MISSION TO UGANDA |
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For many years Father Expedit Sserunjogi
ministered to the Parish Community
of Holy Family ~ St. Thomas Aquinas Parish.
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NOW is the time
to show our gratitude
and support his
Mission in Uganda!!!
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"Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver."
2 Corinthians 9:7
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A Note from
Father Expedit |
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CHRISTMAS 2011 - Greetings from St. Mary's School
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the community of St. Mary’s school I warmly greet you all.
I hope you are doing well and have a very blessed Christmas. As I shared with you some time ago this year I have just celebrated 25 years serving in the priesthood. Because our life expectancy is shorter than yours, we celebrate 25 years in a big way. My family and my home parish (where I was born and baptized) made a thanksgiving celebration for me on November 12th, 2011 which was very enriching on my part in my priesthood. My bishop and about 70 priests and over 1000 people came honored the occasion with their presence. I want to share a few photos with you. Wishing all of you many blessing in the New Year!
 <- CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE PICTURES FROM THE JUBILEE CELEBRATION ->  |
Summer 2011 - Greetings from St. Mary's School
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the community of St. Mary’s school I warmly greet you all.
Appreciation:
I wish to express our sincere gratitude to each and everyone of you for the support you give to our school with your prayers and with the donations you give us. We extend our special thanks to you for the two projects you have helped us to put up in the school namely the house for two teachers and the latrine as we requested. Our goal for the two projects was $4,000 but you exceeded this amount when you were able to raise $5,550! I hesitate to mention names because I know that many people participated in one way or another in raising these funds. But please allow me to mention the young man Jonathan who had the inspiration for the Apple iPod raffle. Indeed it is risky to mention additional names because I know cannot mention all the people who support this mission because we know you all support us.
Challenges Encountered:
Definitely, with such a big donation we would have wanted to put up a bigger and better house than we have done but since the beginning of this academic year in January 2011 we have experienced some tough challenges that made us make a painful decision to use some of your donations meant for the projects ($1,557) to keep the school open and functioning .
The first challenge was the abrupt departure of three of our teachers including the head teacher complaining of low salaries ($60 a month). We had to move quickly to look for new teachers and to make a small raise in the salaries so that we do not lose more teachers. The salaries of teachers is the biggest challenge we have at the moment. Thanks to Fr. Jesus who gave us $400 that has enabled us to pay our teachers for the months of February and March.
Another challenge we have met is the fall of our enrollment at the beginning of this year. At the moment we have only 101 students down from 120. This has been caused by the serious economic crisis we are experiencing in Uganda. We had a very long dry season that has affected us greatly. All our parents and indeed most Ugandans are simple farmers. They depend on their small gardens for both food and some little income. Without rain they have no food and no money. This is why many children are out of school and those that have been brought back have either paid a little bit of the tuition or have not paid at all. Because we understand the situation of our parents we just have to be patient and pray for better times. The constantly rising prices of fuel have also made things more complicated as all commodities tend to go up with the fuel prices. This is how we ended up in this kind of situation at St. Mary’s but we have hope that with the rains we have started getting, things will get better.
Good News:
Our gardens have started giving us some products. At the end of last year we harvested 50 pounds of rice and 150 pounds of corn. We sold off the rice to assist me with the transport costs since I live 50 miles away from the school ( I teach in a seminary in the city) The maize flour from the corn is helping us with the teachers’ lunch. We have not yet been able to provide lunch for our students yet it is one of the things that attract the parents to a school.
On a personal note, this year I am celebrating my SILVER JUBILEE as a priest. Please join me to thank the Lord for allowing me to serve his people as a priest for twenty five years and for the things he has enabled me to do in his vineyard. Allow me to end this message by thanking the pastor Fr. Jesus Cuadros for the support he gives to this mission. I also thank you so much every one , may God bless your generous support of St. Mary’s School!
