EVER wondered where the money you donate to charity actually goes? Recently, I burrowed deep into the annual figures of one charity and discovered that out of its annual income of £18million, half of it, yes £9m, was spent on fundraising. They no doubt argue it is necessary to spend so much in order to raise the £9m they actually direct to good causes, but still.

So it was a year ago I wrote about a far smaller charity, not the £18m one, Starchild, which was auctioning donated paintings to help raise the cash to build a school in Uganda. I am buoyed up daily by the beautiful portrait of an African woman that now adorns my home as I found the auction process far too tempting.

That auction is now being repeated, so it seemed like an apposite time to re-engage with the organisers and find out what happened to last year’s money. And it truly was the most cheering of replies. The school in Vvumba, the Starchild School for Creative Arts, was officially opened in May in front of a cheerful crowd of 600 ululating locals, elders, church leaders, and politicians. It has more than 100 pupils, full-time teachers, three classrooms, and plans to generate income locally so it becomes self-sufficient.

Behind Starchild is Glasgow-based singer Michaela Foster Marsh, whose adopted brother Frankie, born of Ugandan parents, was killed in a house fire, and the charity was set up to help orphaned children in Uganda in his memory.

Now Starchild does not have fancy offices and teams of fundraisers. It is basically Michaela, her partner Rony Bridges, and a dedicated committee of volunteers who help them. In the past three years they have donated hundreds of mosquito nets to schools - along with comic books devised by Glasgow University that explains why the nets are life-saving – sanitary products for teenage girls who otherwise would not go to school, and even microscopes for science classes.

But the school was always going to be the big project. And although it is now built, it has not been a simple process. Let’s not beat around the bush here, corruption is endemic in Uganda, and getting anything done is a constant battle against many who believe that do-gooding Europeans are simply cash-cows to be milked. It’s not done maliciously, it is merely seen as a way to get by in a poverty-stricken country. You mustn’t take it personally.

Thus quotes for equipment and supplies simply triple, quadruple or any multiple you can think of, as people test your resolve to see what you are foolish enough to spend. Michaela says it can be quite subtle. You agree a price for say plastering, and the day before the work is due to start you receive a message from the plasterer saying he has been robbed or in a car crash and needs some more cash up front to replace his equipment. You say no, but there he is on the job the next day as if nothing had happened.

Says Michaela: “It is hard to get anything done without paying a backhander. It is why so many other charities have found it too difficult and simply walked away from Uganda.

“But we do our homework. We know what things cost, and hopefully we don’t get the wool pulled over our eyes. I’m learning things about myself. I can be such a tough negotiator. I am a lot less thin-skinned than I used to be.”

And her determination has worked. The school cost only £20,000 to build. Other charities have built similar premises in West Africa at a cost of £100,000. The teachers earn £3,000 a year, which is the going rate. To pay them more would simply disrupt the existing school system.

The fact the school concentrates on the arts is a deliberate one. Families in Uganda want their children to become lawyers and doctors so they can earn the sums to support the entire extended family. Not everyone has the ability or opportunity to achieve such aims however, and can simply be discarded from the education system.

The Starchild school, stocked with keyboards, guitars, sewing machines, and art materials, wants to create the musicians, artists and designers who will not only earn a living in the arts, but also take the creative spirit of Uganda around the world.

It will be important for developing nations such as Uganda to be known in the future for far more than poverty and corruption. “They will be the future ambassadors and entrepreneurs for the country,” says Michaela.

Some Ugandan parents still have to be convinced of the benefits of working in the arts, so Starchild will ensure successful Ugandan artists visit the school to tell the children of their experiences. British artists are also volunteering their time to go out.

So although the school is built, the Starchild auction is being repeated to help expand and sustain the new school, as well as buying equipment and supplies for existing orphanages.

Many of the babies in orphanages there have been abandoned in garbage heaps, latrines or left by the roadside, covered in mud or waste, others with the umbilical cords still uncut. The orphanages struggle with very limited resources, and although dedicated volunteers and provide love, security, medical care and education, they frequently face difficulties affording basic essentials.

So, at the weekend, the 100 paintings donated to Starchild were on display in Glasgow’s Oran Mor before transferred to auctioneers McTear’s. Leading Scottish artists Alexander Millar and Peter Howson are amongst those donating works. Millar’s painting quite rightly has a reserve of £5,000 but there are others with opening bids of £50.

You can bid online until a fortnight on Sunday if you look for McTear’s at the site thesaleroom.com. It is with heavy heart I tell you that as I’ll be bidding myself.