Ready For Class!

Mrs. Merab, 4th grade teacher at Kisoro Hill, teaches inside the former classroom

Kisoro Hill Elementary has long used wooden lean-to structures for most of their classrooms. These closely-spaced rooms with thin, gapped walls, result in significant cross talk between classrooms. The classes are also not sized appropriately for the number of students.

The exterior of the former 4th grade classroom

Kisoro Kids partnered with the local community as they constructed a new building to house two new classrooms: one for 4th grade and one for 5th grade. Projects included building the walls, adding a roof, cementing the floors, plastering the walls inside and out, and adding doors and windows.

Fundraising took place throughout 2019. Construction was started in 2019 and was finished in the middle of COVID lockdowns earlier this year, as construction was allowed to continue by the Ugandan government. As with all of our projects, 100% of the funds raised were sent to Kisoro. Where skilled labor was required, local builders were employed for the work. All of the other labor was donated by the families and friends of the students at the school.

Construction of the roof is performed by local licensed roofers.

The classrooms are now ready, providing a clean, engaging learning environment for 4th and 5th graders at Kisoro Hill! We hope and pray that COVID restrictions will be lifted as anticipated so that these eager students can enjoy their new classrooms soon!

Special thanks to Robert and Jayne Pittman, Kelly Myers, Brooke Love, Bob and Coyce Young, Brittany Ching, and Mandy Dahms for contributing to these projects. Your contributions will provide a greatly improved teaching and learning environment at a school that cares very much about breaking the cycle of poverty in their community.

Flooring the classrooms is especially important as dirt-floored classrooms are often infested with jiggers. These insects burrow into the feet to lay their eggs, resulting in painful sores. The best solution is to concrete the floors.

Plaster protects the walls on the outside and allows teachers to hang educational materials and create an inviting atmosphere for students on the inside.

The completed 4th and 5th grade building at Kisoro Hill awaits students’ return.

“Greetings in the precious name of our Lord! Once again we thank God for keeping each one of us during this pandemic situation of Covid 19. With the support of Kisoro Kids, more work of finishing classes at Kisoro Hill Elementary School has been done as you can see in the photos. The finishing of plastering these classes is an amazing story because this will improve the learning and teaching environment. To God be the glory!”

Richard Tumwizere

Program Coordinator of Kisoro Schools