Raising the roof for school for vulnerable orphans

A WOMAN from Henley has organised a fundraiser for a new roof for a school in Uganda.

Tiffany Bowles, 56, hopes to raise £21,000 for the Emily Collins School in Kisoro, in the south-west of the country, which supports and educates vulnerable orphaned children.

The Raise the Roof event at the Oaken Grove Vineyard, off the Fair Mile, is on Friday, May 24 and will feature live music, a two-course African meal and a raffle.

There will also be a presentation by Stephen Collins, whose daughter Emily visited Uganda with her local church before passing away with bone cancer. She was 26.

The school’s founder, Martin Duhimbaze, a Ugandan social worker, opened the school in 2022 through his charity, Our Father’s House Ministries, which helps orphaned children.

He named the school after Emily, from Bournemouth, with whom he built a rapport, but it is not yet complete. It currently has four classrooms, an office, small nursery, community hall and a large outside play area.

The school aims to become a centre of excellence, providing education for children and adults, advocating for the rights of vulnerable children and providing sanitation, hygiene and medical care to those in the community. But to function, it requires donations. Sponsorship of a child costs £35 a month.

Ninety-four children are on the roll and there are seven teachers, two cooks, a matron and a cleaner also on its books.

Mrs Bowles, who lives in Damer Gardens, was born in Uganda and has been sponsoring an orphan, Sarah, after she saw a post by Mr Duhimbaze shared online. Sarah is one of five children that her grandmother is bringing up after her mother died of Aids.

The retired business psychologist visited the school in February with her son Robin Nice, 25, to meet Sarah and Mr Duhimbaze.

In preparation for their trip, Mrs Bowles collected medical supplies, sports equipment and clothing donated from the Henley community to give to the children.

During their three-hour visit they had a tour of the school, planted a tree and socialised with the children.

Mrs Bowles said: “Having seen the school, we were just really humbled, it was really lovely to go over there and actually meet the people involved and see how hard they work.

“I feel really privileged to be in a position to be able to help. It was so humbling, and honestly life-changing, I didn’t expect it to have that impact, I just thought it would be a nice jolly holiday.”

During the visit she posted updates on her social media, which received a positive response, which encouraged her to organise the fundraising party.

Mr Nice was most surprised by the pupils’ determination to learn, despite the conditions in which they currently are being educated.

He said: “The thing that most stood out to me is that when you go to the school, there are children just running about in a construction site. There’s wooden scaffolding to keep parts of the second floor in place and bare concrete. Some of the rooms didn’t even have doors on them.

“If this was in the UK, you wouldn’t even be allowed within 20m without a hi-vis jacket, a hard hat and steel-toe boots. But this is a place where children as young as three can learn every day and eat in a safe environment. It’s very clear that the students loved it and it was important to not only them but the teachers and the whole community.

“It was an emotional experience. It was beautiful how much education at the school meant to them, it was so enshrined in their community, which I think is probably why it connected so strongly with us.

“It really means a lot to have visited there, and it has had such a profound impact on us, which we are now trying to bring back to connect with other people. We would love to continue to support them through the generosity of the Henley community.”

Last week, Mrs Bowles visited local Henley shops with her two sons Robin and Alex Nice, 21, dressed in a Giraffe costume to help encourage donations, sponsorships and attendees to the event.

Despite Mrs Bowles’s uncertainty about raising money for a school in Africa, she doubtlessly believes her fundraising efforts will make a difference.

She said: “When I was heading over there, I was thinking ‘Why am I giving money to the other side of the world when there’s people in this town who haven’t got enough to eat’, but the one thing I reassured myself was that I couldn’t help everybody, even if I tried.

“For me, it was the connection with Uganda and the people that I knew there personally and the relative difference. I also think that it’s not just that we’re helping people with their current situation, but we’re helping the future generations and creating that systemic change, it’s the scale of the impact.”

Host, Phil Rossi, 45, who has provided his venue Oaken Grove Vineyard at a subsidised cost, said: “It feels like a good opportunity to raise money for a great cause.

“Speaking to Tiffany it seems like it’s something she’s very passionate about and I wanted to do what I could to help.”

Tickets for the event cost £50 and are available from https://tinyurl.com/y4sb9z2b

To donate to the school or sponsor a child, visit https://emilycollinsschool.com/