Message from Ester

I have been busy busy busy in my US life since I've returned from Uganda. Although I am not able to actively campaign for support as much as I would like to, there is rarely a moment I am not thinking about my beautiful babies working hard at school on the otherside of the world. In fact, one of the most exciting parts of my days are any time I have the opportunity to tell people about my time in Uganda and my plans to return in the spring. With all of the hecticness of my day to day life I finally got the opportunity to sit down and write to Ester, Humble's head mistress. I was excited when she replied and I would like to share that message with you now,

Hello Judith,

Apologies for delaying to respond to your mail. I have been quite busy with processing Visas for thye scouts team that will be coming to Atlanta in June, and also organising for the Annual conference that ended a few days back. Am so delighted that you are still thinking about coming back to HUMBLE next Feb. We shall keep you in prayer and thanks for sharing your blog with us. I will share thais with the kids and staff at school. I hope it helps out on the students who do not have a chance yet to join secondary school.

We love you Judy and regards to your friends and family.

Esther

I know how much of a privilege it is for all of them to visit the states. Many of the children will tell you they love hot dogs, pizza or hamburgers ( horrible choice health wise but I'll over look that for the time being). Please keep the scouts traveling and their amazing scout leader Mohammed in your thoughts and wish them a safe and swift journey to america.  

This is one of my favorite pictures! The scout leader and one of the boys taking time to have some fun!

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

As I watch this amazing man who was certainly taken from the lives of his children and students too soon, I am reminded of the need to never stop dreaming and never stop doing!

I recommend that everyone watch this video it is an hour and 45 minutes well spent, and time I like to personally take out at least every few months! For you readers out there I would laso highly encourage the book, and I hope to share this speech with some of the children at Humble when I return in 2013.

Here are a few memorable quotes the never fail to give me goosebumps!

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” 


“The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. Time is all you have and may find one day you have less than you think” 


“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” 

And a few on dreams, but before I list them I would like to take a brief moment to talk about my dream. My dream is to get back to Humble, get back to the place where I felt home from the minute I set foot inside those gates and to bring as much joy and education I can to every child I encounter in my time there. I feel privileged to be able to share those dreams with you, and I cannot wait to watch those dreams come to fruition. 

“It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to lead your life, ... If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.” 

“Its important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear.” 

“Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids' dreams too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes."

We've passed our P7 exams...now what?

Since the opening of Humble in 2004 the money sent to the school has gone to not only running the school on a daily basis for those who attend Humble as a day school as well as those who board there about 9 months out of the year, but also to help to alleviate the costs of secondary school for students who pass their P7 exams. While the school is typically running in the red, every year there has been enough money left to pay for the school fees for the Humble graduates. As humble grows the number of students leaving Humble increases, and while this is a fantastic accomplishment it also means that there are more students ready for secondary school but not more money. Sadly 2012 was the first year since opening its doors that Humble was not able to pay for the tuition of all of its graduates. It costs approximately $1500 US dollars a year for a student to go to secondary school. The children who did not receive sponsorship were asked to write letters about what they are doing now. I am having some trouble getting all of the letters up, but in the meantime here are just a few.