Re-Igniting Hope in Educating Children
On September 07 2022, we re-visited Kwiayakuru community primary school in Ragem sub-county in Ajibu village Pakwach district. The school was started by the community members themselves due to the lack of a nearby primary school. The children from this community trek every morning for about 2km to look for a nearby primary school. Many young children and their families could not afford to move and because of that, many parents decided to keep their children home until community members themselves thought of opening a school to help their children. The community stakeholder gave a helping hand to have this school started, like the catholic church offered their one grass thatched house which is acting as the classroom now to accommodate over 200 children. Other community members who went and studied somewhere else and live in the village offer free education services by teaching the children. The parents helped grow crops for the teachers because they spend so much time at school that they cannot grow crops for their own families. The school has four teachers, three male and one female, who teach primary one to four with over 300 children.
After visiting this school for literacy/tree planting in July, we realised that the school was closing because the parents were no longer supporting the teachers. They decided to close the school so the teachers could grow crops to earn a living. We followed up with the teachers and asked them to continue and we promised to revisit the school soon to host positive parenting activities with the parents within the community and also to support the school.
We visited the school with a STEPi partner and the entire team conducted various activities, including meeting with the parents who were invited for the positive parenting activities. I challenged the parents about whether or not they love their children to support them in school by buying them academic materials, and supporting the teachers. Over 30 parents attended the positive parenting activities spearheaded by me.
We donated teaching materials like textbooks, pens, boxes of chalk, etc. to support the teachers before they start teaching the third term. Betty, who had a school in Nebbi and is now hoping to make the school become a centre to support teenage mothers, donated all the desks which were in her school to support the children in Kwiakuru community primary school.
We engaged with the children again through literacy activities. Some children who did not receive any books in the previous visit also received books. We gave out one hundred copies of “A Boy Named Justice”, “Do You Like Grasshoppers & Chapati?” and “Smelly Fish Island”.
“We are glad that you fulfilled your promise to revisit us to offer support to this school. We had lost the hope that this school would continue. I was imagining where to take my children. Thank you very much for supporting the school with academic materials, all along we have been asking the government to support us all in vain I also want to thank you for inspiring our young ones to fall in love with books and to embrace education These books you have given are not for children alone, us parents are also part of it, from the positive parenting sessions I realised we have a great role to play to support our children, thank you very much, may God bless you all.” Mr. John Opoki, the chairperson of local council one.
Our revisit to the school has built more hope in the parents to support their children and the teachers in the school. It has also inspired learning in the children due to the literacy activities conducted. This is a community which seems to be forgotten by the government, they are isolated in a very deep village and they lack a lot of basic necessities of life like clean water, electricity, better medical facilities and so forth. We hope to have support for the school to rise and help many innocent children within that community.
By Joshua Oyergiu
STEPi Community Engagement Coordinator, Uganda