SKILLED workers will put their talents to good use to reconstruct a quake damaged school.
The five members of staff from Chester and District Housing Trust will use their expertise on a special skills exchange project to Uganda wto build a primary school.
The multi-skilled colleagues from Chester include plumbers, plasterers and bricklayers and boarded the plane to Uganda on Thursday, February 25.
The team will work in temperatures of more than 30 degrees over the next three weeks, helping to reconstruct classrooms that were damaged in a 1994 earthquake.
The project has been developed in partnership with Liverpool Hope University and the Mountains of the Moon University in Fort Portal, Western Uganda.
ŠJohn Denny, chief executive of CDHT has visited the Mountains of the Moon University in Uganda.
Mr Denny said: “Our Chester workforce is really excited about teaming up with the inspirational people of Uganda; many of our colleagues have never been to Africa before, so this is a great opportunity for them exchange skills and bring back what they have learnt to Chester.
“As well as providing much-needed skilled labour for this part of Western Uganda, the Fort Portal project is a chance for colleagues to work in an enlightening environment, working way outside their normal experiences alongside local Ugandan apprentices to procure local materials to complete projects that have been identified by the schools themselves; local needs are driving this project.
“The potential benefits for colleagues and students alike are immense – and Fort Portal will be left with better school facilities that could encourage more graduates to stay and teach and in turn children to continue their own education to graduate level.”