Fr. Expedit Sserunjogi
 < -- Click either image for more SUMMER UPDATE PICTURES -->
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April 2011 - Greetings from St. Mary's School
 Our students (click for larger image)
Our Students! (click for larger image)
Teacher with the students (click for larger image) ->
 <- Teacher's reviewing the student's work (click for larger image).
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Progress on Head Teacher's House... Alot of the materials were used from the original house to lower the costs. The new house has been enlarged so it can accommodate two teachers.
 <- Beginning to frame out the house. Click on all of the images for larger picture!
 <- A work in progress
Our teachers in front of the completed house! -> 
 < Teachers and Fr. Expedit infront of the new completed House!
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OCTOBER 2010 SCHOOL BACKGROUND INFORMATION
FROM FR. EXPEDIT
Location of the School -
St. Mary’s Primary Catholic School is located in a rural area in central Uganda, about eighty miles from the capital city of Kampala in the diocese of Lugazi. It serves a population of small peasant farmers whose monthly income is less than $30. The people depend on the crops from their gardens for food and the little money from some of their crops helps them to buy other essential needs like soap, salt, clothing and paraffin.
How the School Started -
The school was started in January 2008 by Fr. Expedit Sserunjogi. Fr. Expedit who also comes from this village had received a donation of $ 15,000 mainly from the parishioners of Holy Family St. Thomas Aquinas Church. With this donation Fr. Expedit was able to start a building of three classrooms and offices. Fortunately, he did not have to purchase land for the school as a piece of property had been donated to the church by one Christians of the area. A small church already existed on the land when the school was built. That church is still serving the village Catholic community alongside the school.
School Enrollment -
At the moment the school has 120 students in six grades. Several children from the village who were walking long distances to go to other schools before our school started came to St. Mary’s when we opened. That is how we ended up with six grades just after two years of existence. Consequently, the rooms that were supposed to be offices are now being used as classrooms.
Our Achievements so far -
At St. Mary’s we celebrate every little step taken towards realizing our dream of having a full primary school. The fact that our first block is being used to teach classes now was a major achievement for the community. The very first classes were taking place under the trees but now we have classrooms that protect us form the sun and the rain. Another major achievement was the purchase of 66 desks for the school which enables all students to sit down and learn comfortably.
In 2009 we were also able to purchase a bicycle for the school at $100. In the same year, were able to purchase a cell phone for the school.
In the beginning of 2010 we ventured to use some of the donations we received to start some projects that could generate some funds for the school and pay our teachers. In this effort we started a chicken project of 500 layers chicken, which originally looked very promising. Unfortunately, we had no good market for the eggs in the village. So, Fr. Expedit had to drive fifty miles from the city to the village to bring the eggs to the capital city every week. We saw that this was not worth doing on an ongoing basis.
Another area we have ventured into is farming. We have two banana plantations which have not started giving us any bananas because this is a long term project. But we hope that six months from now we will start selling some bananas from our plantations We have also grown corn, beans and rice, but our harvest for the corn and beans this year has not been so good due to the unpredictable weather. The rice will be harvested around December.
This year we have also been able to improve the road to our school from the main road.
All these achievements have been made with your generous donations and we will always be grateful.
NEXT ITEM(S) ON THE PROGRAM
At St. Mary’s we still have several challenges but at the moment we have two most pressing needs.
REBUILDING THE HEAD TEACHER’S HOUSE AT THE SCHOOL - We have a small old house at the school for the head teacher. This house has no windows; it was poorly built and is in very bad shape. We want to rebuild it, and use the same bricks to build a new one. Normally here in Uganda all teachers stay at the school in houses built by the school because we have no easy means of transport for them to commute daily. But at the moment we can only afford a house for the head teacher. The estimated costs or the repairs are as follows: PHASE ONE: Bringing down the old house and putting up a new one - $885. SECOND PHASE: Plastering, making the verandah and painting - $803. This estimate does not include the timber for the roof and the stones for the floor and the verandah because these items will be provided by the parents . The parents are very generous to our school.
