rejoicing with csb

Christ School Bundibugyo is a gem that has the focus of God’s heart and is the center of our hope for what God is doing in Bundibugyo. The Old Boys and Old Girls (alumni) have been particularly encouraging to me these past few months...

We just promoted one of the Old Boys, Francis Katuramu, to be our Deputy of Administration at the school. He grew up through CSB, went off to get a degree and returned to be a teacher. He has shown a heart of service and integrity and works tirelessly to help Edward run the school.

Sunday Godfrey is a son of one of the Bible Translators and has recently returned to the district as well. He has started a small NGO called Bundibugyo Hand of Hope (BuHaHo). We have sat together several times discussing how to help the poor, the orphans and those with HIV. Amy recently went with Godfrey and his wife to a village way up into the mountain to share clothes and the Gospel.

John is another graduate who 3 years ago started a primary school in a village that did not have a school with a regular teacher. The school is now thriving with over 100 students and 7 teachers.

Isaiah graduated last December and is someone who with a deep heart of compassion. He had great grades and is hoping to go to nursing school to use medicine to love people for Jesus. He will not start until next September. In the meantime, Isaiah is working with Edward at the school helping develop a discipleship curriculum and me in the health center translating for the patients and learning medicine. He is great to have around.

Christ School is one of the ministries that is such a huge dream and requires so many resources to run, it feels it is always a small step from falling part. Yet, after 15 years it is still here and growing. 2011 was a year of huge transition for Christ School with it being my first full year as CSB Chairman, Edward’s first year as Head Teacher and we had 10 new teachers to replace the ones that left in 2010. I was very fearful of how the year would end and how the students would perform. It was a rocky start, but the year ended well and through Edward’s leadership, the focus of the school was brought back to mentoring students “to be servant leaders for the good of Bundibugyo and God’s glory,” and not just performers for National school exams. Though this is most important, I still fretted about how the students would perform on the exams. In Uganda, acceptance into post-secondary school is completely reliant upon exam scores. If you are not in the top 20% of the nation, you do not go to university. With the new teachers and Edward and I just learning how to run a school, my expectations were low.

But today we are rejoicing as we received our students’ scores! We had the best scores ever in the history of Christ School Bundibugyo! Out of 57 students, 39 (68%) qualified to go to university! We also had 11 students achieve the highest division, which may qualify them for a scholarship (important for children in our impoverished area). Of all tests, we had a 92% pass rate and no overall failures- 100% graduation rate! What an achievement as several of the students who were high achievers had been admitted from primary schools where they were barely literate. What a tribute to the excellence of their teachers and the students' hard work.

I am floored, overwhelmed and thankful. Edward and I commented to each other that we cannot take any credit for this. It is a true story of God’s faithfulness to us, our school and our students!