Give Early Education & Hope to Ugandan Children

Thanks to the GlobalGiving community and other supporters, Kathy’s Kindergarten in Mayuge has provided high-quality early years education to hundreds of pupils.  We are so proud of our early years teachers Jennifer, Grace, and Joan who educate the young learners with great care and enthusiasm, breathing hope into their lives.

Sadly, Covid19 has impacted the education sector in Uganda to devastating effect. Over the past 2 years, schools in Uganda have been closed more than they have been open. According to a report by the African Development Bank, Ugandan students have missed out on more days of school than children in almost any other African country (second only to Ethiopia). During the Ugandan national lock-down in 2020 our kindergarten teachers reached each pupil with home-learning support and vital food supplies for the most vulnerable families.

In May and June 2021, during a brief window in time in which Covid19 restrictions were eased, our teachers reached all 60 of our current Kindergarten pupils with catch-up learning. We also ensured that each pupil completed and passed their mandated end of year exam to allow them to move up to the next year of education, a major success! 

On 11^th June the government of Uganda announced a new national lock-down which lasted for 42 days. During this time, not only were all school closed, but strict travel restrictions meant that it was difficult for the majority of people living in Mayuge District to earn a living, farm their fields, or access markets. For people who live hand to mouth even in usual circumstances, this meant that each day was a fight for survival.

Now that the lock-down restrictions have once again been partially lifted, our Kindergarten teachers are able to contact Kindergarten pupils and their families in Covid19-safe ways. However, our kindergarten remains closed, along with every other school in the country.

A glimmer of hope can be seen on the horizon. Recently a limited number of Covid19 vaccine doses have arrived in Uganda and the national government has declared they will prioritise vaccinating school teachers. Our kindergarten teachers have been invited to have their first dose of the vaccine, and we hope that all teachers in the country receive their vaccines soon. Only when all of the nation’s teachers are vaccinated will schools be allowed to reopen. This process is likely to take months to complete, but we look forward to the day we can once again welcome our young pupils at Kathy’s Kindergarten.

One parent’s quote says it all “Kathy’s kindergarten is the best school have ever seen in Mayuge, the teachers are exceptional, the teachers have made my child to love school and it has boosted her mentally.”

Thank you again to everyone in the GlobalGiving community who supports this vital work. We couldn’t do it without you!

Kind Regards,

Madelaine Johnston
CEO of Act4Africa UK

Greetings from here in Uganda, it’s been a while since you last heard from us but we are delighted to tell you that we are doing fine amidst the pandemic and the children are doing well too.

Here is a quick update about what is going on.

Since the government has not yet opened schools officially for pre-primary  classes, we  proactively initiated a group learning model, the model enables children to come together and learn in groups and also have teachers assigned to the groups on different days.  The group model has helped us achieve a lot with the learners even with the short duration of time that we spend with them.

In our various groups we get to learn different things among which includes counting and identifying numbers, social development for example knowing our environment, knowing our friends by names and also knowing the people who help us while learning, we also learn health habits like washing hands, keeping our bodies clean and knowing the foods we are supposed to eat to support our growth and development.

The learning groups have brought out the best of children like Khadimarah in the picture above.

From what Khadimarah and other children shared with us, they learned various skills like cooking, molding using clay and decorating cards using eggshells and leaves, isn’t this beautiful?

In our various groups we also get to share stories towards the end of our day together and the experience is awesome, we love it and the children love it too, we get to sing songs in our groups, to end the day joyfully.

While sharing our stories about the lockdown, Khadimarah told us that she learnt how to cook during the lockdown, and she also loved playing dodge ball during the holiday. Meanwhile, when the world seemed locked down the children’s brains weren’t locked up to stop learning!

Our children made us to know that they loved doing the home learning packages we gave them, ’my mother used to help me do my work but I missed school so much” says Sarah.

We love and missed our children so much and right now every minute with them in their various groups counts, we love learning together, dancing and sharing every minute with them is a joy.

Our parents do appreciate what we are doing in our specific groups because besides just learning we get to grow in socializing.

We are so grateful for what you always do to support our children, we know for sure that we are always in your minds says Dianna, Mummy of Ebenezer.

Links:

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