N ews l et t er

2016-2017
2021

(Left) Juliana Ithungu, now a community worker with a degree. “If it were not for Mvule, I would not have made it. My father only
educated boys past primary school.” (Centre) Mvule trees giving a subliminal message that people can grow to be strong and tall.
(Right) Former bursary holder Samuel Kithandiko reads a statement to the Mvule visitors.
L: Jackline Akello, Mvule beneficiary, is now a Clinical Officer and Tuberculosis Focal Person at Joseph’s Hospital Kitgum. C: “Today this
is what I am,” says Mvule beneficiary John Osidi. “I am earning a salary and supporting a wife and a child and my siblings in school. I am
Dear Mvule supporters,
also farming and plan to buy land.” R: Twariki Muhammad, now funding himself atIn
rich crop which also supplies twigs for cooking and is ideal in refugee settings,nine
Makerere
enabling
University,
total we now
limited
have 22among
land to produce
pigeon 13
beneficiaries:
both
peas, a protein
females,
food and fuel.
males, 13 just awarded bursaries, and nine
What a year it has been! Uganda’s education carried forward.

Mvule and the crisis

sector continued its COVID closure, the longest in Ten are in health, four in forestry, three
the world to date. And our former beneficiaries in teaching, two in animal husbandry, two in
were hit hard by the pandemic. But very happy engineering, and one in environmental science.

in northern Uganda
holidays nonetheless! You are supporting a bumper
load of students. Thank you so very much.
Joyleen Tugume is one of them, starting a full-
Further good news is that we can support more.
Fees for an 18-month upgrade from a certificate to
a diploma in nursing are £1,166, a fortune for young
GREETINGS! Let me begin with a story. In mid-2016 refugees began
time four-year university course while continuing people earning £147 a month.
to pour into Uganda. By August 2017 one million were calling it
with her job as a wildlife ranger in Queen Elizabeth National But it is doable for Mvule. We are virtual with minimal costs
home. Mvule Trust thanked its stars that it had funded almost
Park on weekends. “If I have a degree, I have chances of being and in December transferred GBP 46,000 to Uganda. These were
150 foresters. The refugees were in dire need of fuel and poles.
promoted to warden”. your accumulated donations.
Realising that the gravity of the situation was an opportunity,
Reuben Muhindo is another. Upgrading to doctor, he makes Thank you so much for your generosity.
Mvule organised eight of its forestry diploma holders to intern for
us burst with pride. Last term he placed second out of 258 Most stories in this newsletter come from the districts of
Lutheran World Federation, which started tree planting campaign.
students. His GPA is 3.88. Bundibugyo and Kasese, along the border with the Democratic
Four were eventually given full-time jobs, a fifth -- a young woman
Juliet Nziabake, 30, is a third, studying for a diploma in Republic of Congo, a region with low educational attainment in
whose hearing is impaired -- is being supported by Mvule in further
midwifery, which will raise her earnings by £505 a year. Uganda’s Western Uganda.
studies, and the rest are busy elsewhere.
GDP per capita was £618 in 2020, according to the World Bank. We supported 1,111 students there in 16 secondary schools
Mvule beneficiary Twariki Muhammad, who the NGO supported
and 11 tertiary institutions between 2006 and 2016. It was great to
to obtain a Diploma in Agriculture, also stepped up, escorting me
catch up with some of them.
around what had become the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“I am so glad to see you,” said Juliet Muhindo who is returning
From there I wrote a piece for The Guardian, which has led to a
to train further in medical lab technology. “I like it so much. I was
project on which we hope to take other Mvule interns. I could not
so clever in class. God saw from the beginning that I become a
have done it without his translation and local knowledge.
health worker”.
Just today one of the LWF foresters, John Osidi wrote to
Enjoy the stories and analysis. Thanks so much again!
me, saying “Madam, I am really grateful for the sponsorship at
Nyabyeya Forest College because ever since I completed, my life Cathy Watson, Mvule Trust Director
has never been the same thus I have paid tuition for my brother
who has just completed a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.”
But if he’s grateful, how grateful are we? Our beneficiaries are MISSION VISION
The Trust’s main Mvule Trust envisions a
educating their siblings and responding to a global humanitarian cadre of young people
organisational goal is
crisis! On behalf
“Amazingly of the staffjob,
I got a government of Mvule Trust,
“Mvule found fellow Director
me when I was out who are educated, self-
to improve the lives of
and it is then
William Pike,that
andI was
our able
Boardto – David
of Lyon,
school Richard
and unhopeful
Dowdenabout
and Joel underprivileged rural Ugandan confident, self-sufficient
support my parents and siblings,” getting back,” says Patience and able to engage in
Kibazo, we thank you for your sustained interest. I can say truly --
says midwife Juliet Nziabake. She Biira. She is “so delighted” to be families by providing young
Cathy- prima
interviews refugees from South
sustai Sudan
nable livelihin in Bidi
Bidi
oods
no one
adds, does scholarships,
“Heartfelt follow-up
thanks to Mvule and nimble
upgrading like we
to a higher do.
midwifery people rily girls with
settlement,. December 2016 their home areas .
and my mother, a peasant, who qualification. Her younger sister is scholarships
fought tooth
Cathy and nail
Watson, Mvulefor me.” her “greatest responsibility”.
Trust Director
Mvule is the name of the endangered African hardwood Milicia Excelsa.
1

