Uganda rural campus celebrates new water well and addition of new girls home, country director reports on the state of the primary school

We are eager to share some news from our founder Kirby Trapolino, as well as an updated request for assistance from our rural primary school in Mairinya, Uganda. This school has provided significant education opportunities for the girls at our new rural Girls Home.

To ensure that the school’s needs are continually being met, our Uganda Country Director, Frank Tibagendeka has provided some updated hopes and plans he has in mind to help keep the school at maximum efficiency and in the best learning conditions for the children.

Our founder Kirby, constantly in touch with our Uganda team, recently shared with us some great news regarding our new rural Girls Home and the Mairinya primary school:

“Our new Girls Home next to the Mairinya primary school campus is now complete and we have eight new orphans living there with very caring and qualified house mothers. It’s really beautiful to see their joy, I imagine it’s something akin to being at your favorite summer camp. Notice their new clothes and bright smiles. Frank and his wife Susan have done a great job shepherding this project. The fact that their education will be built into the program as it’s on the same campus is a strong attribute of the initiative.”

We are thankful for the addition of a new deep water bore well on the campus, which is delivering a copious and constant flow of fresh, safe drinking water not only for our students and staff, but for the entire community surrounding our campus.

In other news, the government of Uganda is working hard to extend electricity to rural areas, and our school in Mairinya is one of the targets that electricity will be extended to among other projects in the area. This will provide the extra electrical assistance we will need to help broaden our school’s capabilities.

Following are our Country Director Frank’s notes on their hopes for the Mairinya campus:

1. After the lockdowns from the pandemic, the number of students increased at our school due to the fact that other small primary schools closed down after they could no longer sustain the school administration costs. Parents could not afford school fees due to the shuttered economy caused by the lockdowns.

2. Our school space has therefore begun to feel very small and is not enough for all the students we are trying to accommodate. According to the number of classes in the school, we should have 10 classrooms to cater to the needs. But as of now, we only have 4 classrooms in our one building. As you see in the photos, we have done our best to combine some classes, but the rest of the students are studying under trees. While this is not uncommon in Ugandan culture, the challenge is that we are in a rainy season, and this greatly affects the students’ learning process. We kindly pray, hope, and request for additional buildings as donors might be led to assist us.

3. The goal of fencing the school premises is paramount, as we have many young kids but motorcycles always cross through the school grounds putting our children at risk of accidents.

4. We need funds to help us connect the electricity wiring on campus with the new electricity from the government, while electric bills will be another new expense we will need to bear.

Considering these updates from Kirby and Frank, we have faith that together we can gather the power, funds, and resources to continue to do this good work in providing resources for our students. Kirby’s positive update about the girls home reminds us of the bigger picture in making sure no child or woman is left to feel unseen, unheard, or unsupported.

By way of God’s divine love and grace, we all receive the help we need to carry and lift each other up, and it’s by this same grace we have the ability to help these children. This grand vision can’t be achieved overnight, but one step at a time. One home at a time, one school at a time, one set of supportive arms at a time, and one bed with clean sheets at a time. Thanks to the generosity of one donor at a time (you), we are healing broken lives and making dreams come true.

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