Thursday, December 15, 2011

2012 Projects and Program Fees

How do you choose to make a difference in 2012?

School Fees
• Vocational Training Center (VTC) fees are $10 per month or $100 per year per student. We currently expect 18 students at our VTC in Kiruhura and 10 students at our VTC Kabale. Most students have completed the 7th grade with ages ranging from 15 to 25 years old.
• Primary grades 1-7 school fees are $100 per term (spring, summer and fall) or $300 per year. We need assistance for Justine, Joshuah, Shalome, Bridgette, Kasheja and Bruce.
• Secondary grades 1-4 school fees are $125, per term (spring, summer and fall) or $375 per year. Secondary grades 5-6 are $150 per term (spring, summer and fall) l) or $450 per year. We are currently looking for assistance for Idah, Isaac, Fortunate, Emanuel, Innocent, and Phionah.
• College student attend two semesters per year. Tuition, fees, books are $1,500 per Semester or $3,000 per year ($250 per month). We are currently looking for sponsors for Lilian (she wants to be a mechanical engineer). Lilian has been accepted to Makerere University. Her twin brother Laban wants to be a doctor – a six year program in Uganda. He has been accepted to Makerere University medical school program.
Building projects
• We are planning to assist 14 churches in Western Kenya near Mt. Elgon to complete or rebuild their main building at a cost of about $4,000 per building with Mark Ndinyo.
To qualify for our assistance the need to comply with the following:
• The Church is required to own the property.
• The Church will be a repository for local orphans and assistance will be rendered as needed
• The Church will provide volunteers (men and women) to assist us in the building process. Our job is to supply the materials – cement, bricks, windows, doors roof timbers and iron sheets plus contract with local skilled mason and carpenters.
• A sign will be affixed to and remain on the building showing our organization and the donor(s) name and city in the USA.

Farming and Forestry project

• We are moving forward with our larger animal projects. Each new female sheep cost us $50 – we now have 6. Each castrated bull calf costs us $160 – we now have 12. Each cow now costs us $350 – we now have 6.
• We will continue to move forward with our forestry project and will plant as many seedlings as possible (200+) on each trip. We planted 2000 in December of 2010 and 200 in 2011. Some of the trees planted December 2011 are now over 6 feet tall. Seedlings are costing us $60 per 100. Citrus seedlings are $3 each.

Make your tax deductible donation to – John Skeel Missionary Foundation, 101 Cherry Ave,
Winona Lake, IN 46590. A receipt will be sent to you for your contribution.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Come take a look at our current projects for 2012

We have students in need of tuition assistance for 2012.  Please click here to find their pictures and other information.  We hope you will consider sponsoring a child for the 2012 school year.

CLICK HERE to see the 2012 projects!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

After Action Report for Spring Trip – 15 February to 15 May 2011

May 1, 2011

Accomplishments:

• Student Assistance Program
• Christine has finished her three years of computer classes at APTEC.
• Joyce is in her final semester of a BBA degree program in business from Kyambogo University and is working for a telecommunications Company
• Louise is completing her final semester of computer classes at APTEC and is now employed with Security Services – similar to our Wells Fargo.
• We are helping five children with school fees at the senior level – S1 to S6.
• We are helping five children with school fees at the primary level – P1 to P7.
• Lilian and Laban have been accepted at Michigan State University for this fall. They recently completed S6 at Makerere University High School. Now we have to find first year school fees for both of them - $42,000 each.
• Vocational Training Program
• We have 16 students enrolled and attending our sewing/tailoring classes. We are running two four-month classes this year.
• We have completed the second classroom and expect the construction /carpentry class to resume in August with 6 students (already registered).
• We have initiated a two-month summer program where our students can work on various farm projects in order to earn school fees for this fall.
• School fees for the fall have been raised to $5 per week for 16 weeks per term. That fee will allow us to have one teacher for every 10 students.
• Foster Home. We assist Michael and Patience of Kabale in running a foster home by paying school fees for three of the children. They run a Vocational Training program similar to ours where they have 10 students in their sewing/tailoring class. Also, Patience runs a Saturday morning Bible study and leads a choir of 25 children.
• Experimental Farming and Forestry Program
• Trees. Nine of the 20 trees planted a year ago are still alive. Of the 2000 cypress trees planted in December of 2010, 1500 have survived – some are already over 3 feet tall. In March 2011, we planted another 20 Musizi and 5 orange trees. Justice is now in charge of daily weeding, fertilizing and watering.
• Animals. We purchased 4 calves that are about 3 months old that we castrated. We purchased 3 sheep – Emma is pregnant with twins, Olivia has a beautiful black mask, and Louise is the only all white sheep. Plans are in progress to construct a 12’ X 12’ chicken house. We will start with 100 chicks in the fall. Eggs sell for 25 cents each.
• Land. We cleared over 10 acres of the 150 acre project farm. This eliminated plants that are competing for water. The water is needed for the grass that feed the cows (26), goats (80), and sheep (3).
• Water. We are working on enlarging our water tanks that provide drinking water for the animals. The water tanks that we use for drinking, cooking and bathing consist of one 10,000 liter and one 20,000 liter. Since the rainy season has begun, we have been blessed with full tanks.
• Servants of the King (SOK). For the past ten years Kemper Crabb and I have been working with Peter Isabirye, a native of Iganga, Uganda. To date, we have built, rebuilt, or completely renovated 800 Christian Churches in Uganda and Kenya, as well as numerous schools and orphanages.
• This trip Kemper and I inaugurated and dedicated 15 new churches. We also visited another 19 church sites who are requesting a grant or our assistance.
• I left Kemper with Peter to spent four days by myself in a remote area of western Kenya with Mark Ndinyo, a local pastor who currently has a working agreement with us. We visited 14 rural, small churches that meet our criteria and have formally requested assistance from SOK in building/
rebuilding their church sanctuary. One of the churches we visited also has a church primary school with 325 students. Much to my surprise and delight, 50 of the students were able to recite the Ten Commandments.
• Last but not least, Kintantalo Presbyterian Church near the town of Palisa has been completely renovated by us inside and out (in memory of my good friend of 50+ years, Douglas Riddiough). Additionally, we are in the process of adding a three-room school house to the rear of the church building. We delivered two of twenty new school benches to be used by some of the 125 students. At the dedication of the new sanctuary, we enjoyed wonderful music by their school choir. Twenty-five students recited the Ten Commandments and the 23rd Psalm from memory. What a blessing to be in their midst.
• Hand in Hand – an NGO in Mukono.
• I met with Age Bjerkeand from Gran, Norway on my last day in Uganda. He is the director and founder of Hand in Hand. Age is a personal friend of my second cousin, Anne Marie Havattum, on my mother’s side of the family. He has been in Uganda with his NGO for 21 years. It was fun to compare notes on our mutual challenges, successes, and failures. I hope to be able to partner with his organization during a future visit to Uganda.

