S4S Update: New Building for Atanga’s Teachers
The changing face of Atanga features the foundations of a new administrative building (foreground) and two IC-built classroom blocks (background).
Atanga is a relatively small school, and until two years ago it consisted of no more than one dilapidated shack surrounded by a few trees. Students now attend class in new classrooms and study in well-equipped laboratories. The IC impact at Atanga has been huge: S4S has invested over $370,000 in new classrooms, latrines, a power system, and teacher capacity development workshops. With that said, the students at Atanga still have basic educational needs that have not yet been met; even after all that IC has done at the school, more projects await.
The top of this year’s School Project Priority List for Atanga was a request for a new Administration Block. In our struggle to raise Atanga’s performance to a nationally competitive level, catering for the teachers and administration is equally as important as supporting the students . Only good teaching spawns effective learning. The new administrative building will be two stories high, with new offices for the Head Teacher and his support staff, as well as a huge staff room for all the teachers. The foundations are done, and soon construction on the walls will begin. Before we know it, Atanga will be yet another step closer to achieving the nurturing educational climate it is striving to create. This transformation is taking place because thousands of students around the world are banding together for Atanga!
S4S Update: Girl’s Dorm Rising at St. Mary’s
Last year St. Mary’s Lacor School asked for a girl’s dormitory. S4S, with the help of thousands of students across the world, has combined forces and raised enough funds for a new two-story girl’s dormitory. Work is well underway on site: the walls of the first floor are done, and the huge task of casting the second floor’s concrete slab has started. Within two weeks, S4S expects the walls of the second floor to have taken shape. Before we know it, the S4S engineers will be capping off the roof. Seeing the building grow day by day is incredibly exciting!
Security of the female students and their access to education are concerns for the entire school community at St. Mary’s. In years past in Uganda, young girls have been pressured into leaving school at an early age to help at the home and start families of their own. Historically, African communities have regarded the women in their ranks as second class citizens; however, after huge efforts to sensitize communities, girls and women are becoming empowered through local and national programs. This hard-earned empowerment and the shift in the way society sees women is playing out in northern Uganda. The new girl’s dormitory at St. Mary’s Lacor was requested by the entire school community, and as such, is a prime example of how the community has shifted their traditional ways of thinking toward a more equality-based mentality.
Thanks to all those who are continuing to raise funds for St. Mary’s Lacor. Your efforts are making a huge impact!
S4S Update: 2nd Girls Dorm at Gulu High
The walls of Gulu High School's second IC-built girls dormitory are getting higher and higher with each passing day
Last month S4S signed the contract for the second phase of construction of a new girls dormitory at Gulu High School. The winning contractor is now on site and making rapid progress; walls are rising from the recently finished foundations. This project will utilize most of the funds raised for Gulu High from last year’s S4S tour.
The new dormitory will stand side by side with the existing girls dormitory completed under Round 2, with a third dormitory planned for 2010! When complete, the three new buildings will provide safe and modern living facilities for 576 female students. These dormitories have become S4S signature projects in the region, raising the bar for secondary school development in the North.
For those of you fundraising on the behalf of Gulu High, keep up the efforts—the girls are eager to move in!
S4S Update: BIG Day for S4S!!
Today might have been the most expensive day in Invisible Children’s history! After months of work from the S4S team and lots of meetings with our partner schools, IC Uganda identified seven massive building projects that need to be completed at various schools in the North. Today a committee of Invisible Children Staff awarded these seven projects to construction companies in Uganda. Some of our biggest projects to date, these dorms, labs, libraries, and offices are all being funded by students from around the world. Never before has S4S embarked on so many ambitious building projects at once, but we are confident that our team has the skills to rise to the task.
The projects listed below will utilize the funds S4S clubs collected in Round 3 (and will ensure that the S4S team here in Gulu is very busy for months to come). The projects are:
- Construction of a new girls dorm at Awere Secondary School
- Construction of a second girls dorm at Gulu High School
- Completion of the girls dorm at St. Mary’s College Lacor
- Construction of a new laboratory block at Pabbo Secondary School
- Construction of a new administrative block at Atanga Secondary School
- Construction of a new library block at Anaka Secondary School
- Refurbishment of the library block at Layibi College
The value of these projects totals $622,000 US! This means that the bulk of Round 3 funds are now committed to projects, and that the funds raised in Round 4 are more urgent than ever.
On the Ground: S4S Update from Uganda
Walter Knox, Head Teacher at Pabbo Secondary School, poses with the new generator Invisible Children provided for his students
When schools outside of Uganda raise money for the Schools for Schools Program (S4S), that money gets spent in two ways at our 11 Ugandan partner schools: on ‘hardware’ (physical construction projects) and ‘software’ (curriculum development, teacher training, and teacher exchange placements, among other things.)
As always, S4S is charging full-steam ahead with the implementation of its software and hardware projects here in Uganda. I just got an update today from Patrick, the Schools for Schools Program Manager. Our four full-time S4S engineers are busy checking up on contractors and evaluating bids; our Education Officer and her assistant are sorting out placements for Ugandan teachers slated to visit the US.
Check out all of the exciting stuff that’s happening on the S4S front in the next few weeks.