We are building a school

In prior blog posts I have mentioned PDI or Pathway Development Initiative. This is an NGO based in Uganda run by David Zaale who is a former primary school teacher and one of the most driven people I have ever met. He has an amazing vision for every project he takes on. One example is something called Bio Gas. It's a system that coverts cow manure to a gas that can be used for cooking. Once David found out about this process he took off with it! Many people in his village now have the use of Bio Gas because of him. Davids passion for anything that would make anyones life easier is amazing. 

I am involved in his nursery school and after school programs. He started the nursery school with the intent to give his students a head start in the challenging education system. The school focuses on giving them very solid English skills. School here is taught in English and if they start out with poor or even just lacking English skills it's so easy for them to get very far behind. I have interacted with secondary and primary school students and I am amazed at how easy it is to talk to these tiny kids at his nursery school! The oldest kid there is probably only 6 and, although they are nervous to talk to us, they can comprehend what we are saying so well! We are going to be working with the teachers as well as directly teaching the students. They are all  eager to learn and to be successful in what they're doing. I am so excited to get to know all the children better and really be able to see them grow in this program the next few months! 

David and his wife deserve their own paragraph. They have raised their family of 9 (2 girls and 5 boys) in Bududa district. Most of their children have gone to University which is pretty impressive for Uganda! They are especially proud of their daughters (which is equally impressive). One daughter is married and living in Boston with her (mzungu) husband. They have visited her a few times and love talking about America! David's wife loves pizza because of these trips. Their other daughter went to university and is now a lawyer in Kampala. One of his sons has just graduated university on a government scholarship! Government scholarships are extremely hard to get in Uganda. You have to be over the top smart and outgoing and just really impressive in general. His son was smart and a soccer star. David said that smarts and soccer skills hardly ever mix because you pay attention to one too much. I haven't heard much about the rest of his family but I am sure he is just as proud to include them in his family! They are the best hosts I have ever had the pleasure to be hosted by. Making people fall in love with their home and the people in their village is, I think, what makes them most happy. They love feeding us and even if we just request posho and beans, they serve us big, amazing meals. The meals at their home have been some of the best I've had in Uganda! Also they introduced me to African tea so I will forever be in debt to them for that. In short, they are an amazing couple that really just wants to make their community a better place anyway they can.

I love this family and all that they have done so selflessly for others. They are currently running the nursery school out of their home because the small two room school house they were in before got taken away from them to make way for a new secondary school. David has a plot of land that he is currently building a new four room nursery school on. He has had his contractors put up the skeleton of the school, half a roof of iron sheets and quite a bit of the siding. All the money that they have or receive goes towards finishing this school. They still need a concrete floor, the other half a roof of iron sheets, doors and windows and mid walls. Amazingly all of this costs around $1,000 USD! Because of this new building, more students could attend that nursery school, and it would be a more stable learning environment. HELP International focuses a lot on sustainability while fighting poverty. This is a sustainable project because children can continue to learn through this school and their brothers and sisters can also learn. In the future any of them could be doing amazing things like the Zaale's children just because they had an opportunity to get a solid education. We have the great opportunity to help them finish this school during our summer here! This is where everyone who reads this blog comes into play! HELP does not have the money to build a new school. We are trying to raise $5000 to help PDI as well as another local school in the same situation. If you are interested in finding out more about our fundraiser click here. It is an amazing cause that I am very invested in. Anything you give will help us get closer to our goal. Thank you!