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Describe the project objectives:
This project will primarily support the area of focus of Rotary International of Basic Education. 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.
Describe the benefit to the community and/or improve lives:
High crime rates, teenage pregnancies, and early marriages are among the results with associated 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-aged children have never enrolled in school, 60% of those who begin first grade dropout before completing middle school. 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 basic costs of their schooling requirements.
Divine Mercy School:
Divine Mercy School was born out of a community need to make education accessible to some of the underserved children within the community. The school is located in the Kanungu district, which borders Democratic Republic of Congo. It is 423KM from Kampala, the capital of Uganda and 70KM from Kabale town. The school currently has 180 pupils (Kindergarten and grades 1-7), 64 residing at school, with the enrollment increasing steadily every year. The community served is largely involved in subsistence, rudimentary, peasantry agriculture on small land holdings due 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 earned from casual labor 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 work in the labor market but are also engaged in alcohol consumption, which has resulted in a lot of domestic violence and other associated criminal acts.
The community's new approach is to provide meals, uniforms and other basic school requirements to needy children. Depending on the capacity of parents or caregivers, the cost of a child residing at school is subsidized. Some parents who cannot afford this are requested to provide casual labor to the school although some of the parents are HIV positive and are too weak to do work.
Sustainability:
Divine Mercy School, other local and international Rotary partners, and the parents and community members have a vested interest in their children's education. The materials and labor will all be locally sourced, and the cost to provide uniforms and basic access to clean water is relatively minimal.
Active Rotarian Involvement:
The Greeley Centennial Rotary Club is working to develop stronger relationships in new and developing areas with significant basic needs. As we work to develop this relationship with other Rotarians who are actively supporting the basic and academic needs of the next generation, we will seek to partner of further projects. While Rotarians from the Greeley Centennial Rotary Club are seeking to support financial efforts, we are encouraged by the "boots on the ground" organization and project implementation by John Bosco Agaba, who is a Past President of The Rotary Club of Kabale in Uganda as well as the cofounder and codirector of the Divine Mercy School.
There are no travel plans to Uganda as part of this project at this time; however, there is a desire amongst Greeley Centennial Rotarians to coordinate a future work and diplomatic party as the clubs' relationship develops.
Total Project Budget: $1,500
$1,500 from the Greeley Centennial Rotary and the 5440 District, consisting of $500 club dollars with matching funds of $1,000 from our district.
Publicity Plan:
Greeley Centennial Rotary will write an article as the project progresses updating both the club membership and District 5440. We will share project successes on our updated website as well as post to our club Facebook and X feeds.
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