The Mayor of Ross-on-Wye, Councillor Harry Bramer welcomed the visitors from Uganda to the Council Chambers on Friday, June 8th. Over coffee and cake they shared information about how life has changed in Uganda since the first visits by students and staff at John Kyrle High School.

Cllr Bramer, who has never visited Uganda, but knows a lot about Costa Rica due to his involvement in a sloth sanctuary, discussed how new technology is making the local people more aware of the outside world.

Irene, the Headteacher at Kisiki College said that solar power and mobile phones had a huge impact on Namatumba. She said: “We missed out on the landline but went straight to mobile phones.”

The Mayor of Namatumba had written a letter to the Mayor of Ross-on-Wye and said he would be very welcome if he wanted to visit, which Cllr Bramer said he would love to do.

Gareth Hughes explained that the cost of air travel made it very difficult for the students and teachers from Kisiki to travel to England. The group from John Kyrle contribute to the fares of the group from Kisiki but it would be too expensive to include a group of students. If the Mayor of Ross did make the journey it would be at his own expense, as it is for all those from Ross.