Uganda Children’s Village: A Light on a Hill
POSTED ON Aug 23, 2010 / UPDATED ON Jan 27, 2011
Pink with a blue roof: the light on the hill.
This nursery class still meets under a tree, but that doesn't stop them from being excited about learning.
“You come around a bend in the road, and it’s like a light on a hill,” says Wendy Brown, COTN-International Education Director, describing our Uganda Children’s Village during a recent visit. “The blue roofs stand out so beautifully.”
In just over a year, the initial building projects in the Children’s Village have been completed, including seven children’s homes, an infirmary, two classrooms, and a gazebo for meetings and outdoor activities. “It was so great to see our children living in new, clean, organized buildings,” says Wendy, who visited Uganda in July. “Everywhere I looked I saw happy people striding around with purpose.”
As COTN’s Education Director, Wendy’s main focus of her trip was school. With four classes of students meeting daily at our Children’s Village and more expected in the fall, classroom expansion is necessary, and already underway. “[COTN staff member] Andy Taussig’s Venture team just broke ground on another classroom,” Wendy reports. Plans for a fourth classroom will follow.
Meanwhile, the staff and children make do, meeting in the entryway of the Children’s Homes, under a tree, or in the nearly-completed gazebo. Donated and purchased resources are rolling in, including desks being built by a local carpenter, and storage shelves donated by a recent Venture team. “They were just stacking supplies and books on the cement floor, because they had nowhere to put them,” says Wendy. “So our team went out and bought storage units for each classroom.”
With staff and space available only through second grade, the children in our Children’s Village and Village Partnership Program are sent to community schools for continued education, which isn’t ideal. “Students sit in classrooms with over 100 children,” describes Wendy. “It’s difficult to get any attention.” Not to mention, she adds, “why would we put so much care into raising our children, only to send them off and have them continue their education somewhere else?” This is why it’s our goal to complete the expansion of our primary school classrooms and move on to building a fully-staffed accredited secondary school, with boarding facilities.
Still, our children aren’t sent out without our help. During Wendy’s visit in July she gathered teachers from the thirteen schools where COTN children attend, and led teaching seminars. This was a huge success, both last year and this year. “Teachers graduate college in Uganda but don’t get any continued education,” says Wendy. “They were eager to attend.” So eager, that after teaching all day from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon, teachers arrived promptly to attend teaching seminars until the sun went down.
This investment in our children’s future, both through education and continued building projects, is already reaping results. “Last time I visited, the kids weren’t sure about everything, like it all might just go away,” Wendy says. Now they’re outgoing and happy about their future, and it shows. “They didn’t hug us last year. But this year they approached people for hugs.”
To help continue the growth of our Uganda Children's Village, visit our Giving Opportunities.