Disability Rights Uganda Project #49717

Build an inclusive future for kids with disability

by Kyaninga Child Development Centre

Build an inclusive future for kids with disability

Project Report | Jun 22, 2023
Dance for Inclusion

By Jane O'Leary | Director

Miracle is presented with her bamboo wheelchair

Everyone at KIMS has got dance fever! Over the last few months the children at KIMS have been dancing to spread the message of inclusion. Under the guidance of our visiting choreographer Jeanette, from the UK, all of the students, regardless of disability participated in a dance performance filmed for the ‘Dance for Inclusion’ events that KCDC have organized over recent months.

At the Kyaninga annual Inclusive Triathlon, not only did the children compete in the race; they also got to dance with TV ballroom dance star Valentino and a group of dancers, including Rogers, a young paraplegic wheel chair professional dancer. KIMs students absolutely loved taking the limelight and participated in a mass salsa line dance session. This was followed by an inspirational and moving incredible ballroom dance performance by Rogers and his dance partner Daphne. Rogers performed using a specially custom made wheelchair designed and engineered for him by Kyaninga Mobility. The wheelchair has enabled him to dance again after being struck down by a virus, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. Rogers was delighted to be able to present Kim’s student Miracle and Hassan with their own custom made wheelchairs. The smiles of the children and appreciation of their families brought the audience to a standing ovation. The wheelchairs represent a life changing gift towards real inclusion. Previously Miracle and Hassan had relied on being carried by their parents, siblings and teachers in order to attend class.

Dance for Inclusion has spread to schools in Kampala where Rogers, Valentino and the dance troupe, featuring local young people with disabilities and the KIMS Dance for Inclusion film have entertained and raised awareness of diversity and disabled people’s rights to inclusion.

Jolly feels the rhythm

Rogers and Valentino spreading the message

KIMs learning how to salsa

Rogers and his dance troupe

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Feb 27, 2023
The roof is on, but we need the floors

By Fiona Beckerlegge | Executive Director

As far as we have reached

After making a great start to the Centre of Excellence building project in the last half of 2022, progress has faltered due to a delay in funding, meaning that we cannot finish the first 2 units and move the therapy and rehabilitation team into the new premises as planned.

It all started when Kyaninga Child Development Centres Founding Director, Steve Williams, met Markus Dobmeier, a tutor at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich (HM) and one of the Founding Directors of the German-based NGO “Bauen für Orangefarm” (BfO) in 2019, and shared his ideas for a Centre of Excellence for the treatment and education of children with disabilities in western Uganda. After this first meeting, the idea emerged to integrate the project into the German University’s curriculum as a so-called “Design-Build” Project, where students research, design, and work on the construction of projects. The design phase started with a site survey conducted in 2020 by a BfO Team.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the start of the construction was unfortunately delayed by nearly two years. At the end of 2021, we began by levelling the land to reduce the slope and make it more accessible and removing the vegetation layer to access good soil, which we are using to produce the blocks for our walls. Through a donation from Kyaninga Forest Foundation, we planted 280 indigenous trees, creating a natural and soft boundary around the site.

After a further Covid-19 delay, work started in earnest in early July 2022 with the construction of a sanitary unit, storage, guardhouse and a covered shed to cure our blocks. In the following weeks, the foundations and bricks were prepared just to be ready for the student’s arrival in the last week of August. To be environmentally friendly, we produce rammed-earth bricks using the earth excavated for the foundations. The physical effort to create these bricks was evidenced when some of our team members visited the site and took 5 people to make just one!!!!

In August 2022, 11 students from Ugandan Martyrs University and 11 students from various universities in Germany worked with local artisans on the project. During this period, the students engaged in multiple aspects of actual construction, such as addressing and solving design or detailing questions, casting concrete, block laying, producing roof trusses etc. We got fantastic overall feedback from the students, and we look forward to having another group here soon, hopefully in July 2023.

After the students left, the work continued with local artisans and is still ongoing.

So far, we have finished the core build, foundations, walls, columns, and ring beam, as well as the roof trusses and roofing sheets of units 1 and 2, which will be home to the admin team and 5 therapy treatment rooms.

We are now looking for additional funding partners to help complete these first 2 units, which will allow the team to move from the outgrown rented property we are currently in. The larger project plans to build an inclusive model school and a professional development centre on the same site so that we will truly become a centre of excellence for disability and inclusion within Uganda.

Units 1 and 2

Brick making

We made one, thousands more to go!!

Links:

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Oct 31, 2022
We are finally building for the future

By Michael ArzBerger | Architect and project lead

Therapy and Admin blocks

How it started

It all started when our Founding Director, Steve Williams, met Markus Dobmeier, a Tutor at the University of applied sciences in Munich (HM) and one of the Founding Directors of the German-based NGO “Bauen für Orangefarm” (BfO) in 2019, and shared his ideas for a Centre of Excellence for the treatment and education of people with disabilities in western Uganda. After this first meeting, the idea emerged to integrate the Project into the University of Germany's curriculum as a “Design-Build” Project, where Students research, design, and work on the construction of Projects. The design phase started with a Site Survey done in 2020 by a BfO Team.

The purchase of a 2-acre site for the proposed Kyaninga Therapy and Rehabilitation Centre has been secured. It was purchased through kind donations from local well-wishers, worth $35,505.

After various workshops and courses held at the HM and the Technical University Munich, supported by the input of the KCDC Team and local architects, we finally got our building permission in 2020. Because of Covid, the start of the construction was unfortunately delayed by nearly two years. The Project picked up again when Mike Arzberger, an architect from Germany and part of BfO, joined the KCDC Team in November 2021 as Project Manager for the Construction and the KCDC Mobility Project. Through this partnership, KCDC could save on architectural design fees of approximately $41,522.

Just before Christmas 2021, we started with the first steps of construction, the levelling of the land to reduce the slope and make it more wheelchair friendly, as well as removing the vegetation layer to access good soil, which we are using to produce the blocks for our walls.

Progress so far

After a lengthy delay (at the beginning of 2022 because of rising Covid cases), we were finally able to start the preparations of the site and welcome a team of local and international students in mid-2022.

Work started in early July with the construction of a sanitary unit, storage, guardhouse and a covered shed to cure our blocks. In the next steps, the foundations and blocks were prepared just to be ready for the student’s arrival in the last week of August.

For 4 weeks, the group of 11 students from the Ugandan Martyrs university and 11 students from various universities in Germany worked with local craftsmen on the project. During this period, the students engaged in various aspects of actual construction like addressing and solving design or detailing questions, casting concrete, block laying, producing roof trusses and many more. We got overall amazing feedback from the students. We look forward to having another group here soon, hopefully in February 2023.

After the Students left, the work continued with local craftsmen and is still ongoing.

So far, we have finished the core build, foundations, walls, columns, and ring beam, as well as the roof trusses and their installation of unit 1. At unit 2, we finished all foundations, the production of all blocks as well as the walls of the first building.

What´s next

At unit 1, we aim to complete all the roofing by the first week of November.

The next steps for unit 2 are to finish the walls, columns and ring beam by mid-November and the roofing by the end of November.

After this, we will move to the finishing works, which include the electrical installations, plumbing, installation of the door and window frames, internal plastering, flooring, and some initial landscaping around these first two units.

We aim to move into these first two units early next year, and we can't wait!! Our dream of a purpose-built centre is finally being realised.

Levelling the land

The design and build students

Foundations laid in July 2022

October 2022

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