 <---- Click on image to see our current Head Teacher's house.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE SCHOOL TOILET - Our equally pressing need at the moment is the need for the construction of a school toilet. Both teachers and students are using a simple temporary toilet we made at the beginning of the school but it is in very bad shape. In order to avoid any accidents and to separate boys and girls we need to locate the toilet in a more appropriate position. Additionally, we need to construct a permanent and decent pit latrine for our school community. The estimated costs for this latrine are as follows: PHASE ONE: Digging the pit latrine and constructing the building - $1,685. PHASE TWO: Constructing a brick small fence and concrete in front and behind the toilet - $360.
Click on Image to see our current School Latrine--> 
CONCLUSION
On behalf of the entire community at St. Mary’s church, Fr. Expedit would like to thank each and every one of you for the generous contributions you have always made since we started this school. Yes, we still have several challenges but we will tackle them one by one and with the Lord’s grace we will continue to move forward. Fr. Expedit would like to express his very sincere gratitude to Fr. Jesús who has given all his support to the Ugandan mission. Without this support nothing would be possible. Special gratitude also goes to our team of coordinators led by Edith Newman for their tireless efforts. The special efforts of the members of START are also greatly appreciated. Indeed all of you parishioners of St. Thomas Aquinas Holy Family church, thank you so much and the may the Lord keep you and bless you all.
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JULY 2010 UPDATE FROM FR. EXPEDIT
I greet you all dear friends of Holy Family and St. Thomas Aquinas Church. First of all I would like to thank you so much for the sacrifices you make to support our mission. Recently our government was working on a road near our school and church and I used the opportunity to ask them to do the road to our school because it was so bad. I gave them $250 and they did a good job on the road. I have attached the photos of the road before and after. I thank you and wish you many blessings!
 <- Click on images to see our new road->
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JUNE 2010 UPDATE FROM FR. EXPEDIT
I greet you all dear friends of Holy Family and St. Thomas Aquinas Church. First of all I would like to express our sincere gratitude to you all for your support to our school. I thank you in a special way for the donations you made on Palm Sunday through the purchase of the crosses made and sold by the youths of our parish. From these crosses you were able to give us $ 1,145 for which we are very grateful. In addition to this many of you donated to us through the CLOW rice bowls which raised $562. We thank you for your sacrifices and generosity. Allow me to thank MaryAnne and members of START and all those involved in special way for working so hard to make these donations possible. Let me also express my gratitude to the pastor Fr. Jesus Cuadros for supporting you as you support our school. Special thanks also go to Edith Newman who keeps the records and makes the transfer of funds from the US to Uganda, Thank you Edith!
As I informed you in my last update we decided to invest some of the donations in our projects so that we can also support ourselves and be able to grow food for our students’ lunch. I am glad to inform you that our poultry project is doing very well. Out of the 500 layers we have, we get an average of 400 eggs a day which gives us a profit of about $ 30 a week. We have a plan of expanding the projects with time.
The two acres of the banana plantations are doing well but of course we have to wait for a full year before we can start harvesting. We also have beans and corn which when harvested will be the food for our students and teachers and the chickens will use the maize brand as part of their food
However, we had a minor set back as our first head teacher left us suddenly at the beginning of the second semester which began on May 24, 2010. Thank God we have been able to get replacement and things are back to normal. We have a total of 150 students but as of now about 30 students have not yet reported because the parents have not yet been able to get the tuition for the semester.
With this update I am sending some photos mainly with regard to our projects.
Once again, I thank you for your love and support. May God bless you ALL!!
 <- Click on images to see new pictures from Uganda ->. 
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UPDATE FROM FATHER EXPEDIT IN UGANDA
March 2010
I greet you all dear friends of Holy Family and St. Thomas Aquinas Church
I thank you for all the support you give us to support our school here in Uganda.
