Uganda primary school presses on with success in spite of difficult circumstances

Photo: Boys at our primary school enjoy a good education and nutritious meals made from ingredients at our nearby farmland.

At our primary school in rural southeastern Uganda near the Kenya border, every school day over 200 children gather. It’s the only school easily accessible in the area. Here they receive nutritious meals and the loving instruction and care from our dedicated teaching staff. However, we are overwhelmed with the numbers of children, each class having about 35-40 in attendance.

The facilities are very basic and traditional to the region, just dirt floors, benches and decaying second-hand chalkboards. Yet it’s the spirit of our our Ugandan team members, and the smiles of these children that keep everything moving forward with the basic goal of education, nutrition, love and care.

The day starts early for these children. At sunrise they are up and seeking water for the day. They must walk a great distance from their villages to reach safe water sources. We’ve installed a well at our main campus but have not yet had the funds to do so on this, our second campus, which is quite remote. After household chores are complete and a simple meal is prepared on wood-burning make-shift stoves, the children make their way barefoot to the school.

There they begin morning classes before breaking for lunch. Our staff serves over 200 meals using fresh organic ingredients from our farmland and other ingredients as needed from the market. After this the children will enjoy some time playing jump rope, soccer and other traditional ugandan games.

They can often be found playing a game called “dul.” It’s a kind of finger golf, you might say. They carve a small hole in the dirt, then take turns aiming small round objects like marbles, rounded stones, or large seeds toward the hole. A player collects points by not only getting their object into the hole, but also knocking other player’s out of the way.

It’s this kind of improvised life in Uganda that represents a way of existing with limited resources. But when it comes to their education, we want the best for these kids. We’ve begun the foundation, and walls are starting to go up on the new facility, but we’re still a long way off on reaching the capital needed to complete their new school. During rainy season classes are often cancelled due to flooded classrooms.

Please join in helping us further empower our native team with the proper facilities they need to conduct their classes with the right tools and strong shelter. As we work to educate and provide nutrition for these children, we’re equipping them for a way to break out of the cycle of extreme poverty. And not only this, but saving them from the potential of what thousands of Ugandan children are falling prey to as they move into the city looking for work: the dangers of human trafficking and modern day slavery.

We’re seeing this become more and more of a problem as the rate of urbanization continues to grow, the city slums becoming increasingly crowded. When there’s no education, there’s little potential of safe jobs, and desperation makes the young adults and adolescents believe in the lies of the traffickers. The rest is a downward spiral for these poorest of the poor. However, we’re seeing hope in this program and we are grateful for your support.

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