Gender Equality Uganda Project #8974

Education & Safety for Rural Girls Matale Uganda

by Harambee Centre

Education & Safety for Rural Girls Matale Uganda

Project Report | Mar 10, 2016
Exciting Progress at St. Andrews!

By Noela Nalujjuna | Harambee Centre Board Chair

Students Feeding Chickens

Dear Friends and Supporters of Matale,

We hope this update finds you and yours happy and healthy. We have been busy working with the leadership team at St. Andrews to kick-off the girls’ dormitory construction in 2016, currently planned for May 2016. We are excited about it and do look forward to sharing the construction progress with you, once it commences.

Local Fundraising efforts:

The on the ground leadership team in Uganda is still committed to raising a significant amount of the funds needed to fully complete this project – 40%, which is a big deal for this rural community. They held fundraisers in 2015, including former students of the school and plans are underway for similar fundraisers in 2016. It shows their belief in the need for the dormitory resource for the girl students in the community.

2015 O-Level Final Exams:

In February, we received news from the new Head Teacher, Ms. Judith Naluyima regarding the school’s performance in the 2015 UCE (Uganda Certificate of Education) national exams. UCE exams are preparation for the last two years of secondary school or UACE (Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education). We are pleased to see that the school’s performance continues to improve with each passing year; this was the best performing class since the school’s founding in 1986! Overall, 100% passed of students passed their national exams, a first in the history of St. Andrews! 60 students sat for the exams, with the following results:

- 7/60 (12%) passed with a 1st grade,

- 14/60 (23%) passed with a 2nd grade,

- 14/60 (23%) passed with a 3rd grade, and

- 25/60 (42%) passed with a 4th grade.

Chicken Coop project supported by Sister School – Southridge High School (Beaverton, Oregon):

St. Andrews has had a strong sister-school relationship with the Uganda Club at Southridge High School. The Uganda club donated funds for St. Andrews to begin a chicken coop project, which is helping the school to:

- Teach poultry keeping and management skills to students

- Sell eggs and help some deserving students with school fees. Four students are currently obtaining an education because of this project. They are;

o Brenda (Senior 2) – Uganda Shillings 230,000 or US$ 69/per school term

o Annet (Senior 1) – Uganda Shillings 70,000 or US$ 21/per school term

o Martin Senior 3) - Uganda Shillings 115,00 or US$ 35/per school term

o Gonzaga (Senior 4) – Uganda Shillings 260,000 or US$ 78/per school term

Attached are photos of the chickens, some students tending to them and some of the eggs that have been laid by the chickens. The eggs are either sold or provided to students and staff for nutrition. For continued updates from the students themselves on the ground, please check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/www.matale.co.ug/?fref=ts

As you progress through what we hope is a peaceful, joy and health filled 2016, we kindly request that you continue to include the Girls’ Dorm Project in your 2013 giving; together we continue to change lives and make an impact that will last for generations! DONATE TODAY! by clicking on the Give Now button below. Alternatively, please help us spread the word to your community; we know there is power in numbers and power in personal connections. As always, we are appreciative for your support and generosity,

Wishing you and your loved ones the very best this Spring 2016!

ZoomUganda and Harambee Centre teams.

Students Feeding Chickens

Eggs ready for sale

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Dec 9, 2015
Girls' dormitory at St. Andrews Secondary School in Uganda will soon be a reality!

By Noela Nalujjuna | Harambee Centre Board Chair

It is with great privilege and a grateful heart, that I write this update to you, our dear ZoomUganda and Harambee Centre supporters. First, the joyful news. On behalf of the ZoomUganda and Harambee Centre’s teams, we are beyond grateful to announce that we received a generous $200,000 grant from the Nike Ever Higher Fund! We continue to be grateful for the generosity of Nike employees and the company’s donation matching program that have continually contributed to various Harambee Centre projects over 10+ years.

