BUILDING QUALITY SCHOOLS TO TRANSFORM THE FUTURES OF AT-RISK CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN OUR VILLAGE
Education is the best way to secure a hopeful future for a vulnerable child in Uganda.
The Impact of Education
Founder, Jordan Ocen describing the life-changing impact of building schools in our village
We’ve been in our village long enough to know that a school is the difference between poverty and hope for children there. A school is the difference between eating 5 times a week and multiple meals each day. A school is the difference between advocating for your ancestral land and having it taken from you tomorrow due to illiteracy. A school is a lifetime of difference for children in our village and we have an opportunity to provide that for them.
But just any basic school will not meet the needs of this community. Instead, we are establishing the first ever quality schools there that will reinstall a high value of education in our community. And by creating affordable access to them for every family in our community, we are sure to see upward change unfold in our village.
With transformative hope, we look forward to building schools at every academic level beginning with our first school that opened in June 2023! This includes Uganda’s nursery (preschool), primary and secondary grades, vocational training programs, and an entire Bible College in the future! The teaching at our schools will be marked by emphasis on literacy and critical thinking skills because we want our community to read and write, and ultimately advocate for themselves.
This is how families in our village can escape the doom of poverty plaguing it today—one educated child at a time.
So let’s do our part: Let’s build a way out of suffering for them by securing hopeful futures for our children through education!
Our model of schooling is simple and transformative for the entire community.
EVERY CHILD GETS ACCESS TO OUR SCHOOLS.
There has never been a secondary school in our remote village so students are forced to drop out after primary grade 7 (equivalent to U.S. grade 7). There is simply no infrastructure for them to continue schooling—no access to further their studies— so many of them drop out earlier than primary 7 because there is little motivation for parents to continue investing in their children’s education, and it is too expensive to send them to school outside of the community. There are also slim to no income-earning opportunities for former students that only reached primary 7 which continues the cycle of poverty for them, their family, and their future families.
Our commitment is to provide access to a quality education in our rural village by building schools there at every academic level— Uganda’s nursery, primary & secondary grades, vocational training, and a Bible college—so that no child, youth, or adult has to ever be denied an education in our village. We will also build strong bridges for local students to have safe access to our schools, especially during the rainy season when their only route is dangerously flooded.
EVERY CHILD CAN AFFORD TO ATTEND OUR SCHOOLS.
Our rural community is full of families suffering from great poverty and other devastating factors directly linked to their affordability of education. Nearly all of our neighbors are subsistence farmers that make very little money to support their daily living and send their children to school. Sadly, many of them do not earn enough to eat more than a single meal a day. That often leads to children growing up without ever attending school, or being forced to drop out early, so that a family can survive solely off of their harvest until the next farming season. These same families struggling to care for both biological and orphaned children deeply desire to send their children to school.
Our commitment is to provide free and subsidized education, with priority schooling and boarding sections for orphaned and vulnerable students, through sponsorships, full-ride scholarships, and tuition scholarships.
EVERY CHILD GAINS A QUALITY EDUCATION AT OUR SCHOOLS.
There are no quality schools in our village or anywhere close to our remote community, forcing the few school-going children there to settle for a subpar education. This contributes to nation-wide unemployment by inadequately preparing children with the education and skills needed to successfully enter the workforce. Poverty quickly results from these circumstances which describes nearly every family in our village today.
Our commitment is to establish top quality, Christian schools marked by teaching with emphasis on strong literacy and critical thinking skills. This will decrease unemployment and the low literacy rates in our community by equipping our students to advocate for themselves and families as a means out of poverty.
Other resources such as 24/7 shelter (through boarding dormitories), medical care, nurture/discipleship, and psychosocial support will also be provided to our students to further define our holistic approach to top quality education.
We have short & long-term plans to transform the life of every student at our schools.
PHASE I:
BUILD TEMPORARY SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE
uganda’s nursery classes K.1-K.3 (u.s. preschool) - Primary 2 (U.S. Second grade), and the administrative support house
Scholarships for orphaned and vulnerable children during phase I will include sponsored tuition, scholastic materials, uniform sets and shoes, and school meals (breakfast & lunch).
PHASE II:
CONSTRUCT A PERMANENT SCHOOL CAMPUS
uganda’s nursery, primary & secondary grades, vocational training, and a bible college
Scholarships for orphaned and vulnerable children during phase II will include phase I sponsored costs, in addition to shelter (housing in our boarding dormitories), discipleship & mentorship (spiritual & psychosocial support), school meals (breakfast, lunch & supper), and medical treatment (first-aid, clinic, and hospital levels).
