We are so excited to announce the newest addition to the Rock of Ages Community School campus!
The Multipurpose Building is comprised of 3 floors. The first will host the campus kitchen as well as a dining area that may also be used for school events/functions.
The second floor will host all nursery students (children in Pre-K 3 through 5). Previously, nursery classrooms were all located in the main school building. However, with COVID social distancing requirements all classrooms within this building will be required for students in Primary 1 through Primary 7. While all new COVID regulations for Ugandan schools have not yet been released it is our hope that by relocating our youngest students to this new area, Primary students will have the space they need to get back on track with their learning following this turbulent year.
The third and final floor of the Multipurpose Building will be a convertible space, depending on the needs of the school. Currently we anticipate the third floor will act as a dormitory space for the older students as we move forward into unknown territory following the COVID school closures and re-openings. Once dormitories are no longer needed the third floor can be easily converted into office/workspace for administrators and teachers as well as an official library space for all students to enjoy!
The permits for this build have been secured and the estimations for the first floor are complete. We anticipate the completion of the foundation and first floor (aside from plumbing and painting needs) will cost an estimated $118,000. If you would like to donate towards the building of the multipurpose building please follow this link.
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Hi members,
Our Primary five and six students had a small garden at school before the second lockdown (effective June 7). They had planted kale, onions and tomatoes using old sacks and buckets unfortunately schools were closed before the harvest.
We contacted the students to come and pick them up and take to their families to supplement their home meals.
As a school we have been encouraging students to have small back yard gardens at home so they may help their parents to save some money from buying vegetables, greens and fruits.
We are so grateful to all the donors/sponsors for their support. Thank you.
Betty Wasswa
Founder and Director
Rock of Ages Community School
For more photos check out our Facebook page and don't forget to give us a "follow" for more updates and photos!
Hello Members,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thank you for sticking with us all this time. A lot has happened since the year began, good and bad, but still we appreciate all your resources invested in H4U. Especially your time. Thanks to all for organizing the Angel Tree Drive; it was amazing and made a difference!
This year our gratitude has gone ever deeper. Especially during Covid -19 when we had no hope, but with your generosity you made ROA a better place in Mbiko. Because of you, we managed to pay all the school expenses and tuition for High School students and others who have returned to campus. Thank God for all the provisions!
All schools had a break for Christmas and New Year Holidays on December 18 and are resuming January 18, 2021 after our presidential elections on January 14th. Please pray for a peaceful election- a lot is happening.
Once again I truly appreciate all your support during 2020 and can't wait for what God has in store for us.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021!
Betty Wasswa
Founder and Director
Rock of Ages Community Scool
As of October 16 all Primary 7 and Senior 4 student have returned to school under the Ugandan governments guidance and recommendations. We are still waiting more information concerning the Senior 4 students but do know that all who were enrolled prior to school closures due to COVID-19 have reported in order to return to their studies.
ROA teachers and staff have spent a considerable amount of time preparing the school for re-opening in accordance with the COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). These included guidelines surrounding social distancing and the availability of handing washing facilities as well as other precautions. Prior to reopening ROA received a compliance certificate from the health and education officials.
Typically, students in the 7th grade spend the entire year preparing for the Primary Leaving Exam (PLE). This is a high stakes test with the outcome determining which secondary programs the students might be able to apply to. As school has been out since March preparation time for the PLE has been significantly decreased. Therefore ROA will operate as a boarding school for these students allowing for extra study time. Boarding the Primary 7 students will also help prevent the spread of coronavirus as students will remain at school full-time. Visitors, including parents, will not be allowed per the government mandate.
Preparing to board the 7th graders presented many challenges. In addition to ensuring more hand-washing facilities, masks, sanitizer, and thermometers for daily use, providing enough beds for the 30 students and the additional staff who must act as caretakers was quite a change. ROA has now converted 5 of 14 classrooms into dormitories for the P7 students and thanks to your support has been able to provide beds for each student.
