100 education sponsorships for needy children in Uganda
Date Published:
Background and project context
School dropout in Uganda is alarmingly high especially due to lack of lunch for school children, inability of parents to provide scholastic materials and uniform despite free education provided by government. High crime rate, teenage pregnancies, early marriages are among the results with attendant consequences of domestic violence and poor maternal and child health. The situation is worse for orphans and children from economically challenged households. Nearly one in twenty school age children have never enrolled in school, 60% of those who begin primary one dropout before completing primary seven. Kanungu district is among the very poor rural districts of Uganda which are underserved by government financed social services (mostly education and health). Children of school going age from poor families are unable to go to school simply because they are orphans or are from very poor families which cannot meet the cost of their schooling requirements.
Divine Mercy School
Divine Mercy School was borne out of a community need to make education accessible to some of the underserved children within the community. Located in Kanungu that borders Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is 423KM from Kampala, the capital of Uganda and 70KM from Kabale town, the school currently has 150 pupils (Kindergatten and form 1-7) with the enrolment increasing steadily every year. The community served is largely involved in subsistence, rudimentary, peasantry agriculture on small land holdings.
The community is largely involved in subsistence, rudimentary, peasantry agriculture on small land holdings did to land fragmentation. Apart from bananas, most other crops grown are annual crops like beans, maize, cassava, potatoes etc. Practically most households depend on less than a dollar per day. Little income is got from sale of casual labour and brick making. The average household size is 5 while the fertility rate is at over 7 children per woman. The biggest household expenditure goes to medical bills and school fees. Household work is done largely by women while most men are engaged in alcohol consumption (after sale of casual labour) which has resulted in a lot of domestic violence and other associated criminal acts.
Our new approach is to provide meals for school children, uniform and other basic school requirements to needy children. Depending on the capacity of parents or caregivers, we charge between 20-30USD per term (3 months) to supplement the cost of a child at school. Some parents who cannot afford this are requested to provide casual labour to the school although some of the parents are HIV positive and are too weak to do work.
Issues at hand
The school is a beneficiary of a Rotary Global Grant that has provided solar lighting, 2 pit latrines and desks for two of the classes. We have also had some generous assistance from both Rotary Clubs and individuals. However we still have a myriad of challenges among which are;
1. A classroom block for kindergarten section
2. Accommodation for students
3. Completion of a classroom block
4. Providing for meals for children at school.
5. A pit latrines for staff
6. Construction of a kitchen, food store and energy saving stoves
7. Tools for the vocational section (tailoring and weaving equipment, computers and internet connectivity, music equipment etc)
8. Supporting parents through household income improvement schemes.
9. Providing for students uniforms and bags.
10. Staff housing and
11. Supporting staff welfare scheme.
Appeal
We make passionate appeal to individuals, Rotary Clubs, Churches and other organisations that share our passion to support us in our priority challenges listed above.
We also make a fervent appeal to all good hearted individuals and groups to sponsor needy children at $175 per child per year. It is our ambitious plan to have sponsors for 100 needy children by the beginning of 2024.
School dropout in Uganda is alarmingly high especially due to lack of lunch for school children, inability of parents to provide scholastic materials and uniform despite free education provided by government. High crime rate, teenage pregnancies, early marriages are among the results with attendant consequences of domestic violence and poor maternal and child health. The situation is worse for orphans and children from economically challenged households. Nearly one in twenty school age children have never enrolled in school, 60% of those who begin primary one dropout before completing primary seven. Kanungu district is among the very poor rural districts of Uganda which are underserved by government financed social services (mostly education and health). Children of school going age from poor families are unable to go to school simply because they are orphans or are from very poor families which cannot meet the cost of their schooling requirements.
Divine Mercy School
Divine Mercy School was borne out of a community need to make education accessible to some of the underserved children within the community. Located in Kanungu that borders Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is 423KM from Kampala, the capital of Uganda and 70KM from Kabale town, the school currently has 150 pupils (Kindergatten and form 1-7) with the enrolment increasing steadily every year. The community served is largely involved in subsistence, rudimentary, peasantry agriculture on small land holdings.
The community is largely involved in subsistence, rudimentary, peasantry agriculture on small land holdings did to land fragmentation. Apart from bananas, most other crops grown are annual crops like beans, maize, cassava, potatoes etc. Practically most households depend on less than a dollar per day. Little income is got from sale of casual labour and brick making. The average household size is 5 while the fertility rate is at over 7 children per woman. The biggest household expenditure goes to medical bills and school fees. Household work is done largely by women while most men are engaged in alcohol consumption (after sale of casual labour) which has resulted in a lot of domestic violence and other associated criminal acts.
Our new approach is to provide meals for school children, uniform and other basic school requirements to needy children. Depending on the capacity of parents or caregivers, we charge between 20-30USD per term (3 months) to supplement the cost of a child at school. Some parents who cannot afford this are requested to provide casual labour to the school although some of the parents are HIV positive and are too weak to do work.
Issues at hand
The school is a beneficiary of a Rotary Global Grant that has provided solar lighting, 2 pit latrines and desks for two of the classes. We have also had some generous assistance from both Rotary Clubs and individuals. However we still have a myriad of challenges among which are;
1. A classroom block for kindergarten section
2. Accommodation for students
3. Completion of a classroom block
4. Providing for meals for children at school.
5. A pit latrines for staff
6. Construction of a kitchen, food store and energy saving stoves
7. Tools for the vocational section (tailoring and weaving equipment, computers and internet connectivity, music equipment etc)
8. Supporting parents through household income improvement schemes.
9. Providing for students uniforms and bags.
10. Staff housing and
11. Supporting staff welfare scheme.
Appeal
We make passionate appeal to individuals, Rotary Clubs, Churches and other organisations that share our passion to support us in our priority challenges listed above.
We also make a fervent appeal to all good hearted individuals and groups to sponsor needy children at $175 per child per year. It is our ambitious plan to have sponsors for 100 needy children by the beginning of 2024.
