So far, most donations to NOTDEC UK have come from private individuals or, in a few cases, from the small businesses they run. At last, we have a chance to get some dosh from big business...

from Benefact Group plc no less.

• Benefact own Ecclesiastical Insurance.
• Their charitable arm, Movement for Good, makes them the UK’s third largest corporate charity donor. 
• Beween 2014 and 2025 they have a target to give away £250M.  NOTDEC UK can help them there!

NOMINATE NOTDEC UK TO GIVE US A CHANCE

Over each of 12 days this Christmas, Benefact will select 10 charities at random from the nominations they receive, and send the 120 charities chosen a cheque for £1,000. 

The more nominations a charity has, the better their chance of getting a £1,000 cheque.

So naturally we'd like as many people as possible to nominate NOTDEC UK - giving us the maximum possible chance in the draws.

You can nominate us simply on line:

• Just click on the Benefact logo above (or in our email if you've had one)
• Then fill in your details. (only 1 nomination per email address)
• (No need to tick to receive info unless you actually want it!)
• The more the merrier - why not get other family members to nominate us too?.

You will then receive an email confirming receipt of your nomination.

(Depending on the time of day, this may take some time.)

Thank you for reading this.  Now, please GET NOMINATING! 

And have a very happy Christmas.
 

NOTDEC UK TRUSTEES

NOTDEC's nearest town - Kasese - has been hit by serious floods.

To read about the effects on children and staff - and other NOTDEC news - click the link below.

Newsletter 241010: CRISIS NEWS (1.18 MB)

Read about the best of times and the worst of times at NOTDEC by clicking below.

Newsletter 240406: NOTDEC NOW (1.52 MB)

Trustee Mark Shaw says it's all change at NOTDEC - both in Uganda and here in the UK!

Read all about it - or just look at the pictures - by clicking below.

Newsletter 231024: NOTDEC News (1.46 MB)

NOTDEC’S PICKUP IS "KNACKERED!"

Bought new in May 2014, it’s been averaging 70 miles a day ever since!  It’s now done 230,000 miles –  on bone-shaking Ugandan roads.  So we ’ve been advised to replace it before it falls apart or needs eye-wateringly expensive repairs!

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

Initially, we centralised operations in our purpose-built “orphanage village” at Kabirizi.  Most under 6s still live there.   But the Ugandan Government then insisted that older kids go to live with any extended family willing and able to care for them – even if they ’re miles away!  And NOTDEC must check their well-being regularly.  So we now have a team of social workers with boda-bodas (motorbikes) and a Pickup.  Monitoring children scattered over a wide area inevitably means high mileages.

WHAT’S IN A PICKUP?

The Pickup is our LOVE– on wheels!  With it, we do whatever it takes to give a life to each of the 160+ children now in our care. But love is easily overlooked.  With the Pickup, we ’ve done LOTS of things we’re hugely proud of – and we have the photos to prove it.  But few of the pictures actually show the Pickup! 

A PICKUP BY ANY OTHER NAME …

THE “KIDDY CARRIER”

We've fitted the Pickup with removable benches and a cover to keep rear passengers out of sun and dust. 

Here it ’s taking ridiculous numbers of kids to a local Sunday School event, and doing the twice-daily school run.  The Pickup was also used to go shopping for the school uniforms, bags and shoes.

RED CROSS PARCELS VAN

During COVID food shortages, and funded by our Food Aid Appeal, the Pickup delivered maize flour, beans, cassava flour & cooking oil to every family housing a NOTDEC child. Further loads were provided later to those still needing help. 

They may no longer live on-site at NOTDEC, but we still have their backs.

BOB THE BUILDER'S TRUCK

Many NOTDEC children’ s families have very basic housing – some so poor that our social workers insist on improvements before the child moves in.  Upgrades have included new toilets, extra bedrooms, a partial rebuild, and even two whole new houses - all done by our construction team.  Day after day  the Pickup ferries them, their ladders, building materials and tools to wherever the family lives - until the job is done.

[The Pickup in front of Eldad' s new house was added in Photoshop!]

REMOVALS VAN

When children go to live with family, we don’t just dump them at the door.  We deliver their belongings and new bedding – bed, mattress, waterproof, mosquito net and cotton sheets.  Here we were delivering replacement items to several kids in one trip.  And when NOTDEC founder, Mama Dorothy retired, the Pickup took her - bed and all - to her new home.

IGA COURIER SERVICE

Some NOTDEC families have very low incomes, and are very vulnerable to down-turns, COVID etc.  So we fund and facilitate their small business enterprises – in IGAs (“Income Generating Activities”) like goat-rearing, trading in clothing, and tailoring. By boda-boda, we can’t easily deliver pregnant goats, bailed clothing, or a sewing machine. But with the Pickup we can provide a full-blown small business courier service!

WITHOUT A PICKUP  NOTDEC WOULD GRIND TO A HALT

(AS THE OLD ONE MAY VERY SOON DO!)