Boarding for the P7 students will continue through March 2021 when they will sit for their PLE. We ask for your continued prayers for the health and safety of the ROA staff and students and for all the sponsors and donors who, like yourself, have made the distribution of food and the availability of medical support possible for all the students of ROA during this difficult time. And finally, we ask for your prayers for the P7 and S4 students who have returned to school for the first time since March, who are under extreme pressure to study for their exams and who will be away from family (perhaps for the first time for some of the P7 students) as they are boarded at ROA and their respective schools.
Some may remember posts from earlier in the year concerning finishing touches on the new Rock of Ages Community School.
Our focus was on completing the exterior of the school. When COVID-19 hit this project was put on hold as the country underwent lockdown.
We are pleased to announce that with the partial lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda, work on the building has resumed! In order to prepare the outermost layer of the exterior, all of the walls had to be sanded. Once this was complete a primer (pictured here) was used to cover the walls. Next up is the exterior paint and we cannot wait to share the results!
Christmas in...September? Why not?!
This month students receiving supplemental food took home a full chicken! Chicken (meat in general) is rather expensive for most ROA families. Usually reserved for special holidays such as Christmas or Easter, it is a special meal.
Uganda remains in pretty restrictive lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To boost moral, ROA faculty decided that providing chicken with this months supplemental food would be a an exciting treat!
Thank you for making this possible for these students and their families! If you sponsor a child and would like to learn more about providing them and their families with supplemental food reach out to our sponsorship coordinator, Tamera here: tamera@hands4uganda.org
The leaves are slowly changing color here in the US. There is a crispness in the air that signals a time when children are typically awaiting their class list and anticipating who their teacher will be for the next school term. But as the entire world continues to battle COVID-19 and its widespread impact, the beginning of this school year looks quite different from any before.
The impact of COVID-19 on children everywhere has been significant and in Uganda the situation is quite severe. School closures around the world have forced educators to create innovative means of teaching through videoconferencing and other online venues. Even in Africa, lessons are being provided on television or over the radio. But in the small, poverty-stricken village of Mbiko - the home to Rock of Ages Community School (ROA) - where electricity is scarce and internet is even more of a rarity, distant learning is next to impossible.
The students of ROA face increased vulnerability, including malnutrition, abuse, and exploitation. In a village known for prostitution, there is a fear of increased pregnancies among the female students similarly to what happened to many young girls in the countries affected by the Ebola crisis. All of this makes the commitment of Hands4Uganda (H4U) to help maintain the safety and well-being of the students of ROA more important than ever.
At a time when food prices have increased, many children are not getting the necessary nutrients for healthy growth. Through your dedicated support H4U and ROA have partnered to ensure food packets continue to be delivered to the students and staff as frequently as possible.
Many students rely on regular medications for illnesses such as asthma. With malaria season quickly approaching, medical attention could be the difference between life and death of a child or their primary caretaker. Again, thanks to your continued giving, all students and their families continue to have access to regular healthcare through the nearby clinic.
The shutdown has seen teachers around the world leave their positions, worsening an already significant teacher shortage. The outstanding staff, both teacher and administrators, at ROA have created a name for the school and the education it offers. Thanks to the many sponsors and donors through H4U the staff has continued to be paid during this shutdown, providing valuable assistance in coordinating the distribution of food packets, medical visits to the clinic, and maintenance of the school and the crops that are planted on the school’s property. To date, ROA has been able to maintain its entire staff.
We thank you for your continued support and ask that you join us in praying that all 300+ students who reported to school in February 2020 return again when schools are allowed to reopen.
First came the foundation then the framing and finally the brick was laid and finished with plaster. If you’ve been following our construction progress you’ve seen the smiling faces of the students as they started school in the new Rock of Ages (ROA) facility in February. Though the students were sent home shortly after the beginning of the term due to Covid, there are hopes they will return as early as September. Before school resumes, however, Hands4Uganda (H4U) hopes to enable the finishing touches to the primary facility including painting, plumbing, and slope stabilization.
