We started the day by meeting our driver Remmy at the hotel for breakfast, then collected Tony and Leslie who were to be our guides for the first part of the trip. Tony grew up in Kkoba village, runs hopeline and set up the women’s centre that we will Vicky tomorrow. Leslie moved to Uganda from Canada in 2004 and runs Real Uganda.
Tony and Leslie took us to the new school being built in Kkoba village. The school is being funded from proceeds of the business that Kain Foundation helped the locals establish; selling maize and other produce for a profit. The volunteers building the school are all parents of the children from the village.
The new Kkoba school will serve more than 11 villages and each classroom will hold up to 100 students. At present, many children have to get up so early in order to get to school on time that it’s still dark outside, which increases the risk of abduction, being held for ransom or even killed for sacrifice. If the children wait until daylight to leave they won’t make school on time. The area surrounding the Kkoba village is safe enough for the children to travel to and from school without fear of harm, and the school will also create opportunities for many more children to gain an education.
On the way to Kkoba village we passed groups of people making and selling bricks on the side of the road, many of which had been purchased for the construction of the new school. We assisted Tony in shifting the bricks closer to the new classroom being built, where volunteers were laying the foundation of the final wall. We formed a sort of ‘conga line’ where we threw bricks down the line, to then be loaded into a wheelbarrow, to be transported to the construction area. (check out our facebook page for more photos of the conga line http://www.facebook.com/KainFoundation )
Whilst this was underway other local volunteers were busy razing land by slashing the greenery in preparation to hoe the ground. It was especially impressive watching a young mother slashing whilst balancing her baby on her back.
The day concluded with a delicious lunch back at Tony’s house, prepared by his wife Doreen, with their two youngest sons Tristan and Troy keeping us entertained.
Grace Lyng (aka Zag)
Remmy our Amazing Driver and the Team.
Volunteers hard at work building the foundation layer of bricks