Fulfilling the goal of building a safe place for Matale girls to focus on their education has been almost ten years in the making, starting with the girls of ZoomUganda (http://www.zoomuganda.org/) and their courageous act of opening up their lives to a wider world. Their work has enabled us to share the story of hope for an HIV/AIDS impacted community to audiences from Portland, Oregon, New York City and all the way to London, United Kingdom.

In 2016, we look forward to sharing with you the progress of the construction journey, and the subsequent opening when it is completed. Please see an architectual rendering of the dormitory below. In addition, we also look forward to sharing with you other projects we will partner with the St. Andrews leadership to fundraise for. We hope that you will continue to support us on this journey, as we look towards developing a world class education for the students of Matale.

Other 2015 Matale highlights:

In 2015, Mr. Judith Naluyima was officially selected as the first female head teacher (Principal) for St. Andrews S.S.S Matale. We have great confidence in Ms. Naluyima’s leadership capabilities and the strong message she sends to the girls of Matale.
St. Andrews Alumni held their first fundraiser as a contribution towards the girl’s dormitory work. Robert Kasumba spearheaded this effort. Robert is one of the students that got the opportunity to travel to Portland in 2009 as part of the sister school student exchange program with Southridge H.S. Robert is now a Computer Science major at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
St. Andrews PTA voted to increase each student’s fees by 500 shillings (15 cents) in order for the community to participate in the fundraising efforts towards the girl’s dormitory work.
The Zoomuganda exhibit was displayed at Google NY for three months. If you know a venue that would enjoy hosting an educational exhibit like this one, please contact julie@zoomuganda.org.

It is this sense of partnership between us at Harambee Centre, you our donors, and our partners on the ground in Matale that makes this work very meaningful.

For me, doing this important work is personal, because I am a young woman who was born and raised in this community. Education has made the difference in my life from a potentially young, uneducated mother, to a leader in my community. Being a part of a small but impactful team of people that is giving their time and resources to chip away at the educational achievement gap for young women in Matale is a privilege of a lifetime.

I continue to be grateful for your support, your generosity, and your passionate hearts. It is my hope that this holiday season brings you and yours blessings.

With gratitude,

Noela + ZoomUganda and Harambee Centre teams.

Attachments:

Rendering of the Girls' Dormitory (PDF)

1 Attachment

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Jul 7, 2015
Matale Old Students in the Fundraising Action!

By Noela Nalujjuna | Harambee Centre Board Chair

For this update, we are pleased to share a note written by a St. Andrews Matale alumni, current Software Engineering student at Makerere University, new Chairman of St. Andrews Matale Old Students and Association, and one of the leaders of the alumni group in their efforts towards contributing to this girls’ dormitory projects:

“It was a pleasure for me to meet [old friends] at Matale over the weekend. I was elected the chairperson of the interim committee of the (old students association]. I am hopeful that with teamwork and collaboration we will achieve our goals.

Our first task is going to be reaching out to as many old students of Matale as we can so that we can build a strong self-sustaining association.

We are glad that we have been given an opportunity to contribute towards "Girl Child Education" as we build a first class hostel for girls at St. Andrew's. As the old students, we have been tasked to raise 160 million shillings to support the building of that dormitory.

Somebody may feel that this value is too big to be achieved but I am inspired by the fact that a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step and Nelson Mandela's words "It's never easy until it is done". I have no doubt we will raise this money so that the girls can get to study in a conducive environment and compete favorably with the boys.

As a step to raise that money, we have partnered with the school administration to organize a fundraising dinner. This dinner will be held on 6th August, 2015 at Nabisere Hotel, Kalisizo.

Everyone is invited to join us for the dinner. We are looking forward to having you join us!”

It is this kind of community engagement and leadership from the young people of Matale that has us so enthusiastic about the future of the young people of Matale! We kindly appreciate your continued support in helping us empower young people like Robert, who in turn are becoming the true champions of their sisters, friends, and someday wives and daughters!

We wish you and your loved ones a lovely summer. In the meantime, check out some pictures from their gathering. Additionally, you can follow the St. Andrews Matale alumni activities on their Facebook page below:

Links:

Matale Old Students Facebook Page

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