Sir – It must be a coincidence that a copy of the 2013 annual report and accounts of the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust (UHST) arrived at my house just a couple of days before the Christian Aid Week (CAW) envelope.

Yet, despite the massive differences in scale, the help the two organisations are hoping to provide is essentially similar.

The CAW envelope states: ‘We work with poor communities across the world … to bring lasting change for the most vulnerable people on earth’ and pleads ‘Please put your kind gift in this envelope’.

The UHST covering letter states that their accounts show a £20,000 fall in donations (i.e. about 20 per cent) between 2012 and 2013, plus a further worrying decline in income since October 2013. Significantly, the fall coincides with the prominent press coverage given to the passage of anti-homosexuality legislation through the Ugandan parliament and it is clear that this may have discouraged some donors from supporting projects in Uganda.

Yet, the UHST Schools (www.ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org):

  • Are currently educating over 1,500 students
  • Provide equal opportunities for girls and for the poorest members of Ugandan society
  • Performance in national examinations is good and the schools are beginning to stand out among schools in similarly impoverished rural areas.
  • Are beacons of tolerance and inclusiveness and, at a time when illiberal forces are taking hold in Ugandan society, they need all the support we can provide for them.

Personally, I’m far happier supporting schools that aren’t tied to any one religion (or belief system) but, given that the political antipathy to homosexuality in Uganda is almost certainly a legacy of the 19th-century Christian missionaries, support for a non-religious local school is surely a better option?

John D White, Chairman, Oxford Humanists