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Hope Junior School: Providing a solid foundation for Kids to succeed at higher education
Hope Junior School was established in February 2013 as a kindergarten and later to evolve into a primary school. The school’s curriculum is designed to provide a solid academic foundation to prepare children to excel in secondary and higher education institutions. This initiative is a response to the cry of parents who fear for their small children [...]
Teachers’ Housing at Hope Academy: Giving students access to teachers for extra help
Access to teachers in and out of the classroom is key to a student’s success in school, especially for those who need some extra help. To achieve this goal, URF has constructed teachers’ quarters at Hope Academy to provide living space for six full time teachers and staff. On-campus teachers’ housing saves us money we [...]
Raising Pigs as an income venture to enhance sustainable development
We do great work and our vision is that these projects would transform the community for generations to come. But how do you ensure that this work will be sustainable in the long-run when you are dependent on the generosity of donors? This is a big question all us working in the aid industry wrestle with. [...]
U.S. Ambassador to Uganda meets with URF Staff and Volunteers
On January 07th, URF staff along with five student volunteers from the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University had the honor of meeting with Mr. Scott H. DeLisi, the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda for a chat at the embassy. They discussed issues of youth empowerment, volunteerism and the impact of URF projects in the community. [...]
Training Village Health Workers to ensure access to basic community health in rural Uganda
VHWs are volunteers within their community around URF who act as an on-site basic health care provider, in a community that otherwise has no immediate access to health care. For three weeks in August of 2012, a group of nine students from the University of Minnesota Medical School volunteered their time at the Uganda Rural [...]
Improving community health starts with kids: Medical students conduct health education in Uganda’s rural schools
“We covered hygiene, nutrition, and malaria, finishing with a game of mosquito net tag in which students had to run away from the Mzungu mosquitoes into the safety of mosquito nets. The students also enjoyed receiving crayons and hygiene related pictures to color,” says one of the medical students For three weeks in August of [...]
University of Minnesota Medical Students reaching out to Ugandan villages through Medical Camps
“The main diseases we treated were malaria, peptic ulcer disease, syphilis, pelvic inflammatory disease, malnutrition, osteoarthritis, and back pain and body aches. For many that live in this rural region of Uganda, there is not ready access to healthcare, so they were happy to receive convenient treatment,” says one of the medical students. For three [...]
Life at URF – The Soccer game: A Volunteer’s experience in Uganda
Only a few short days after we arrived at URF, there was talk of a soccer game challenge between the URF staff and us (the University of Minnesota Medical students). There was a lot of trash talking between both team members in the days leading up to the game. A tremendous amount of anticipation had [...]
Orphan Epidemic: Nine-Year-Old Boy Cares for Three Siblings and Elderly Grandmother
One out of every seven children in Uganda are orphans. The epidemic is largely attributed to the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis in Uganda. Uganda Rural Fund (URF) recently identified five child-headed families who are struggling to survive against all odds. These orphans display bravery uncommon even in adults, by carrying the burden, head of household. Even [...]
Students making Herbal Soap & Jelly to improve health, hygiene and generate income
URF staff with Hope Academy students have started making herbal soap and jelly as a strategy to become self-reliant and reduce the dependency on donor funding. The main objective of this project is three-fold: to generate income using local resources to produce a product with a local market.; to act as a means of improving [...]