High quality education for children in Uganda

We send you warm greetings from the children and grandmothers of Nyaka and Kutamba schools in Uganda.  We are grateful for your investment that has brought 10 years of improved conditions into the body, heart, mind, and soul of hundreds of children and thousands of grandmothers.  This year over 70 secondary school students are excelling in their studies and passing their exams.  Over 300 primary students study intensely so that like the 2010 graduating class they can place in the top 3% of all 220 schools in the district.  Meanwhile, 60 preschoolers walk many miles on very short legs, eager to learn English and their ABCs and 123s each and every day. 

Statistics show that children who attend pre-school enter primary school with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not. To get children started on this positive track to becoming well educated citizens, 60 of some of the youngest orphans are now enrolled in kindergarten classes at both Kutamba and Nyaka Primary Schools. These students, ages 4-5, are studying English (Uganda’s national language) to complement Rukiga, their native tongue. Like the elder students, they have been promised an education all the way up to university as long as they pass their national exams.

For students of Nyaka who are less academically inclined and wish to pursue an income generating trade, vocational training is now being made available. Nyaka realizes the importance of building a strong vocational program for these students. Tailoring and computer skills are now being offered and there are plans to add more workshops and training for construction jobs in the near future.

Hannington attended driving school and is now employed by Nyaka as a driver. This means that despite suffering as an orphan, he has a steady income which he uses to help care for his elderly grandmother nearby. All things tend to come full circle and on a recent visit he drove Director Jackson around!

This year, because of The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project’s generous donors, more students than ever are being supported – over 530! However, as we look into the future, the need to build a secondary school is becoming increasingly clear, as it costs $500/student annually to send the students to outlying boarding schools. As more young students graduate primary school the need for this initiative is becoming more urgent. Please watch for more updates on this project soon.

The best is yet to come!

Links:

• Volunteer!
• Spring 2011 Newsletter
• Read Jackson's Book