How does KUSP make a difference in the lives of 3000 children in faraway Kobulubulu?
With the Four Schools Project, we quickly realized that few students could learn in an environment where there is one textbook for every 10 students.
Students’ inability to run chemistry experiments because of lack of supplies forever bars children from pursuing careers in science related fields. Artistically inclined boys and girls cannot explore a future in graphic design without colored pencils or plain paper.
Your donations for basic school supplies make an immediate and powerful difference.
When we learned that girls in the public schools were effectively cut off from university educations because the Kobulubulu public schools don’t offer the last two years of high school (upper secondary), we thought an obvious thing to do was institute a Girls Scholarship program where we would send qualifying girls to an out-of-district quality boarding school.
Tutoring Camp for Girls
Scholarships for upper secondary are not an effective strategy unless Kobulubulu girls are equipped to pass the national qualifying exam which enables them to be admitted into a quality boarding school out of district.
So during January of the 2021 pandemic, we piloted a Tutoring Camp, (imagine a SAT prep course scaled for entry into the last two years of high school). The number of girls passing the national exam quadrupled! And we had more girls qualifying for boarding school than we had sponsors to support them. Immediate and clear return on KUSP’s response to a problem.
Sanitary Pad Program
According to UNICEF, approximately 1 out of 10 African schoolgirls skips school or drops out of school because they must use improvised materials that are unsanitary, ineffective, and uncomfortable during their periods.
Poverty in areas such as Kobulubulu means families have difficulty affording underwear and pads for girls in an ongoing fashion.
KUSP’s goal is to ensure that every menstruating girl registered at the four government schools we support has access to safe, comfortable, and effective sanitary pads and underwear.
We continue to develop new strategies to find the most sustainable methods of supplying feminine hygiene supplies and appropriate developmental education for the girls of Kobulubulu.
KUSP believes that to move from poverty, an essential factor is receiving an adequate basic education that prepares students to: earn a sustainable income, create long-term plans, and pursue educational dreams.
Organic and responsive
There are very few charities of any kind in Kaberamaido District, and especially in Kobulubulu sub-county.
KUSP is the only known charity working in the public schools of Kobulubulu with this particular ever-changing group of 2500-3000 children in these 4 schools.
One of the wonderful aspects of KUSP is its small size. Although we have to leave to larger charities some of the systemic educational issues we cannot tackle, we believe our size can be an asset.
KUSP needs to be and is capable of being responsive, and our donor base wants us to be willing to take risks. As we find out what works, and what doesn’t, we will be equipped to pass along what we have learned to other, larger, charities based in Kampala, and encourage them to also invest in this rural remote area of the country.
