May 18th was the start of a new life for Collins and Allison. We are so
happy to pass on the news that they married after meeting each other
on our 2017 trip. Romance has indeed blossomed and I’m sure you will
join the GMI trustees in wishing them both, congratulations and best
wishes for the future.

Collins is the dormitory administrator, at our Primary school in
Paminano near Gulu in Northern Uganda while Allison is a graphic designer who has been involved with GMI for a number of years and has designed our current information brochure. She is also our child sponsor administrator alongside Dani Dew.

Hi, my name is Simon Jennings and I’m the Minister of Eden Church in Penarth. I’m married to Karen and we have 4 children Sam (20), Dan (18), Eli (17), Zoe (15). My contact with Uganda started while I was training for the ministry in 2009 when I visited Mbale. My short time there profoundly affected me and so when Helen & Steve Lock returned to South Wales and I learnt about GMI it was obvious to me that I would become involved in some way. Last July I had the privilege of being part of the team that visited Bethel School and helped out in the local Church run by Pastor James and Pastor Phoebe. It’s very true that every time that you visit Africa you leave a little bit of yourself behind, that was very true of myself and also for Karen, Zoe & Eli who were also part of the team. Apart from the teaching/training and leadership aspects of my current role I also bring with me years of experience in program, project and change management from my previous jobs in the Utilities industry. As a trustee of GMI my hope is to help build the network of relationships in the UK and potentially other parts of the world to put resources into the hands of the organisation. My hope is that these resources will help build and develop the work of GMI and ultimately the development of the work in Gulu. I look forward to helping and supporting the development of GMI into the future and I very much look forward to returning to Gulu into the future.

Autumn 2017 Newsletter

Time goes by so quickly, and what an amazing summer it’s been. In June, a return trip by our friends from Maidstone and in August a team of 18 of us made a visit to our school and the surrounding rural areas of Northern Uganda, we thought you’d like to hear some of their comments on different aspects of their trips.

Clare and Ross Fagg write We returned to Bethel Christian School in June this year for 4 weeks. First stop Kampala where we collected Afripads for all the girls in the school that needed them. A big thank you to Maidstone Riverside Rotary who funded this.

Summer 2016 Newsletter 

STOP PRESS!!!!! We have some great news – Our Ugandan partner Phoebe Ochan has been granted her visa and will be visiting the UK in October 2016. We will let everyone know her schedule as soon as we have her itinerary confirmed.

Phoebe writes…

Academics

Bethel Primary school has taken many strides academically from January 2016. Gulu Bethel Christian School completed registration with the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB), the body that grants the status to Primary Schools to become centres where pupils can sit the Primary Leaving Examination (P.L.E). All classes sat at least 4 sets of exams in the first term, and so far 2 in the second term. P.7 class sat the Pre mock examinations that were set by the district education office and emerged 4^th in the whole district in performance.

            A BIG year for GMI – Can you help?

Phoebe writes from Uganda…

Dear Friend,

Your kind deed of supporting GMI work in Uganda makes God’s love real and tangible in the lives of children in this community. GMI through your support has restored hope and caused transformation in the ways below:

Over 554 children have access to improved education at Bethel Christian School.

Several families have improved health practices like upholding good hygiene and sanitation, improved nutritional practices, sending pregnant mothers for ANC and subsequently delivery at health facilities. This is a result of the health project, supported by GMI-UK.

Our last day in Gulu consisted of a thanksgiving service in Paminano where different groups of churches attended and each brought a gift to start a new church. There was corrugated iron sheets for the roof, table, chairs, water barrel and even a goat! Lots of praise and worship, Gerald spoke and San and Helen gave touching testimonies. Said our farewells which was very sad as everyone would like to stay another week. After lunch some of the team met Sunday with the football teams he coaches. Sam played well but the final score was 5 – 0, never mind Sam Harding. The team have had such an amazing trip. Awesome, inspiring, humbling, life changing, encouraging, helpful and cultural are words the team would sum up their trip. Seems like they enjoyed it!