West Sussex Scouts plan school project in Uganda

The group, which is made up of 23 young people aged 15 to 21 and six leaders, will be working at a rural primary school in Mubende for ten days. The first main fundraising event will be a Cycle to Uganda 48-hour challenge in September. Contingent leader Holly Watson, Explorer Scout commissioner for Mid Sussex Scouts, said: “We are trying to raise £5,000-plus to build a kitchen and water bore hole at a rural primary school in Mubende, Uganda. “We are desperately trying to gain sponsorship for the Cycle to Uganda challenge. We need to cycle 6000-plus miles in 48 hours, that’s over 215 miles between the 29 of us. “This is no easy challenge but the rewards to make a difference to 200 primary school children in Uganda will be worth it.” The school caters for more than 200 children and its only kitchen is a half-built shack made with eight poles and sheet iron on top, all open to the elements. There are no preparation surfaces and one cook spends all day there, cooking the children’s one meal of the day. The water bore hole is not secure or not deep enough, so dirty contaminated water goes through. This is the only source of fresh water for the village. Holly added: “We want to build a brick structured kitchen with clean preparation surfaces and a safe cooking area, as well as re-digging the bore hole so it reaches clean water and secure it to make it safe.” The contingent needs to raise £1,700 each to cover travel fees and more than £7,500 for the project work. The team, led by Holly Watson, includes:- Adur Valley Explorers Kayleigh Parsons and Matthew Thurgar with leaders James Cox and Peter Betts. Burgess Hill Explorer Oliver Read and Beavers leader Leanne Penfold Hassocks Explorers Amy Jerrey, Keiran Berry and Richard Bliss with leader Mark Hutchinson. Hurstpierpoint Explorers George Disney and Oli Huggett. Lindfield Explorers Alexander Cray, Bridget Calthrop, Ellie Cawley, Will Tampion-Lacey, Hannah Cawley, Jamie Clack, Joshua Morrison, Liv Martin, Maria Watt, Michael Hill and Niamh Linguard. Mid Sussex Network members Sam Mitchell and Emily Willis. Worthing Explorer Aidan Gowing, Network member Sam Rippon and Beavers leader Zoe Chartres. Each team member has started their own fundraising to run alongside the main contingent fundraising events. Cycle to Uganda will be held at Linear Fitness, Borde Hill Gardens, Haywards Heath, and at the Orchards Shopping Centre in Haywards Heath from Friday, September 16, at 6pm to Sunday, September 18, at 6pm. The challenge is to row and cycle the distance from England to Uganda, a total of 6,219 miles in 48 hours. Email uganda2017@homail.com or visit www.midsussexdistrictscouts.com for more information. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1 – Make our website your homepage 2 – Like our Facebook pages 3 – Follow us on Twitter 4 – Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out! Sussex Newspapers – always the first with your local news. Be part of it.