quick link for this page: http://tinyurl.com/amatsikofund
Amatsiko Preparatory School is located in Kabale in southern Uganda. The school provides free education and meals for 120 under-privileged children as well as board for 20. The Amatisko Organisation runs the school under the guidance of its principal Alex Atuhiere.
Land Purchase – Goal USD $ 38,600
Crowd funding amount raised: $2570.00
Other funding sources: $9548.47
Total Raised as of May 1, 2017: USD $12118.47
Percentage towards our goal: 31%
The school rents the land on which it is located. This arrangement could end at any time as they have no lease. The land could easily be re-rented to a higher bidder. We wish to acquire land for the school to secure its future.
Running costs will be reduced by USD $3000/year. The school will take on more students as well as develop more community involvement programs in Kabale, Uganda.
Amatsiko Land Purchase Crowd Funding Site
http://tinyurl.com/amatsikoland
Amatsiko Crowd Funding Video
Amatsiko School Tour & Interview Video
Jerry Kitt and Rick Welykochy visited the Amatsiko School in January 2016. Here is a video interview featuring Jerry and school principal Alex Atuhiere.
Event 2017-03-18 Comedy Night Demmitt AB Canada
Our team organized a Comedy Night Benefit featuring comedian star Howie Miller as well as a silent auction, the Hythe Community Choir and many goodies on sale.
The evening brought in more people than we dreamed with over 200 people from the Grande Prairie AB region attending the evening.
Howie Miller brought the house down with everyone in tears of laughter.
The silent auction sold out. We more than doubled our funds for Amatsiko
in just one night!
Unending thanks and shouts out to the many volunteers that helped make
for a memorable evening.
I cannot thank enough the event attendees for their kind donations. We
received many donated contributions for the silent auction as well a heaps
of money in cash and cheques. Our teams in Uganda in Canada are eternally
grateful for your kindness.
Discovering Amatsiko Preparatory School
by project organizer, Jerry Kitt of Goodfare, AB
It’s interesting how life can change direction as we pass through it. If one would have asked me if someday I would be trying to raise money to buy land in Uganda on which to build a school I would have said “What? No chance!” But now here I am. That school occupies my thoughts every day. My son Donovan had traveled to Uganda the year before to attend the wedding of his good friend from Peace River. He said “Dad you’d love it there, you should go”. I took his advice, travelled to Africa in January 2016 and was so inspired to see the vision and the energy that some folks have to create a better future for the most disadvantaged members of their community, I couldn’t help but bring their vision home.
Amatsiko School is a source of free education for kids 3 to 12 years of age. While most education in Uganda is not free, this school is run by volunteers and teachers who receive a very small wage. The 120 kids who attend the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds, orphaned, single parent, etc. Most of the kids are HIV positive. The school provides the children with three meals every day and lodging for those who require it.
While we were there we donated some money to build some raised bed gardens, planted them with spinach, cabbage and green peppers. The Ministry was ready to shut down the school for lack of a proper toilet. We built a new outhouse toilet for $200. A group of “graduates” (11 year olds) would not be able to attend another year because there was no classroom. We paid for the construction of a new classroom ($175). We built compost bins ($100), rain gutters and a water catchment system ($700). It was not because we were driven by some religious mission but because we saw how little it took to make such a big difference in those peoples’ lives.
Then we discovered the school had even bigger issues that threatened its existence. The land the school was built on (an old iron foundry) was rented from the next door neighbor. He was a businessman. Improvements only increased the rent. The landlord even charged them for every container of water they carried to drink, wash and water the new gardens.
With all the efforts the school’s founder Alex and his staff were putting into keeping the school going, paying the rent and feeding the kids, with all of the dreams and aspirations of the kids who attended, their greatest need became very obvious. They needed to rebuild their school on its own permanent location to secure its future.
That’s the dream I shared when I got home. Since then I’ve been writing about it in my Farm News and my travelling buddy Rick Welykochy has put together some video footage.
To date (March 2017) we’ve collected around USD $6,200. Our goal is $38,000. This would buy around 2 ½ acres on the outskirts of the city. The new land’s fertile soil will help sustain the school with vegetables and fruit trees. The savings from not paying rent will go a long way to rebuilding the classrooms. The effort to make this all happen will provide many valuable experiences and skills for the children as they grow and move on to independence. Simple technologies like composting toilets, recycling plant waste, upright gardens, etc. can and will provide examples for others.