Build an inclusive future for kids with disability

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. 

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