Matale, Uganda, Secondary School Project
Science Laboratory Completed December 18, 2010
December 18th 2010 the project was completed. The Science Laboratory is fully functional.Science courses and lab work are now compulsory in Uganda. St. Andrews Matale Secondary School - the school that is the beneficiary of this project - faced closure by the Ministry of Education if a laboratory had not been built. The school has more than 400 students, more than half of whom are girls who would have been impacted by the closure of the school. Most of these students have lost one or both parents to the AIDS epidemic. By funding the construction and equipment of the science lab, the Harambee Centre and ZoomUganda have helped to keep the school fees paid by the students reasonable. This not only allows the orphaned kids to stay in school, but now gives them an opportunity to have a first-rate education and compete at the same level as any other student in Uganda.
The labs are already serving students who are sitting for their Uganda National Certificate of Education this year. These students started the exams in November and will run through mid December. These students are the first generation that has used this facility, but to the school and the community this is going to be a gift that keeps on giving as it will give opportunity to generations of students to pursue science education for years to come.
We are grateful to the Nike Foundation for seconding our project to the GlobalGiving website, and to GlobalGiving for helping us to get to this milestone!
We also wish to acknowledge the tireless efforts of Thomas Lwebuga and Julie Resnick (ZoomUganda creator and activist).
St. Andrew's Students Visit Sister School Southridge High School, Beaverton, Oregon 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.
Attending St. Andrews, 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.
At St. Andrews, 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
Harambee Centre
P.O. Box 6617
Portland, Oregon 97228-6617 USA
Telephone: (503)
710-8264
info@harambeecentre.org