Empower Uganda’s constitution includes the objective ‘to advocate and promote practical and vocational skills, literacy and education in the communities’. Therefore, in response to this objective, Empower Uganda is established with the aim of availing education to vulnerable children in the community and its surrounding areas, particularly girls, who are frequently, denied their right to education.
Empower Uganda has established a primary school in Mijjunwa village, catering to the poorest children in the community. Around 150 children currently attend the school, of which 100 are girls. For the first few months after the school opened, we provided breakfast and lunch. This was made possible by community members providing beans and millet flour. Unfortunately, poor harvests due to long drought meant that they could not continue to provide the supplies for feeding the children. The children now have to endure the school day without food, which affects their ability to learn. Some children bring cold food from the night before, but this has led to diseases and worms due to lack of refrigeration and no facilities to reheat the food. We hope to be able to provide food again soon.
Children at school range from 4-16 years of age. As many children have started school late, most classes are based on education level rather than age. For example, the Nursery section or Pre Primary has children ranging from 4-6 years of age.
Student Stella is pictured in the brown dress and checkered shirt.
She is 12 years of age, studying in Primary 4. She is an orphan and she stays with her grandmother, who nursed her from birth because her mother died during childbirth.
Stella plans to be a teacher so that she can teach others.
Student Ivan is pictured in the blue shirt and grey shorts.
Ivan is in Primary 3. He lives with his grandmother because his own mother, who was only a teenager, left him with her mother and ran away. He has never seen his father.
Ivan is doing well at school and he plans to be a doctor.
