By Noela Nalujjuna | Harambee Centre Board Chair
Dear friends,
I hope you are enjoying 2015 thus far and the turn of the seasons as much as I am. We (Thomas Lwebuga and Noela Nalujjuna) spent the first half of January in Uganda and a significant part of that time in Matale. During that time, we visited with community leaders, St. Andrews leaders, and former and current students of Matale. We left thankful to have a community of people there that are true partners to Harambee Centre in this work. This is because:
a) they share the vision of giving girls a safe place to focus on their education and are excited to build the girls’ dormitory because they value the impact it will bring to the community;
b) they are committed to raising a significant amount of the funds needed – 40%, which is a big deal for this rural community, and;
c) they are impeccably taking care of what is already there, as you will see in the photos attached.
Shortly after we came back, we received the UCE (Uganda Certificate of Education) results for the class that sat for their Senior 4 exams in 2014. 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! 77 students sat for the exams, with 9/77 (12%) passing with a 1st grade, 18/77 (23%) passing with a 2nd grade, 18/77 (23%) passing with a 3rd grade and 27/77 (35%) passing with a 4th grade. Overall, 94% passed their exams.
However, as has been the case each year, the girls are still lagging behind the boys. 51 (66%) of the students were girls, however, only 2/9 (22%) of those passing with 1st grades were girls. They are on the right path, but this indicates what we know, they still need the help.
As we have said before, it takes leadership and commitment from both sides to keep a vision like this alive. Equally important, it takes supporters like you who continue to work alongside us by supporting this shared goal and vision of giving the girls of St. Andrews a safe place to focus on their education. All of us at Harambee Centre and St. Andrews S.S.S Matale are very grateful to you and your continued support of this work. Enjoy this spring season; may it bring prosperity, health, and continued generosity towards our work and other causes that you feel called to support.
By Thomas Lwebuga, Julie Resnick and Noela Nalujjuna | Project Leaders
By Thomas Lwebuga, Julie Resnick and Noela Nalujjuna. | Project Leaders
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