Thank you all for your prayers and continued financial support.

John Skeel

John Skeel, Director

JOHN SKEEL MISSIONARY FOUNDATION
101 Cherry Avenue
Winona Lake, Indiana 46590-1607

"But when he saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd."  -Matthew 9:36

Thursday, February 10, 2011

John Skeel Missionary Foundation, Our Budget Plan for 2011


The John Skeel Missionary Foundation (JSMF) is a non-denominational Christian organization. JSMF stated purpose is to promote self development by providing local teachers for vocational training and adult literacy classes. These classes will be primarily taught in remote rural areas of Uganda at low or no cost to attendees. Our plan includes being a "green" corporation by having JSF plant a minimum of 1,000 musizi trees each year on our own land or land adjacent to churches built by Servants of the King (over 400 of them have been built to date in Uganda). These trees will be suitable for timber in approximately 10 years. This project alone should produce enough income so our classes can eventually be self funded. Our basic philosophy is to give people the skills for self development and not just a hand out that might be gone in a week or two.

(To read our vision and mission statements, please click here.)

Our plans for 2011:

1. Two trips to Uganda
a. First trip – 15 February 2011 leave for Kampala, Uganda; return to USA 16 April 2011.
b. Second trip – leave 10 September 2011; return 10 November 2011

2. Continue to work with Servants of the King building churches and schools in Uganda and western Tanzania (14 churches planned in Kenya alone). We still are on schedule to complete/dedicate one church a week. I will be working with my good friend, Kemper Crabb (78 years old).

3. John Skeel Missionary foundation has three core programs;
a. Tuition assistance for needy children and young adults – estimated expenditure is $5,000.
b. Continue to develop Vocational schools in Kiruhura and Kabale. Construct two three room school buildings: the first one is located within a Presbyterian church in Palisa district where there are approximately 125 students using the church to go to grades P-1 to P- 5. The second three room school building is located on our leased land in Kiruhura. Estimated expenditure is $5,000 for the school building in Palisa and $10,000 for the three room school room already started in Kiruhura. We will continue to lease space in Kabale for our sewing classes for about $500 a year.
c. The third program is our Forestry and Farming program that we run on approximately 500 acres in Kiruhura. This year I want to plant another 2-5000 trees (last year we planted 2000 cypress trees). I also want to add to are farm animal program – sheep, turkeys, rabbits and castrated bull caves (we already have 20 chickens, 30 cows and 40+ goats). Estimated expenditure for this program is $3,500.
d. Total planned budget excluding my travel and fund raising expenses (currently - $3,500 for each trip X 2 = $7,000 + $1,000 for fund raising in the US (postage, fuel and motel costs).
= $8,000 and is NOT included in the budget.

· Total for three programs for 2011 is estimated to be $24,000.


Submitted by: John Skeel, Director
Date of this report: January 20, 2011