Mvule helped break the belief that
if you educate girls, you waste money
Former beneficiaries at the cocoa cooperative.
We visited the isolated district of
Bundibugyo on 30 October, led by
Owen Muhereza, a Mvule beneficiary
who had received major support -
six full years of high school and a
university degree. “I was one of the
lucky ones who benefitted from a girl
focused-program.”
Only the third person in his small
ethnic group, the Bamba, to study
environmental science, Owen has
worked steadily since graduating.
Firms buying coffee, vanilla and cocoa,
the area’s main crops, are
happy to hire him.
Owen organized former
bursary holders to gather
at the Semuliki Cocoa
Cooperative, which is
Fairtrade-certified and
managed by a Mvule
beneficiary who we
supported for a Diploma Bundibugyo’s densely-cultivated slopes are prone
in Agribusiness and later to landslides while its lowland plains are becoming
a “zone of firewood and charcoal,” says Owen
I come from a hard family – I am very happy you chose me
We reached Kasese district on 1
November. Reuben Muhindo, our medical
student, had rallied 110 students.
Realizing this was unmanageable, the
group chose 11 young people to represent
them. We met at a small
hotel. This time, rather
than having them speak
as a group we interviewed
each person individually.
And because only one
had studied for a degree,
and many had taken
certificate courses rather
than diplomas, a higher
Mvule Trust 2021
Owen looks at roadside tree planting
achieved a degree on his own. What a
resounding success! But as a whole the
group was frustrated.
“Our number one challenge is
unemployment,” said Samuel Kithandiko,
a history teacher who we supported for
a degree. “We have tried this and that to
secure jobs. It has all ended in vain. Now
COVID has worsened the situation.” His
school is closed, and as a teacher in a
private (non-government) institution, he
is unpaid.
Maureen with an IT degree enjoyed
Recent Mvule field verification: Kasese, Bundibugyo
in 2021. Soroti, Katakwi, Kitgum in 2020.
qualification, it was easy to see how we
could help. We awarded fresh bursaries
to nine of the 11 to go back to education
and upgrade. One of the most touching
interviews was with Loice Kabugho. She
recalled how Mvule had
come across her in a school.
“I was one of the cleaners. I
was already 23. I was getting
old from there.” We funded
her for the balance of her
secondary school years
and then for a certificate
in enrolled comprehensive
nursing.
2
a job in a bustling shop offering
computer services like scanning,
mostly to schools. But with the COVID
downturn, the owner now pays her just
£15 a month.
The group is falling back on farming.
“Food is the focus”, they say.
Talking to them one by one, positive
stories emerge, however. Juliana
Ithungu, who we supported for degree
in social work, volunteers with the Red
Cross. It pays allowances for travel and
lunch, from which she has bought a
small plot. Assets are being accrued.
The group said Mvule had helped
to break the “cultural belief that if you
educate a girl, you waste your money”.
We in turn reassured them that
COVID would end. With recovery and
growth, these young people can find
roles.
“I come from a hard family,” she says.
Her mother died, and her father deserted
the home. She currently cares for six
brothers and sisters.
“My first husband refused that
number of relatives. He said ‘The luggage
you are carrying, I cannot withstand it’.”
She is now remarried.
Despite the travails, Loice shines.
She has been the “in charge” at two
government health centres in the past
seven years. “I am very happy you picked
me all those years ago. I am very grateful
to Mvule because the way I am is because
of you.” .

