Belinda Macdonald -The Uphill Trust

THE UPHILL TRUST: SUPPORTING EDUCATION IN UGANDA

It’s a funny old world where coincidence can drive extraordinary events. At the meeting of the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club, Belinda McDonald illustrated this with her story of the events leading up to the foundation of the Uphill Trust.

In October 2012, her husband Niall “Max” McDonald was arrested in Uganda while exploring his family’s roots in the country.  His father had been a policeman before Uganda declared independence, and Max was taking a picture of his father’s former police station when he was arrested – police are very security conscious and don’t like pictures being taken of their buildings.  However, after explaining the circumstances, and apologizing, Max was freed.  His “captor”, Patrick, was keen that Max should meet his cousin Elius who runs a school in rural Uganda.  On a following trip, in 2013, Max met Elius and visited the school. He was inspired both by the children and by the struggle Elius faced developing a school on rented land with very little funding.

The school at that time amounted to the walls of a pair of wooden buildings divided into five rooms, one building partly roofed in corrugated iron over the two useable classrooms. There were no doors or windows, and the floors were just bare ground.  There were a few sets of desks and benches, not nearly enough, and three blackboards.  The playground was unlevelled grass with two truck tyres available for play equipment.

By the time Max took his wife Belinda to visit the school in 2014, both regular and lump sum contributions were being made by the McDonald family members, by other well-wishers and by community groups in the UK.  In the light of this generosity, the decision was made to set up The Uphill Trust to formalise and extend the fundraising needed to help this excellent little school to deliver reliable, high quality education to the children in this rural location. The Uphill Trust was duly founded in January 2015 to support the work of the School.

Belinda reported “what has been achieved by the charity in just a short period is remarkable.  It has paid for the roof to be finished, and money donated by the Dollar Academy Charities Committee bought the classroom furniture, and also paid for the weather-proof paint that has both protected and greatly enhanced the school”. 

By March 2015, the school roll increased to 182 with 10 staff with teaching responsibilities being paid according to their qualification level.  Cash for staff salaries, as well as for building and equipping the school, depends to an extent on the success of collecting fees from the children’s families.  The current tariff is around £5/term for children with two parents and less than £2 for single parent families.  This doesn’t seem like much, but these amounts can be beyond the means of some families when their crops are not doing well.  As a consequence of the devastating effects of HIV/Aids, a significant number of the children who attend the school are orphans who do not pay any fees.

Belinda showed examples of some attractive locally sourced craft jewellery which she had brought along to sell.  Club members saw this as an opportunity to support the Trust, together with a chance for some early Christmas shopping.

Speaker’s Host, Paddy Holmes, thanked Belinda for an inspiring and uplifting presentation.  So much has been achieved by the Trust in a comparatively short time, with obvious benefit to the children and the wider community.  

More information on the Trust can be found on its website: www.uphilltrust.uk