65 students in preparation to take national exams; plans to improve the safety of our schools and farmland irrigation methods

Photo: Students are drawing many benefits from our rural boarding high school, one of the few accredited Ugandan high schools in a non-urban area

We are happy to report that 230 of our students (ages 13-18) took their end-of-semester exams in May, and they all received excellent scores. Now 65 of our high school students (ages 16-18) are preparing to take the national exams in October which are commissioned by the National Department of Education. These higher level students are prepping for the national exams by diligently studying their school subjects of English, math, chemistry, physics, biology, history, geography, commerce, agriculture, computer skills, entrepreneurship, and Biblical electives, and receiving extra tutoring sessions from our faithful teachers.

In our high school there are 6 grades divided into 2 sections — lower and upper high school. The lower high school is comprised of grades “Senior 1-4” and the upper school is comprised of grades “Senior 5-6.” Grade 4 high school students are required to sit for the special national exam to verify that they qualify to enter upper high school which ultimately leads to graduation. Out of the 300 students enrolled in our high school, we have 65 students in that situation who are being prepared to become purposeful citizens in Uganda.

In other news from our education programs, the Ugandan government is requiring all of the schools to install fire extinguishers to increase safety for the children. Thus, we are seeking raise $500 in order to purchase 10 fire extinguishers for both of our schools.

In addition, we are seeking to raise $25,000 in order to build and fully furnish a much-needed new building at our high school. With your generosity, raising this amount would enable us to purchase cement, sand, timber, paint, door screens, window shutters, library shelves, computer tables, all of the necessary items for our science laboratory, desks for the students, chairs for the teachers, library books, and lockers for the students.

Our high school students were excited to receive 10 refurbished laptops in February, but our ultimate goal is to obtain 50 laptops total to create an up-to-date computer lab on campus to give our 300 students better access to computer time. So we are now seeking to raise $8,000 in order to purchase 40 more laptops ($200 each). This is one of our greatest needs so that our high school students can further excel in their daily studies, including improving upon the computer skills portion of their end-of-semester exams in August as they will be using more efficient laptops.

And for a “dream reach” goal, we have a larger capital need we are praying for. Currently, our boarding boy students are sleeping in makeshift arrangements in classroom spaces. We would like to provide them with better sleeping quarters in their own dormitory. This would simultaneously free up needed classroom space. The land is available. We just need the funds to enable this next step in the master plan of the campus. The financial goal is $45,000 to complete the structure.

And now for an update from our farmland, we are currently growing potatoes, cassava, bananas, oranges, and mangoes and we look forward to a plentiful harvest of these crops in November or December. However, the rains are very unpredictable lately which affects our ability to grow our goal amount of food. Our inability to farm when there is a drought emphasizes our ongoing, urgent need to raise $5,000 to purchase a piped irrigation system large enough for our farmland which will be a powerful, efficient irrigation method.

We are deeply grateful for your ongoing prayers and support which make it possible for us to provide our students with everything they need to pursue an education, and to enable our hardworking native team to grow delicious, organic food for our children’s meals.

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