contact:
Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped
Joy Mwesigwa, Director
P.O. Box 14278, Kampala, Uganda