On February 4, we opened our academic year 2010 with 153 students and 6 teachers. One of our goals this academic year is to have some self –help projects supplement the tuition and the donation we get mostly from you.
At the moment we have two major projects that we have started. One is a poultry project with 500 chickens for eggs. If all goes well in June we might start getting some eggs for sale. A second project we have begun is banana growing. So far we have 350 banana plants expected to start yielding in about one year’s time. Agriculture in our country is still a very risky business as we entirely depend on God’s mercy to give us rain at the right time. Without rain water is a big problem. In the photos you will see how we struggle to get a bit of water in the dry season. But thank God, right now we have rain.
Besides giving us income, we also use these projects to teach our children modern ways of farming using the local materials we have. Therefore, twice a week the students work in the projects to make a contribution as well as to learn what we do and why we do it.
We are very grateful to you all for your support which has enabled us to put up these projects. We pray that they give us what we expect out of them.
I wish you a very blessed Easter.
Fr. Expedit Sserunjogi
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<<-- Click to see -- >>
March 2010 Update Pictures
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A Note from
Father Expedit |
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GOOD NEWS FROM FATHER EXPEDIT IN UGANDA
September 2009
GOOD NEWS NUMBER ONE:
Our School Gets Desks.
Greetings to all of you from Uganda. I hope you had a good summer. I was told it was not as hot as it can be at times.
Here in Uganda our weather is always very good, yes, sometimes it gets hot but no humidity, this makes a big difference. One day, I know you will come to visit.
This time I am writing to share a lot of good news with you friends. First of all, with the donations you made during Lent and the Easter Season we have been able to buy desks for all our students in our school. All the students (150) can now sit comfortably and learn and even learn to write something that was impossible before we got the desks.
Thanks to Ms. Carmen Novas who offered the American doll that made a lot of money for and to all of you who bought the tickets. Again, we thank Carmen Novas who sold children’s clothes that raised more money ($ 490.69) from these proceeds we have been able to make 66 desks that are enough for us at the moment. In future, we may need more desks because the parents are bringing us a lot of children but we do not have enough classrooms to accommodate them. So, we send many of them away until we have more buildings. People love our schools because there is emphasis on religion and cleanliness and discipline. I am very strict on in those areas in our school, no compromise.
GOOD NEWS NUMBER TWO
Six Needy Parishes Received Mass Vestments from you.
I would like to thank the team that was headed by Mrs. Dora Hanrahan and Deacon John Flannery who collected the mass vestments and put them together to ship them to me. Then thanks also to Dora and her sister Fran who paid for the shipping to Uganda. Six parishes have benefited from this offer as each parish got two mass vestments.
GOOD NEW NUMBER THREE
Several Children Got Rosaries.
Many thanks go to the Rosary Society of St. Thomas Aquinas Church who took the trouble to make these rosaries and shipped them to Uganda. Several children from our school had the first share. But I also gave rosaries to some children in the church where I normally say mass on Sundays when I am at the seminary near the city. These children were getting ready for First Holy Communion. As usual I had to promise many children that they will get rosaries when we get more. Thanks to the members of the Rosary Society of St. Thomas Aquinas church under the leadership of Anna Moa for this offer. I told the children to pray for you always. They love to say the rosary, but what I have noticed is that all the Catholic children even those public schools here in Uganda are not afraid of wearing the rosaries they love them.
Pray for us and we shall pray for you as well. The faith is growing well here and you have played a big role in this growth. May God bless you all for your various contributions.
GOOD NEWS NUMBER FOUR
Fr. Expedit’ Book Has Been Published.
My PHD dissertation that I did at Fordham University was appreciated and the Lambert Academic Publishers in Köln Germany, looked for me to give them permission to publish it and sell it worldwide. When you see it please support by buying as some of the proceeds will help our school and part of it will support me personally since priests in Uganda have no other means of support provided.
