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| | The Testbourne – Mityana Link Since 1977 there have been links between the Diocese of Winchester and the poverty stricken district of Mityana in Uganda. A charity has been set up which has the aims of relieving poverty, advancing education for children and advancing the Christian religion. In early 2006, Testbourne School became involved through a rather fortunate event when Rev Dodie Marsden brought Rev Michael Lubowa of Mityana, who was then studying in the UK, into school to meet the School Council. The council was very impressed with  Michael and his tales of life in Uganda, and after several e-mails to Dodie it was suggested that Testbourne and Mityana Secondary School should become partners. This was quite fortuitous as the British government is very keen that every school in the UK should link with a school in a developing nation – and this link would mean that part of the initial set-up work had already been done, giving us a significant ‘head-start’! By the end of the summer term plans were in place for visiting with a group of Testbourne pupils, and Mrs Janet Evans, the then ‘liaison person’ visited Mityana in  November, 2006 to lay the foundations of the link and plan for the future visit. The visit was very successful, and from that the ‘Testbourne-Mityana’ Project was born. The initial aim was to raise £2,400 to provide two 100,000 litres water tanks for the school as well as taking 14 pupils out there in October of 2007, and every year for a further four years. The pupils had to raise £21,000 in total, to pay for their flights, expenses etc. The visit with the ‘guinea pig’ group in 2007 lead by Janet and Mr Dick Stevens, was very successful, and particularly helped to produce a focus for future visits linked with ‘The British Council for Education Partnership Development Programme’. The exercises that took place on ‘stereo-typing’ and ‘expectations’ were particularly ‘eye-opening’ and gave a real insight into how  teenagers perceive each other from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. Our pupils were able to feedback their desire to ‘do more’ and expressed how just visiting, being in lessons and bringing gifts wasn’t enough – they needed to be far more ‘hands-on’ and that was something that will be incorporated into future visits – under the leadership of Miss Sarah Kinsey, Dick and Dodie, due to Janet’s departure from Testbourne. Mityana pupils had the chance to express their surprise that British teenagers weren’t ‘spoilt brats’ and they too had found the visit refreshing and eye-opening. All in all, firm foundations were laid for the future, as the little sapling tree that was planted by the 2007 Team at the end of the visit – as the tree grows and matures – so will the partnership! |
