News
Earlier this year, our brilliant supporters Best Body Physio & Pilates took the incredibly generous step to sponsor 20 School for Life students. We spoke to Best Body’s founder, Scott Wescombe, about his business and how Best Body is working to create real generational change for women and girls, both in Australia and around the world. Read on to find out what he had to say…
This year, we enrolled 279 new students across our School for Life campuses.
Meet some of our amazing, bright and bubbly new students who are so excited and grateful to be beginning their education.
Meet Peter
Hello! My name is Peter and I am in Pre-Primary (kindergarten) at Mbazzi. I like learning English at school. I love eating rice, matooke (bananas) and ground nuts (peanuts). After school, I wash dishes and my uniform, and then I can go play with my favourite pet sheep.
Meet Marion
Hi! My name is Marion and I am in Primary Two at Mbazzi Riverside Primary School. My birthday is on February the first! When I’m at school, I love to read, and my favourite subject is English. My favourite food is rice and my favourite animal is a goat. I live with my mum, and when I go home after school, I help her with chores like washing up utensils. I really want to stay at Mbazzi School because it is so good.
Meet Desire
Hello! My name is Desire Atwuijukire and I’m in Primary One at Mbazzi. I like going to school because I want to learn. My favourite thing to do at school is reading and my favourite meal is posho and beans. I live with my Mum and Dad and after school, I wash my clothes for the next day. My favourite animal is a cat.
Meet Ethan
Nice to meet you! My name is Ethan and I’m in Primary Two at Mbazzi Riverside Primary School. I love writing at school and my favourite subject is literacy. My birthday is September 20. My favourite animal is a goat and my favourite food is rice and beans. I live with my mum and dad and after school, I sweep the compound that we live in. I am excited to be at school this year.
Peter, Haifah, Ethan and Desire are just some of our many new students that have not yet been sponsored.
Sponsoring a School for Life student provides them not only with access to a quality education that will help them reach their potential, but will also provide them with access to clean water, 3 nutritious meals a day and healthcare so that they are able to thrive.
You’ll be able to see how you’ve changed your sponsor child’s life forever, with our teachers providing you with regular updates on your student as well as passing on the many letters and artwork that our students love to give to their sponsors.
Give a child the never-ending gift of education by becoming a sponsor today.
For more information, please click here.
On November 13 and 14, 2019, multi-award winning Australian Country Music star Kasey Chambers came to Uganda and stopped by School for Life’s campuses. There were many wonderful moments shared across the two days with Kasey, our students, teachers and staff and it will be a visit long-remembered. Read on for the highlights of this very special trip.
There were moments I questioned my life decisions and would have been totally ok to stop. It was in those moments I reminded myself why I was here. The money raised would go towards education and improving the quality of life of so many kids. It was bigger than me, and it was time to dig deep. My mantra for the climb was ‘One foot in front of the other, one breath and then the next’.
On Sunday, April 7th, 2019, 113 School for Life supporters descended upon Thredbo Village to join in the inaugural Kosi Climb for Kids - our first ever family-friendly, all ages event held on Aussie soil - where participants young and old walked the 13km round-trip to experience a day in the shoes of rural Ugandan students.
On September 8th, a group of 16 adventurers reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a feat that took seven days to complete; a gruelling mental and physical challenge battling freezing cold temperatures and altitude.
Experience the week up on the mountain from the eyes of our CEO, Annabelle Chauncy, who led the team of 16 and tackled Mount Kilimanjaro the second time around - two years in a row!
Due to a lack of washrooms, a lack of sanitary pads and bullying by peers, girls in rural Uganda miss up to eight days each school term because they are on their periods. The eight days on average translates into 11% of the total learning days in a year which causes high drop-out rates and school absenteeism. Read on to see how Mabel is making a difference for our girls and women.
Sweet and shy Goretti lives with her aunt, uncle and cousins in a small house in the local village. When Goretti was younger, she moved in with her aunt and uncle because her parents could no longer look after her. She was one of our first students at Katuuso Primary, starting in 2011 when she was just 4 years old. Now, Goretti is in Senior One at Mbazzi High School, and is relishing the honour of being a high school student in her community - something that is taken for granted in Australia, but in Uganda, represents freedom and opportunity. Goretti also loves attending School for Life because she hopes to one day become a pilot in Uganda - a dream which she knows can only be reached with the help of a good education.
Violah has been at School for Life since since she was six years old. Sadly, Violah has experienced hardship no child should ever deal with. Her Dad passed away three years ago, leaving her Mum without the financial means to support her family - so she left Violah and her siblings with their elderly grandmother. Every day, Violah has to wake up at 5am to fetch water, cook meals and make sure that her younger sisters are properly looked after. Then she walks half an hour to get to school. Despite this adversity, Violah has flourished at school and has made many friends. She loves that School for Life is "helping me to build a future". After finishing school, Violah hopes to become a teacher to help other children.
Umar is one of our best performing students at Mbazzi Riverside High School - but life has not always been easy for Umar. His father abandoned the family in 2015, leaving his mother to struggle to support her five children on her own. School for Life has provided Umar with opportunities that may never else have eventuated for him. Umar begun his journey with School for Life at Katuuso Primary School, where his academic ability was quickly revealed. Now, he is a thriving member of our Senior 1 class and a formidable wing on the football team. With a love for mathematics, Umar is set on studying electronic engineering after finishing his senior studies - a goal which he is the first to admit is now within reach thanks to the skills and resources provided to him by School for Life.
Rose is a 32‐year‐old single mother of one. She started working with SFL in 2013, after taking part in our tailoring training program. Prior to working with us, she was unemployed and living in her father's home helping to care for her father, who had cataracts, and his farm.
Thanks to her full time employment, Rose was able to save enough money to pay for an eye operation and restore her father's sight, allowing him to return to work as a mechanic. Now, Rose has moved into her own home and no longer relies on her father financially.
Joseph is one of our Special Needs teachers at Katuuso. After surviving a severe case of malaria at age four, he was left permanently deaf. He was raised by his single mother and attended a nursery school for the handicapped and later transferred to a school for the Deaf in Kampala. He eventually mastered sign language and pursued a university degree in education. Joseph decided to become a teacher so that he could give the gift of education to others who are hearing impaired.
Teddy is a participant in the Kumi Tailoring Program and four of her five children attend Katuuso Primary School. She and her husband farm two acres of land, which supplies fluctuating revenue. Participation in the Kumi Tailoring Project has secured income to reliably pay for school fees, nutritious meals and renovations to the family home. Teddy has gained a great deal of self-esteem from her ability to support her family and she takes pride in independently financing the education of all five children. Teddy has also been working on her numeracy and administration skills. She was appointed Treasurer of the tailoring group and will be responsible for keeping records of their savings.
Flaviah Nassaazi started working at Katuuso Primary and Vocational School in 2011. Prior to cooking at the school, she and her husband were subsistence farmers. They worked tirelessly for small yields and minimal income to support their family. Flaviah's cooking job not only enables her to pay school fees for her children, but she has also invested in a local barbershop business. She is now passing her cooking skills onto her eldest son Frank, who has also joined the school's cooking staff. Flaviah and her husband attend the adult literacy classes offered weekly at the school. Her English and reading have improved immensely, as well as her confidence.
In 2010, Rachel began as a cleaner at Katuuso Primary and Vocational School. She was working to save money to study to be a teacher at University. Thanks to Barrie and Simone Goldsmith, her dream of studying came true and she is now fully qualified.