Without Mvule I would be
at a standstill - It was a step in my life
The beneficiaries said Mvule support had reduced the precarity they faced.
After the one-on-one interviews, we
had a discussion as a group. Without
fishing for compliments, we asked the
former beneficiaries what might have
been the path of their life had Mvule not
located them. The question elicited rueful
laughter and “are you joking?” eye rolls.
The consensus was that it had changed
their trajectory.
Three answered by saying:
“You picked me from nowhere. I am
now somewhere. I’ll always be grateful.”
“I am so grateful. I would still be
rotating down there (pointing to the
ground). I would be at a standstill.”
“I would be digging (a subsistence
farmer). It was a step in my life.”
Others answered by describing where
they had been or what they were doing
when staff from Mvule found them.
“At the time, I was sitting at home out
of school so that my elder sister could
Funded but not met – a wildlife ranger
We are happy to say that former
beneficiaries from Kasese who could
not attend the meeting were also given
an opportunity.
One is Joyleen Tugume, who Mvule
funded from 2010 to 2011 for A levels
in Kisinga Vocational School and
then for a diploma in wildlife tourism
management at the Uganda Wildlife
Training and Research Institute. Out of
over 3,400 young people funded, she is
our only wildlife ranger.
She shared her story by WhatsApp.
“By God’s grace I was given a job as
Mvule Trust 2021
“even if we do not have jobs.”
Youth unemployment is severe in
Africa: 10 to 12 million youth enter the
job market each year, but only 3.1 million
jobs are created, states the African
Development Bank.
It can feel particularly perplexing in
Uganda where rural secondary schools
can have only a portion of approved
positions filled, and government health
facilities usually lack a full complement
of staff.
A study by G Namaganda and
finish first.” (There was only money for colleagues (2015) found that “health
one child.) centres had fewer nurses (42–70%) and
“Mvule picked me at S4 (year 11). Life midwives (53–67%) than required and
was a struggle. I was hopeless at home consequently exhibited high workload
(out of school).” pressure (30–58%) for those cadres”.
For several, it was nothing short of Many initiatives in Uganda and across
amazing and slightly strange that people Africa are underway to solve this “wicked
who were unknown to them had assisted problem”, a term that development
them. One said, “I want to thank Mvule’s practitioners and others apply to
big heart. They’ve helped people they complex problems, like unemployment
never saw before.” and poverty, that have innumerable
Amid the marveling, though, the causes.
difficulty in finding
jobs still niggled.
“Would I be me
now if Mvule had not
found me?” asked
one happily. “Right
now, we have two
diploma holders in
my family!” But she
added pointedly,
a ranger guide by the Uganda Wildlife
Authority, and life changed at home
where I managed to put up a small house
for my mother and siblings. I have also
been paying 70% of my brother and
sister’s school fees. All the happiness in
my family is due to the help Mvule Trust
tendered to me. I have not enough words
to use to extend my appreciation. In
case, there’s another opportunity, please
consider me.”
We said “Done!” and helped her enroll
in Kabale University for environmental
studies in December.
3
 Mvule Trust 2021

News of other beneficiaries

The Eastern Uganda cohort: “What is soil?”
writes science teacher on blackboard
We are happy to have finally located
Mvule students that were funded by
readers of The Guardian at the National
Teachers’ College, Kaliro, in Eastern
Uganda. After qualifying they dispersed,
and phone numbers changed, but an
advertisement in the national newspaper
The New Vision reestablished contact.
Charles Okwi is beginning a Bachelors’ in
Science in Agriculture-General by distance
learning at Nkozi University. Sarah Apolot
is upgrading her teaching qualification at
Charles then and now. He has shown commitment to
the Soroti branch of Kyambogo University. science teaching in the face of unstable employment.

Female Mvule beneficiaries

excel in animal health
Rose Nyangoma helps than 80 percent of households
farmers to care for everything classified as poor in sub-Saharan
from chickens to cattle as an Africa.
Assistant Veterinary Officer in
Kasese. We supported her for a
Diploma in Animal Husbandry
at Arapai Agricultural College
and are now funding her for
a degree at Bishop Stuart
University in Mbarara. We are
proud of her and Vivian Aneno,
another Mvule beneficiary
who is upgrading in the same
field. Both have chosen this
profession which is vital for
rural families. Livestock is a
source of income for more Rose taking part in a campaign
Rose talking with a farmer to control rabies

Scholarships have impact!

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 calls
for a substantial expansion of scholarships
to developing countries for higher education,
including vocational, technical and scientific
programmes.

We thank you again

hugely for the support
for these young people.
Do write. We would
love to hear from you.
cathyhwatson@gmail.com
and jabalo256@gmail.com
The Mvule Trust thanks our original funders –
philanthropists Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin
as well as the UK Charity Commission, Charity Aid
Foundation (CAF), Anthea Case, Miss K.M. Harbison’s
Charitable Trust, and all our Guardian donors.
Our board members are:
David Bowes Lyon, Joel Kibazo and Richard Dowden.
Further donations
can be sent via CAF to The MVULE
TRUST at https://www.cafonline.
org/my-personal-giving/start-giving/
donate-now OR by CHEQUE to
38 Upper Road, Kennington, OX1 5LJ

4 Design by Michael Bunnya Kalanzi