UG 29 - DORMITORY FOR DISABLED SCHOOLGIRLS
Project Location
The Kangole Girls Primary School is located in the central region of Karamoja, in the district of Napak, in northeastern Uganda on the border with Kenya. People in this area are engaged primarily in pastoralism and also in some agriculture. Irregularity of rains, though, often results in crop losses. Climate change in this region has been detrimental as there is no alternative to rainwater. Poverty is currently structural and endemic. Recently there is some hope of improvement thanks to the new road, built by Chinese enterprises, which connects Moroto with Soroti and facilitates communications and transport. In such an environment the school has functioned for almost sixty years, helping effectively to spread the idea that school is a mandatory passage for all forms of development and laying the foundations for access to a profession for many women: actually, thanks to the Kangole school, a lot of them have achieved a certain economic stability and are able to take care of their families, providing not only for their basic needs, but also for the education of the children, thus laying the foundations for a future beyond cultivation of land and raising of livestock.
Project description
The school has always paid particular attention to disabled girls. Historically, the greatest disabilities were due to the presence of blind girls and girls with walking difficulties, especially victims of polio at a time when there were still no vaccines available. At present, the school welcomes girls born with deformities who, due to the lack of means to access specialized care, have to live with their problem. Wheelchairs and crutches are a common presence in Kangole. At the moment the old dormitory used by disabled students is no longer accessible. The roof has to be repaired, and we also need to raise the walls to respect the cubage required by government directives. Furthermore, the two bathrooms have to be restored, as all the windows are ruined by wood-eating termites, and the floors must be fixed, too. It will also be necessary to add a veranda so that the schoolgirls between one lesson and the other have a quiet shadowy place reserved for them.
Objectives
- To have in place a suitable dormitory for the disabled female students enrolled now, and ready to accommodate more girls with disabilities in the future
- To help develop in these girls a greater awareness of their dignity by paying attention to their needs
- To inculcate in all school pupils that disabled people also have their rights in society and are not to be considered less than others
- To foster a sense of solidarity and mutual help among the students.
Beneficiaries
Direct: 10 disabled schoolgirls
Indirect: 1,000 schoolgirls, their families and society
Referent sister for the project: Sr. Emma Wachira
Project's costs