Painting the exterior of the building is an important final step in securing the building from weather damage. With the rainy season quickly approaching, rain and wind will take its toll on the building if it is not properly sealed with a protective layer of paint.
“So much has gone into the construction of this beautiful building but most recently we have been focused on the protection of our students and staff during this difficult time of Covid. We are now hoping to paint the building before the rainy season comes and the students return to school”, stated Abdu Wasswa, ROA Program Facilitator.
A new nontoxic anti-mosquito paint has been proven to not only protect exteriors from the elements, but paralyzes mosquitoes on contact. This innovative paint could protect ROA students and staff even further from the wide-spread disease of malaria. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could protect both the building the students with a simple coat of paint?
When the school opened its doors in February the second-floor plumbing was not yet complete and H4U would like nothing more than to bring the students back to school with sufficient plumbing. Access to running water and flushing toilets on both the ground and upper floor will further ensure proper hand washing - a hygiene practice that is more important now than ever as all work to halt the spread of COVID-19.
And finally, because so much of H4U’s efforts have been on the protection of the students and staff through food distribution and medical assistance over the past several months, efforts to raise funds to begin construction of the new kitchen/dining/community center are on hold. As a result student meals will continue to be prepared in a small shanty moved from the former ROA location. This temporary kitchen was placed on a slope next to the new school and includes a cement slab, called a soak pit, that holds water runoff from the kitchen. However, with the rainy season quickly approaching, the slope that the students must walk up to receive their food will need to be stabilized to prevent erosion around the kitchen area and to maintain the integrity of the soak pit.
Please consider contributing to the paint, plumbing or slope stabilization and help put the finishing touches on the new facility before the students return to school.
For those of you have followed along through our social media sites (Facebook and Instagram), thank you! We were so excited to be able to share real time updates about their trip and the progress they were able to make at the new school facility.
Over the next few posts, here on the H4U blog, we will be sharing specific stories that warrant a little more space for words and pictures!
Last week the H4U Mens Team visited a nearby Secondary School called St. Noah. Many ROA graduates who continue to be supported through our secondary program attend St. Noah, including Rose, a student sponsored by Board Member Gabe Flicker.
Below is an email he shared with us recounting his experience .
"The coolest God thing happened yesterday. We wanted to visit some high schools but due to a national holiday, Martyr’s Day, most were closed. But St. Noah, near ROA, was open. This is where many of the ROA students attend following graduation. My child, Rose, is a student there.
The head teacher gave us a super tour. He said ROA kids excel at self discipline and basic knowledge. He said that most find it difficult the first year, as most students do, because this is a boarding school and they are new. It takes a little while to navigate a new school, especially a boarding school.
Also this is a full tuition school and most of the other students come from families with some means. ROA kids come from much tougher situations, often with little to no support from home. However, the head teacher told me that based on how well ROA students perform, they have “climbed farther” than most because they started with such a lower level of family support.
ROA is well respected here. The graduates are prepared for higher learning and we were shown that today. "
Blessings,
Gabe
While supporting students through their primary education has always been at the core of H4U's mission, as we continue to grow, we will be placing more focus on expanding our secondary program which includes academic and trade school options for ROA graduates. Without the continued support of sponsors and donors our students will most likely never have an opportunity to attend secondary school. Most secondary programs are boarding schools and can cost between $800 and $1,000 per year.
In order to stay true to our mission as an organization - to make a positive difference in the lives of the children and youth of Uganda by assisting them in achieving their highest potential through a faith-based education - we must help all ROA graduates continue in their education through secondary school. We truly believe that ensuring all ROA graduates are able to complete their education is vital to them achieving their highest potential. We look forward to seeing where these studious and driven students head as they move into their future!
We ask if you are able, that may you consider sponsoring a secondary student, even if it is not for the full amount, or making a one time donation. For more information on our secondary program follow this link.
