What's New?

If you want to see what daily life is like in rural Uganda, visit the Kanungu page where we have posted some photos from our recent visit.

You can support Uganda schools at no cost to yourself. Just click the Amazon button above and select Kirima Ltd as the charity you want to support. Every time you shop at smile.amazon.co.uk they donate 0.5% of your spend… at exactly the same price and service as the normal Amazon site.

What do we do?

Our sponsors and donors provide education from nursery school to 'A' levels and University to help people in one of the most deprived regions in Africa escape from poverty.

Kanungu in South-western Uganda where we work is one of the poorest parts of the country. Most families rely on subsistence farming for a living and they have little opportunity to gain an education and improve the lives of their families.

Teach Uganda and our partners have worked with the local community over twenty years to understand their needs and systematically provide the resources they need transform a community. We build and run great primary schools, a secondary school and a University to give young people the chance to create a future for themselves and their community.

We help train science teachers, who are much needed in the region, and support enterprise projects to help build the local economy.

It is great to visit Kanungu regularly because we see clearly the difference this work is making to people there. With your continued help we look forward to seeing further improvements in future.

Children at Kirima Primary School

”Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.“

Nelson Mandella

Why do we work in rural Uganda?

A few stats about Kanungu…

Over 50%

Of people are children under 16 years old.

Only 70%

Of people are educated even to Primary level.

Only 13%

Of people are educated to Secondary Level or beyond.

73%

Of working people’s main source of income is subsistence farming.

5.7

Average number of people per household.

4.9

Number of living siblings per household.

1.6

Number of non-living siblings per household.

6

Average no of children for each mother.

Source: Uganda Bureau of Statistics

But what can we do?

Answer: A lot.

By creating an educational network from nursery schools to University, we give young people in the area the chance to gain a decent education, learn skills, build enterprises and, step by step, transform the community. Kanungu people are enthusiastic and hard working…they grab the opportunities that are available to them.

Uganda has had a stable government for over 30 years, so we are creating long-term change, not crisis management. This involves more than just providing schools; we have to work on the infrastructure (water, electricity) and provide help to improve teaching methods.

Here is an introduction to some of our projects. Click on the links below or the menu above for more information and the latest news from Kanungu.

Honest presenting new Highschool laptops

CHIFCOD

We are delighted to introduce Honest Wilkins the new chair of CHIFCOD Trustees. His role is to manage the schools and University described here. He is is the main link to the Kirima Charity in the UK.

He is photographed here (second from left) presenting new laptops to Laban, the Headmaster of Great Lakes High School.

Nursery children at Nyakabungo Primary School

Primary Schools

CHIFCOD, our partner in Kanungu, runs four primary schools. Two of them, Kirima Parents’ and Nyakabungo Parents’ are funded by Kirima sponsors.

Primary education is theoretically free in Uganda but, in practice, many children do not attend school because, in reality, it is expensive for them and the quality is poor. Our schools provide the children with an enormously better start in life.

Boys revising at the High School

High School

Great Lakes High School was built in 2012 to meet the needs of more able children graduating from local primary schools. It was started from scratch on an empty field and is now a thriving school teaching 400 children to “O” and “A” level.

It maintains close social and educational links to the schools in the UK who support it, with regular visits from Highgate and Hull pupils.

The new University building

University

Creating the Great Lakes Regional University is our most ambitious project to date.

It provides students who have good High School results the opportunity to study agri-business, entrepreneurship, business administration or to qualify as science teachers - this both gives themselves career opportunities and contributes to their community.

How can I help?

If you are reading this, you may already be making an active contribution. On behalf of the people in Kanungu, thank you!

There are many ways you can make a difference, here are some of them:

Sponsor

Nearly 1,000 people in the UK sponsor a child at one of the primary or secondary schools. But 80% of the children at Nyakabungo Primary are still without a sponsor.

For just £15 per month, you can ensure a child gains an education.

We will send you regular newsletters and, once a year, a letter from your sponsored child with their photo … so you can see what a difference you are making.

100% of your sponsorship goes to the schools, it is not spent on UK admin or marketing.

Click here to download your sponsorship form:

Sponsor a child

Donate

We welcome donations of any size, from a few pounds to many thousands. In fact, to continue our major impact we need a host of small donors and a few major ones. Recent donations, which are much appreciated, include:

A school hall Nyakabungo Primary School for assemblies, eating lunch indoors and to house the nursery
A school hall for Kirima Primary School (the new tarmac road meant the old one had to be demolished)
A resource centre above the school hall with laptops to teach computing and the start of a library

Donate now

Volunteer

We work closely with Inspiring Teachers who run innovative volunteer programs in Kanungu, Uganda and in other countries.

Inspiring Teachers

Link

Our success relies on links with organisations in the UK and around the world who support our work.

Please get in touch if you are interested in discussing how we can work together. Some of our great partnerships include:

Schools, pupils and families
Church congregations
Rotary Clubs
Businesses
Individuals with time and/or money!

Contact us