We Have Water!!!

Thanks to a generous donor we now have a clean water source on the school grounds.

You can see by the smiles on the childrens faces that they are so excited to finally

 have clean drinking water.

 This water will provide the opportunity for the teachers to teach  proper hygiene. 

Now there will be water for the garden.  The garden will serve several purposes. It will  provide corn (maize) to make porridge for school lunches, agricultural training and produce for fundraising.

The School Now Has A Library

200 donated books were sent with an expedition and delivered to the school. This is such a wonderful gift as the children will now have leisure books to read with the aid of the solar lights.

Thank you to all our donors

Thank you to all our Take Heart International donors who provided funding for the following new projects:

Latrines and Kitchen Buildings
 

Class Manuals and Student Books

Fair Oaks Rotary donated funds for classroom books,  which will make a huge difference in preparing the students for secondary school testing.

Jimmy Okot presented the book donations to the teachers.

 Fencing

Thanks to an individual donor,

we now have security fencing surrounding the school grounds.

Solar Panels

Thanks to individual donors the students can now study after dark. 

 

                                                                     

 Garden

 We are excited the students and community will be able to raise crops of corn which will provide maize to be used to make porridge for student's lunches. Additional crops will be used for school funding.  An additional benefit of the garden will be  to teach agriculture to the students and parents.

Beautiful New School Desks

After sitting on the floor for one year, the 250 students and teachers are thrilled to have new school desks.  Individual donors made it possible to obtain 100 desks which provides seating for 300 students.  

Staff Furniture

Generous donors have provided  needed furniture for staff, including desks, bookcases, tables and chairs.

Borehole

  

We are in the process of having a borehole installed.  Having clean water is so important in Africa. Thanks to your generous donations,

the students will no longer have to walk a long distance for drinking water and they will be able to use the water for the garden.

Thank you so much to our donors for  ALL of these new additions and

 a BIG thank you to our ongoing teacher sponsors.

We Love You

Uganda Trip 2017

In September 2017 a team with Kathy Laret, Geri Beck and her son, Tyler, and grandson, Preston traveled to Uganda to visit Kiyunga Village Primary School for a dedication ceremony. 

Traveling to the village area

Arriving in village we visited some of the student's homes

We were greeted by the  village children.

We were happy to be with the children.

We all enjoyed meeting the student's families.

The purpose of the visit was to dedicate the two new buildings with a total of eight classrooms.  They are amazing.
Pictured are the Head Master, Kabale Moses with Geri Beck, Robina Burton, Kathy Laret and Jimmy Okot.

Our new In-country Director, Jimmy Okot who supervised the construction of the buildings.

When we arrived the students greeted us in front of the old school structure.

Inside classroom.  Great room but, currently, we have no desks for students or teachers.  

The students playing at recess.

 The school day is from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm. Often the children have to go without lunch.  A donor gave us funds for the purchase of maize which will provide porridge for the next month.

200 washable menstrual sanitary kits were donated by Days for Girls, and delivered to the young women.

The dedication ceremony was attended by government, and local leaders.

Preston Beck and new friend

The celebration was a very big event for the village community.  It was attended by approximately 350 people including the teachers pictured and other leaders, parents and students.  

A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR ONGOING DONORS WHOSE GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS HAVE PAID TEACHERS SALARIES AND UNIVERSITY TRAINING AND SPONSORED OTHER PROJECTS. 

 BECAUSE OF YOUR HELP, WE ARE PROVIDING AN EDUCATION FOR 250 STUDENTS AT

KIYUNGA VILLAGE PRIMARY SCHOOL

History of Kiyunga Village Primary School in Uganda Africa

Robina Serwanga Burton was born and raised in Kiyunga Uganda and now lives in Sacramento California. In 2008 Robina was introduced to Geri Beck and two of her teacher friends, Kathy Laret and Naomi Harper. When the women learned more about Kiyunga they discovered that the villagers were very poor and did not even have a school for their children. 



The small group of women decided to help the villagers build a primary school. Robina's family donated the land, and the villagers constructed the brick walls. 

A fundraiser was held in Fair Oaks, California to raise money for a tin roof. The school is a simple structure, with no doors or windows, and originally had a dirt floor. The brick structure was the first permanent structure in the Village. Since 2009 the brick building has been used not only as a school but has become a multi-purpose facility for the whole community's use.

Eight teachers and a principal were hired whose monthly salaries are paid for by a few dedicated individual donors. The eight teachers are being sponsored to attend a local university for teacher training. 

Teachers

Principal Mirembe, who is disabled with her two grandchildren that she is raising

Since children in Africa wear school uniforms, as soon as the school was completed the next task was to provide the children with school uniforms. Funds were donated to purchase fabric for the uniforms and then a local seamstress in Uganda made the uniforms.

The enrollment quickly reached over 200 students

The children were so eager to learn.

 The villagers added temporary classrooms to accommodate the secondary students.

The children love attending school and participating in music, drama, and field sports.

Homemade Musical Instruments

Barefoot Soccer

Field Sports

Donated Vests

In 2016 with the help of the Griffin family and Take Heart International, a new project was developed to build permanent classrooms in addition to the existing main structure.

New construction begins

Thank you for your generous donations.  

Sponsors are needed to help with teacher salaries and continuing education, text books, school supplies, and school uniforms.

100% of your tax deductible donations go directly for the school needs. 

To donate, send a check to: Take Heart International

Shirley Griffin

Take Heart International

4913 Puma Way

Carmichael, CA

95608 

take.heart.international@gmail.com