St Balikuddembe community Primary school brings hope to Kitabona

By Flavia Lanyero

In 1984, St Balikuddembe Primary School in Kitabona Sub-county Kiboga district was housed under a mud and wattle classroom block which would be weather beaten to the ground every term (every three months). Parents and the community had to reconstruct the classroom block at least thrice a year. They also had to weave mats for their children to sit while attending class.

“It was hectic to weave mats and rebuild the classrooms all the time. Whenever it rained, the building would fall and our children had to study under trees as we reconstructed the classrooms,” recalls Didas Nabiizi, the Chairman Parents Teachers Association of St Balikuddembe Primary School.

“At the time, the school stopped at primary five with 40 pupils in total. Parents were not interested in sending their children to the school because they did not foresee any benefit of a child attending such a school,” Didas adds.

It is was at this moment in 2007 that World Vision set up shop in Kitabona Sub-country under Ntwetwe Area Development Programme to address the education challenges of the community as well as health, livelihood and child protection issues in the area.

Thanks to World Vision’s efforts and that of the community, St Balikuddembe Primary School is now a fully functional primary school complete with a Nursery section. There are classrooms for each class up to primary seven, enough staff and a staffroom plus a Head teacher’s office with enough latrines for the pupils and their teachers. And under the child sponsorship programme of World Vision, children in the school have been supported with learning materials like textbooks, pens, pencils, books among other paraphernalia. Currently there are 402 pupils at the school 15 of whom sat and passed their 2015 Primary Leaving Examinations.

15 year old Stella Namukisa is a primary seven pupil at St Balikudembe P/s. She is grateful for the support she has got from the school though the help of World Vision which she says has enabled her to progress from class to class.

“At one time we did not have enough teachers. We could come to school and play until evening with no teacher attending to us. It was not a good time because we never used to learn,” says Namukisa.

“But now we have enough teachers and classrooms. My sponsor bought for me a school uniform, a solar lamp to read at night, shoes and also sends me books and pens to use at school. I am very happy with the support I get from World Vision because it has helped me to study,” says Namukisa who hopes to become a nurse when she completes school.

Since 2007, World Vision has been running projects in education, health, livelihood enhancement and child protection to support communities bring up children who enjoy life in its fullness.

The Livelihood programmes focus on enabling households to generate food and income for families to be able to provide for their children. These activities include; agriculture, soil management, post-harvest handling among others. The education projects focus on building classroom blocks for pupils, providing desks and learning materials and building capacity for parents, teachers and pupils to demand for services needed in the school.

“After constructing St Balikudembe P/s, we embarked on a community sensitisation mission for parents to send their children to school. Currently, almost all children of school going age in Ntwetwe are in school. We have also formed Parents Teachers Associations in the different schools to support the learning of a child,” explains Catherine Tumwekwase a Child Sponsorship Development Assistant with World Vision in Ntwetwe Area Development Programme- a World Vision UK funded programme.

In health, World Vision is putting emphasis on nutrition, access to health services, immunisation, hygiene, water and sanitation among others while under Child Protection, there are several ongoing World Vision supported campaigns to equip children with their rights and help them demand for their rights, end child marriage and child abuse.

For now, many children like Stella continue to benefit from World Vision’s programmes as the organisation continues to uplift children’s well-being in Ugandan communities.