The more the book sells the better for the school and for me. The book is called
“Implementing Universal Primary Education in Uganda. By Expedit Sserunjogi” (It is in English) NB: I am working on some other books in the field of education in Africa.
That is enough for this time. May God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Expedit |
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< ---- Click to see
We Thank God for our New Desks!!
:-)
Click to see
Parish Projects & Vestments ---> |
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<-- Click to see -- >>
Rosaries donated by
the St. Thomas Aquinas Rosary Society
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St. Mary's School
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A Note from
Father Expedit |
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JUNE 2009 LETTER FROM FATHER EXPEDIT
A BIG THANK YOU FROM UGANDA
Dear Friends,
I greet you all on behalf of my community here in Uganda.
I convey my condolences to Fr. Jesus Cuadros who lost both of his parents and all those who have lost loved ones. I also thank you for all your prayers for my mother who passed away in March. We pray that they may all join the risen Lord in heaven.
Allow me to express our sincere gratitude to you all for the donations you gave for our school during Lent and the Easter time. I thank the members of START for their sale of crosses and pretzels that raised $ 1,037.00. We are grateful to Suzanne Simonetti who made the pretzels and of course all those who bought them. Special thanks also go to the children of the liturgy of the word and their teachers who raised $ 682 from the mite boxes. We thank Mary Gallegos who made a very special contribution to this donation with her beautiful letter.
In addition to these donations we also received contributions from individuals that totaled $ 1,365.00. Together with these donors I also thank those who have been supporting us at various times.
I am glad to inform you that with these donations we have been able to put in all the windows and doors as well as to work on the floors. Our school looks so different and the students are already using it despite being incomplete. Our next phase is the external and internal plastering as well as the ceiling finish.
We are very grateful for the sacrifices you make to help us despite the difficult economic situation. Allow me to conclude by thanking the people who work as bridges between you and me as far as this project is concerned. These include Fr. Jesus Cuadros, Ms. Edith Newman, Mrs. MaryAnne Walsh, Mrs. Dorothy Negron and Mrs. Dora Hanrahan. I thank them for their time and effort.
May the Good Lord continue to bless you all.
Fr. Expedit Sserunjogi |
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----> Click to see
Updated pictures on the progress |
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<------Click to see
in building the new school.
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A Note from
Father Expedit |
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Dear Friends,
Greetings to you all! It has been awhile since I sent you a message but you are in my prayers. Congratulations to all those who have been blessed in one way or another and condolences to those who have lost loved ones. Thank you for your letters, cards and e-mails to me and special thanks for the donations in support of the work we do here in Uganda. Allow me to send special thanks to the young people of St. Thomas Aquinas Rising Teens (S.T.A.R.T.) and their animator, MaryAnne for the donation of $770. This donation enabled one of our high schools to buy a public address system which we use in our liturgical functions. I also thank the other group led by Mrs. Carmen de Jesús and all the individual donors who have supported me with their gifts. Thank you for all your sacrifices. With regard to the health clinic project, we have decided to change the project into an elementary school. We have reached this decision with my community and my Bishop after realizing that our government is choosing a location that takes this project from my community for which it was granted in the first place. The clinic has to be approved by the government because in the long run we would need their support to get the medications for the clinic. In our case, the government would not approve us unless we agreed with their location, which would be out of my community! We have therefore decided to use your donations to build an elementary school, which is also one of the needs of my community. This does not require the approval of the government. Because of the limited funds we have in our account at the present time, ($16,000), we have decided to begin with the construction of three classrooms and an office. We will extend the building as more funds become available. The entire school of seven classrooms and an office would require $40,000. I will keep you updated as we go along. God bless you!
Fr. Expedit |
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The Elementary School Project |
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Please click image for larger picture |
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<- Current Classrooms - > |
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<- Our Students-> |
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Our future school |
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Fr. Expedit Sserunjogi
St. Mbaaga's Seminary Ggaba
P.O. Box 4165
Kampala - Uganda
e-mail - sserunjogim@aol.com
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