Year 6 pupils at Grouville Primary School have been learning about African culture and this week they were able to link up with children in Mifumi Primary School in Uganda for an hour-long live Skype session.
The session was organised by Jersey-based charity MPS (Jersey) Uganda, which has supported Mifumi Primary School in eastern Uganda for more than 20 years. The charity was founded by retired St Michael’s headteacher John Carnegie and named Small Charity of the Year at this year’s Jersey Charity Awards.
During the Skype session the school children sang to each other and also asked each other questions about their favourite subjects and food.
Grouville teacher Debbie Buesnel said: ‘We’ve been learning about Africa all term and this live interaction just made it so real for the children. As part of our project, we’ve also written to the UK government to try to convince them to push education in Africa up the political agenda, now the children can understand what that actually means. It is about giving an opportunity to the children we’ve been talking to and singing with.’
The school pupils will now write to their new friends in Mifumi Primary School and a delegation of pupils and teachers from the Ugandan school are due to visit the Island next year to continue to strengthen the links between the two places.
Grouville school pupil Harry Williams (11) said: ‘Talking to the children in Uganda was great fun. When you think of Africa, you often think of very poor people so it was really positive to see children with so much energy at a school with the internet. It gave me a lot of hope.’
Kaitlyn Betambo (10) added: ‘The best bit was the songs, especially the traditional one that the children in Uganda sang. Being able to speak to children like us and ask them questions has brought our projects to life and I definitely want to visit Africa one day.’
MPS (Jersey) is run by a group of volunteers and is supported by Standard Bank. The charity say that only two decades ago the school was a handful of mud huts, but today it is a bustling complex of buildings where around 700 boys and girls are educated. The school has also been supported by Jersey Overseas Aid, which has sent three works projects to Mifumi since 2000.
- To find out more email MPS (Jersey) Uganda committee member Julien Morel at julienmorel@hotmail.com.
