PATRIZIA School Buyamba
The community of Buyamba is located in southern Uganda, not far from Lake Victoria, in one of the poorest countries in the world. The PATRIZIA School Buyamba offers children aged five to fourteen a quality primary school education from Year 1 to Year 7. More than 900 pupils attend the school, making it one of the largest primary schools in the region.
The children in this area face significant economic and social challenges, including limited access to basic resources such as water and electricity. Their families struggle with economic downturns, unemployment and maintaining their cultural identity.
The school has been a PATRIZIA KinderHaus since 2010 and was reopened after extensive renovation and expansion with the partner Grünhelme e.V. (Rupert Neudeck) and funding from the PATRIZIA Foundation. The school was extended to include dormitories, teacher accommodation and a new kitchen. This provides the children with warm meals and gives children from more remote villages access to education. Today, the school is characterised by a high standard of education in an extremely poor region.
”All Pupils at St. Francis have now access to clean water, wash their hands regularly. We have had no cases of waterborne disease this school term. Before the intervention, at least 2 out of 10 pupils had a disease associated with poor hygiene and lack of water. Thank you for supporting water harvesting.”
Denis Kalyango
School projects coordinator of the Masaka Diocese
Continued commitment
After the initial measures were completed in 2010, the PATRIZIA Foundation’s involvement did not end, but will continue as part of the long-term partnership in order to generate the greatest possible impact and support further development in the long term.
The school received a new sanitary facility in 2014 and new water tanks were purchased and installed in 2015.
The restoration of proper school operations after the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp rise in pupil numbers presented the school with major challenges once again in 2021. That is why the PATRIZIA Foundation, in cooperation with the Masaka Diocesan School Organisation and ADEPT e.V., provided significant support to the school in renovating nine existing classrooms and the dormitories with the associated sanitary facilities. In addition, two further classrooms and a new toilet facility were built and the kitchen was extensively renovated and extended. The installation of two water filter systems to treat clean drinking water free from pathogens and contamination was also particularly important.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Uganda closed its schools across the country for almost two years before they were reopened under strict conditions. In the first year of the pandemic, the foundation had already started to support the school with emergency aid measures using funds from the Corona Relief Fund. In 2021, further measures were implemented in this context, such as the installation of new water tanks and the purchase of hand-washing stations, soap and clinical thermometers. An important part of the emergency aid was also the financing of school fees for three months and salaries for teachers and administrative staff for four months. A total of around 745 children and young people and 13 employees benefited from this emergency aid.
Watch the video. Read also Vincent’s Stories of Change, Rachel’s Stories of Change and the travel reports by our Project Manager Kristian Bollmann an by our Senior Manager for Donor Relations Jowita Fuchshofer.
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Watch the video for more information about the PATRIZIA School Buyamba
Stories of Change in Buyamba
Vincent’s* Stories of Change
Vincent’s great role model is his sister. The 19-year-old studies medicine. Like her, the 13-year-old wants to become a doctor and heal the sick. His greatest wish is to make sure that not so many people in his country are infected with preventable diseases anymore. “So if I help a person later as a doctor, it may be that I save a whole family.”
Vincent grew up with his grandparents. Because they live far away from the PATRIZIA School Buyamba, he now lives here at the boarding school. When he finishes primary school, he hopes to be able to transfer to a secondary school and then study. Because Vincent already knows today that with his diligence and commitment he has it in his own hands to fulfil his career aspirations.
*Name changed
Rachel’s Stories of Change
Rachel is in the seventh form at PATRIZIA Primary School in Buyamba. The fact that the 14-year-old is even able to attend the school is not to be taken for granted; both of her parents passed away when she was a toddler.
Since then, she and her three sisters have been living with their uncle, who looks after the girls and is even making it possible for them to go to school. Rachel is also extremely fortunate that there’s even a school where she lives, that it’s affordable and that she can get there on foot. PATRIZIA Primary School is five kilometres from where Rachel lives.
She’s so happy that the school is so close. As well as receiving an education at the school, she also gets two meals a day. She has also become part of the social network at the school and – unlike other girls of her age – doesn’t have to work at the local market or help run the household. “Rachel strikes us as an extremely appreciative girl who’s keen to help, and she’s fully aware of how amazingly fortunate she has.
She’s currently completing her last year at primary school, and her dream is to move up to secondary school. We really hope her dream comes true,” says Jowita Fuchshofer.
Travel report: School visit to the PATRIZIA School Buyamba
The PATRIZIA Foundation has been working in Uganda since 2009 to give children in one of the poorest countries in the world access to education, and we have already facilitated several extensive renovation projects at the PATRIZIA Buyamba School. It was high time for a personal visit to the primary school in southern Uganda, where we met the management team, explored further opportunities for cooperation and spent time with the children.
Find out more in the 2022 travel report by Kristian Bollmann or in the 2019 travel report by Jowita Fuchshofer.