St. Andrew's Students Visit Southridge High School April, 2009

Through the exchange of letters, students from Southridge High School in Beaverton, Oregon and St. Andrew's Matale Senior Secondary School in Uganda, began to understand a culture different from their own.  In the ninth grade world history classes, students learned history, contemporary issues, and geography specific to their sister school country. In 2009, the students of Southridge, by fasting and donating the savings from their fast, brought four students and their chaplain from Matale to visit Oregon.

In 2006, the Harambee Centre led its first Sister School Cultural Exchange Tour for students and teachers to Matale, Uganda.  The students met their pen pals  face to face.   Four teachers from Southridge High School in Beaverton, Oregon visited their sister school St. Andrews in Matale, Uganda. There have been many exchanges over the years but 2009 was the first time the exchange was from Africa to the Northwest!

Matale was of special interest to Southridge because it is one of the areas most devastated by HIV/AIDS. At Matale, there are over 300 children, more than half of whom have been orphaned by AIDS. Harambee and the students at Southridge raised a significant percentage of the funds needed to build new infrastructure including classrooms, science lab, and library for the students.

In Matale, like many schools in Africa, children rely on their extended family to pay the tuition which is $200 per year. Many of the students are orphans and need help. Southridge High School has established a Sponsor-A-Student fund. 

               Teachers together in Matale                                           View of Matale countryside

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