Standard Bank has donated ?250 to local charity, ‘School for Uganda’, which was set up by a group of three people, including two school teachers in the Isle of Man.

Chair of the charity, Elizabeth Bankes-Jones, received the cheque from Joe Smith, support worker at Standard Bank, who has been working with Mrs Bankes-Jones to forge links between island schools and those in Uganda.

‘School for Uganda’ was started after Foxdale Primary School linked with Good Hope Primary and Nursery School in Namungoona, north west of Kampala, Uganda. The idea of the project was for the children to get to know more about each others’ lives but it soon became clear that a new school building was needed for the Ugandan children.

‘It is very difficult to resist helping when you see such an obvious need,’ says Mrs Bankes-Jones, ‘Such a large project meant that we needed to set up a charity, and that’s exactly what we did in 2006. We now have a school for over 100 children on a five acre site, but there is a lot more to be done and the money from Standard Bank will be a welcome help towards developing and equipping the classrooms and helping support teachers’ salaries.’

Joe Smith has been fundraising for the Standard Bank sponsored charity Mifumi School in Uganda. He worked with Mrs Bankes-Jones, the Deputy Head Teacher at Ballasalla school to create links between Mifumi and Ballasalla. The pair arranged for children to exchange penpal letters and also undertake a Skype link-up.

Joe said it was a natural fit to work with Ballasalla, ‘Mrs Bankes-Jones has seen the reciprocal benefit of enabling our children to interact with those in other countries. Understanding how other people live and what their lives are like is essential in our world today. Being able to raise funds to enable the children in Uganda to get an education and improve their lives is also very rewarding.’
 
School for Uganda is also run by Jude Needham and Mandy Whitelegg. The group are hoping more locals will be able to volunteer and help them, and particularly need advice on the charity website and Facebook page. For further information you can contact Elizabeth at: s4u@manx.net or telephone her on 01624 801624.
 
Photo -  Joe Smith presenting the cheque to Elizabeth Bankes-Jones.