Online multisport and cycling retailer Chain Reaction Cycles (CRC) is supporting the Fields of Life charitable initiative in Uganda, Africa, as part of the company’s ever-increasing social responsibility programme. Spearheaded by CRC’s Head of Strategic and Financial Management Maurice Donaldson, CRC is partnering directly with the Fields of Life organisation, which has been working in Uganda since 1995.
Fields of Life undertakes initiatives such as building schools, drilling boreholes (wells) and providing health education and income generating projects in some of the poorest areas of East Africa.
Over 100 boreholes have been established and over 100 schools have already been built, with CRC recently donating £75,000 towards the drilling of a well and the construction of a new school, St Marg Lex School, in the northern town of Kwera due for completion later this year.
From boreholes to bikes
Money is only a small part of the Fields of Life equation, and the new CRC-funded well and school will go towards helping a community out of the ‘cycle of deprivation and onward to self-sustainability’. Aside from educating a new generation of young children, the new school building will be used for training in practical skills such as bike repair and maintenance, as well as business workshops in order that these businesses can run sustainably – providing the community with a source of dignity and enabling them to make positive lifestyle choices
CRC staff in Uganda
CRC founders George and Janice Watson have already accompanied Maurice on a trip to Uganda to see first-hand how the projects make such a difference to the lives and communities involved. A larger group made up of CRC employees is due to visit the finished school in 2013, building a relationship with the pupils, families and teachers on the ground. More immediately, Maurice heads to Uganda on 30 March to provide support to the school management team as they work towards the opening of the school in May/June.
