Educate Deserving Children in Uganda!

At Arlington Academy of Hope's (AAH) operations in rural Uganda, we've been busy!

Enabling children to remain in school requires good health care. The FIMRC health clinic at our school and our clinic in Bupoto have been active. 

At our Health Clinic in Bupoto, we're fortunate to have former intern Moussa return to put in place a new computer system which will make it easier to track patient information at the busy clinic. Prior to this, the clinic kept paper records for more than 10,000 a year.  This was cumbersome and staff intensive.  Also visiting the clinic was Dr. Peter from the UK, who developed the sytem. He has been kind enough to provide us the software and a laptop -- we are very grateful. We hope to upgrade the solar energy at the clinic, to keep the new computers and and everything else running! Staff are being trained in the new system, and it will be interesting for the students volunteering there on the break to be able to see a modern system in operation.  The clinic serves as a trainining site for students interested in a career in health care, as many secondary and university volunteer there over school breaks, weekends, or holidays.  There are also several health care scholarships for secondary school students.  At AAH, we believe there are many paths to a child's success and our focus in on helping them gain an education, job skills, and experience which will improve their employment prospects once they finish school. We also had a six-week volunteer at the school looking at other training opportunities and programs which could help the children.

At the primary school, we had an increased emphasis on STEM subjects this year. This year, we were fortunate to have over 70 volunteers from the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and more come volunteer at the school. They are able to help the teachers by, for example, working with individual students and small groups who need a little extra help.  They also bring new techniques and energy to the classroom, so we keep improving. (Want a life-changing experience? Consider volunteering with AAH in Uganda! Email info@aahuganda.org)

The school year ended last week, and our students, teachers, and staff are on a well deserved school break. 

At our primary school, seventh graders spent the last several months studying long days and weekends to prepare to take the highly competitive national Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) which determines whether students graduate primary school and continue on to secondary school (high school). 

We also assisted a number of poor local schools to prepare their seventh graders for the PLE as well.  They took the PLE recently and are awaiting results, which determine if and where they will go on to secondaty school. Once the seventh graders hear results, they only have a few short weeks to report to secondary school.  There's a reason the AAH school is in the top 1% of schools nationwide -- the teachers and the students work incredibly hard! 

As our seventh graders prepared to leave primary school, we just finished selecting the new first grade class that will start late Jan-Feb when the new school year begins. They are enthusiastic, energetic, and beaming from ear to ear!  We can only take a portion of those who apply, and families camped out for days on the road to the school just for a chance to intervew for a slot in first grade.  The schools's success has changed many parents' minds about the value of an education, and how it can change lives for the student and his or her family.

Our second group of secondary school graduates are keeping busy at university.

Thank you for making it possible for the children to go to school. You are truly tansforming lives and giving them a real chance for a better future. 

Looking for a meaningful holiday gift this year? Consider making a donation to AAH on someone's behalf and we'll send them an e-card! Email info@aahuganda.org for more details.