WHAT A NEW PICKUP WILL COST

• New Toyota Hilux 2.4 GD Country Single Cab 6-MT 4x4               £34,000
• First Service                                                                                                     £1,000
• Removable frame & seating                                                                       £2,000 (e)
• Removable cover                                                                                            £1,000 (e)
• TOTAL                                                                                                             £38,000

   (e) = estimate. Fixed prices only with a firm order.

SO £38,000  ... 

PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN THEN

If you 'd like to help us buy a NEW Pickup please tap ...

SMALL PRINT

Capital items are expensive, so NOTDEC has applied to various Charitable Trusts etc for grants.  The outcome of such applications is unpredictable.  Should the total raised by this appeal exceed the total stated above, any excess  will be spent on the acquisition, maintenance and/or servicing of NOTDEC vehicles and/or on any other urgent needs identified by the Trustees within  NOTDEC UK's charitable objects. All grants & donations are accepted on this understanding only.

WELL NEEDED!     ***APPEAL NOW CLOSED    THANK YOU!***

NOTDEC saves the lives of tiny babies in Western Uganda – many, new-borns whose mums die in childbirth.

Tots too young to live with relatives are cared for at our Kabirizi Children ’s Centre. 

Kabirizi is dry - and thirsty!  It uses 10,000 litres of water/day – for drinking, cooking, bathing, laundry and everything needed by 60+ toddlers and their carers PLUS the office/support staff who oversee older kids now living with family. A little is also used on the farm (+ recycled water) to water young plants.

Right now, water has to be hauled by tractor from the river - a round trip of 8 km every day. Last year that cost £5,000 in fuel, servicing and tyres. When full, the bowser weighs 12 tons, so tyres don’t last long. Add on staff time (4 man-hours/day), depreciation of the tractor and bowser and you'll see that hauling water is costing a small fortune. 

And in the rainy season,  with the river in spate, the water is full of muck – wholly unsutable for bathing babies let alone drinking!  So hauling in water is not a cheap, clean, “green” or robust solution.

WELL PLANNED!

With God’s help & your support, we ’d like to give NOTDEC a better water supply.

Our solution – all on NOTDEC land – is boring!   We want to bore a well.

For this, we will need:

• the borehole, a pump and a solar panel to power it
• a brick compound  to protect the Installation (deterring elephants and making it much harder for anyone to steal the solar panel)
• a 1.5 metre deep trench taking the pipe from the borehole to our water tanks 

Cost Breakdown:

• Drilling borehole                  £7,000
• Pump & solar panels           £5,000
• Site work                                £3,000

TOTAL                                            £15,000

WELL BETTER?

After drilling in 2010 we were told there was no water under NOTDEC land.  So what has changed?

In 2010, hydro-geological surveying was not available in Uganda. Drilling was guesswork:  our advisors tried in 3 places and found only granite.  Now, hydro-geological surveys have reached Uganda.

In May 2023 we commissioned a hydro-geological survey – sounding every 11 metres, and covering all NOTDEC’s 30 acres down to a depth of 200 metres.

Almost all our charts were red/orange/yellow, indicating granite and other impervious rock. 

However, in one small area of 5 metres diameter the chart (left) showed a fault-line in the rock and a sweet spot with water.  There, 3 flows meet, making water highly likely. Water was detected at 30 metres and below (blue & green in the chart). 

For NOTDEC, this is a breakthrough.

We’ve been advised to drill to 120 metres, where there should be water even in the dry season. Yields might be 1,500 - 5,000 litres/hour (meaning pumping 2-6 hours/day.)

How Do We Know it Will Work?

A neighbour 2 km away recently had a hydro-geological survey and then drilled a 100 metre borehole based on its findings. 

He can get 2-3,000 litres/hour – though when we met him he still had no tank to put it in!

Coupled with our own exciting site survey findings, this is as close to a guarantee as we are ever likely to get.  But until we actually drill, an element of risk will always remain.

WELL ... GO ON THEN!

If you would like to help us give NOTDEC's kids (and the support staff!) a water supply that is

• cheaper,
• cleaner,
• greener,
• and more reliable

 please "tap" here!   

And, if you can, please Gift Aid your donation.

ALL REQUIRED FUNDS WERE RAISED VIA ST PAUL'S GIFT DAY

Many thanks for your support. 

Janet Johnston              

There will be an Information & Prayer Evening on Monday 26th June 2023 at 7:30 PM.

Here is the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87031683524?pwd=ODdIYTNxOHhVQkQ3NHMzaklYT3UvZz09

[Click on the link to activate it.  Any problem, then copy the link and paste it into your browser.]

In late April – May 2023, three trustees and two volunteers visited NOTDEC Uganda. 

See here what they saw.  And read what happened there.

Newsletter 230605: NOTDEC in Pictures (1.83MB)

Pondering recent achievements, current challenges, and future opportunities, Trustee Janet Johnston puts NOTDEC in a nutshell.  

Read her Newsletter for the essence of NOTDEC now.

Newsletter 230213: Changing Lives (1.25 MB)

Newly returned from NOTDEC Uganda,  intrepid explorers Jonathan Tidd and Mark Wardle report back to you. Read what they did, and saw – and what they thought about it all.

Open the original Newsletter below to read their full report,

Newsletter 220612: Two "Hats-Off" Reviews (1.85 MB)