Uganda Rural Fund USA, Inc.

Uganda Rural Fund

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URF Headquarters

P.O. Box 10538

Holyoke, MA 01041, U.S.A.

info@ugandaruralfund.org

Volunteer Coordinator

John Mary Lugemwa, OSB

300 Fraser Purchase Road

Latrobe, PA 15650, U.S.A

Ph: 763-291-1102

jmlugemwa@gmail.com

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HIA Background

We believe that educating the young is a way of ensuring a strong future generation. Our education programs endeavor to raise the plight o f th e African child. A quality education program empowers the minds of individuals and fosters community development. In educating these young people, we are forming the leaders of the local communities and well-informed citizens of the nation. In any society, education is a key to progress in all different structures that form the backbone of that society.

According to the situation analysis carried out on February 2005, low employable skills is a major cause of poverty affecting the people (especially the youth) in Uganda. This is compounded by low access to resources like land and capital in addition to shallow focus of the existing programs on the informal sector and agriculture.
The purpose of this program therefore is to start up a technical school to enhance functional education among the youth and enhance their participation in the development process and improve their standards of life.

Hope Integrated Academy

The Academy’s mission is to provide a well-rounded (quality) formal and practical education that will empower the mind, body, and s pirit of Uganda’s disadvantaged orphans. Our primary areas of concern include promoting the plight of the vulnerable children, self-determination, critical positive thinking, and creativity through both formal education and vocational training. We believe that a well integrated education curriculum is the key to educating the whole person who is well fitted to the modern society that is constantly changing with the advancing technology.

Most of these innocent children have no one to turn to. The huge number of orphans and the corresponding deaths of the parental generation have overwhelmed the country. There are many children with no relatives who can feed any more mouths even one meal a day, let alone provide school fees to give them a path to a self-supporting future as adults. Abandoned children die, become street children in the cities and towns, or may be exploited in various ways as the price of daily survival. These children urgently need our help. Hope Academy is an initiative to provide for the educational needs of these children in a boarding school environment that also feeds, clothes, loves and guides them. We will break the cycle of poverty for the orphan children living there.

Expected enrollment is 500 students when the Academy is fully operational. About 300 will be AIDS orphans living on campus, and the other 200 will be residents of the surrounding community who are day students. When fully developed, the Academy will be comprised of a kindergarten, elementary school (grades 1 – 7), vocational training school, a community library, a computer training center, and a health clinic. Most of the orphan resident students will be studying at the kindergarten and elementary level, and most students from the community will be enrolled in the vocational school. We will open as a day school before the residences are built, and therefore will begin the vocational education first.

Uganda’s literacy rate lags at 69%, and majority of illiterates are concentrated in rural areas, the communities we serve. To address the great need, the Academy will provide adult education programs in subjects such as literacy, Business English and basic math. Vocational skills and computer training will be open to adults as well as youths from the local communities. We are working to bring many resources to an impoverished and resource-poor rural region

Proposed school programs:

These programs will be established in phases. We will prioritize the needs of the children and the organizational structure and this is how we plan to implement the education program:

A. Children's Residential Facilities: Before the school sets off, we want to make sure we have well-furnished residences for our children. The children will be living in close proximity with the school. Because of the stigma usually attached to orphanages, we would prefer calling our facility a Children's Home to an orphanage. With this set up, we wouldn't need to send children to boarding schools to pay for room and board.

B. After school program: Serving Kindergarten, Primary School Program, and secondary school program: In Uganda's education system, kindergarten takes 2-3 years and primary/elementary school takes 7 years. Most of the children in our program fall in the age of primary pupils. Emphases will be put on both sciences and arts subjects and practical skills classes. We also provide training in basic computer skills and free internet services. Entreprenuership and leadership trainings are offered as well in addition to various sports activities.

D. Vocational School Program: Considering the logistics of administration and funding structure, this program will not be run independently; it will be integrated within the other programs. The students in secondary and those in upper primary will have an integrated curriculum that will include vocational training classes. The goal here is that in case these kids drop out of school, they can still have some useful skills to take with them. Since we are here to serve the local communities, this structure will also include an adult vocational training program; it will be open to individuals especially local people who do not have an education and have no jobs who may want to acquire some vocational skills that would help them create their own jobs. The vocational program will include: computer training, carpentry, brick laying, mechanics, sewing, pottery, gardening, and other related agricultural practices.

F. AIDS Education Program: AIDS as we all know is a critical issue in our society today and being a major cause of deaths in Africa, there is still a great to design effective education programs tailored to the goal of cubing the epidemic. Children and general society need to learn preventative measures to cut down the rate at which HIV/AIDS is spreading. Our curriculum at all levels will integrate such programs to raise awareness, prevention, and control of the diseases.

G. Sports, Music and Theater: Physical health is important in the growth of young people; recognizing this necessity, our program will also encourage students to participate in extra-cultural activities like sports, drama, music, and theater. This will at the same time give them opportunity to develop talents and acquire skills. It will also be promoted for recreation purposes and building team work as well.

H. Cultural Education program: Emphases will also be put on cultural education. We believe that cultural values are very important to the stability and development of a society. It is important that the education we give the children does not rob them of their culture and traditional values. In our program, the dignity of the local people and their customs will be respected. However, there will be education programs and sensitization against abusive traditional customs such female circumcision.

Future Programs

H. Disability and Special Needs Education Program: Recognizing the neglect and shortage of support services for the disabled in our communities, we have realized the need to address their concerns. As we get ourselves established, we intend to design a program that will be able to cater for the needs of the mentally and physically disabled in our communities. The first phase of this program will be to set up simple programs to support children in our schools who have learning disabilities. For a complete review of this proposal go to the Disability Support and Education Program page.

Helping People Help Themselves