Work with Communities
A safer place to live and learn
In the Hoima Diocese in rural Uganda, education for girl children is improving every year, with the Church taking a lead role in promoting greater opportunities for girls. Catholic Mission is working in partnership with the Church to deliver crucial programs to that effect. Our Children's Mission Partners are integral in ensuring girls in Uganda and other parts of the world can access education and fully develop the talents with which they are blessed.
For the girls enrolled at St Francisco Primary School in Hoima—and their parents and carers—it wasn’t only access to quality education that was a concern. This part of Uganda has seen abductions and other crimes against children making their way to or from school. Security, even while boarding within the school, is paramount to the effectiveness of their schooling.
Catholic Mission, with support from our valued Children’s Mission Partners, worked with the school to build a secure and comfortable dormitory, so that the girls can study without an added layer of anxiety and trepidation.
Najjuma Edith is a sixth-grade student at St Francisco. The eleven-year-old has been boarding at the school for the last three years and says she can immediately feel the benefit of the new dormitory. Most impressive for her are the facilities, namely indoor bathrooms. ‘In the old dormitory, I used to be afraid to wake up and go outside to the bathroom at night,’ she recalls.
‘Even though the school is fenced, I would ask for someone to come with me. But now I no longer fear, and I can go to the bathroom without waking up my friends.’
Boniface Irumba is the father of another student at the school. Because he lives in a town 43 kilometres away from Hoima, his daughter Pascy must board at the school in order to receive a sound education and be safe and secure when not in class. Prior to the construction of the dormitory, Pascy was staying with relatives in Hoima town, commuting each day to school.
The new dormitory at St Francisco School ensures greater safety for the girl students.
Boniface expressed his gratitude to Catholic Mission’s supporters for their help in making St Francisco a safer place for his 12-year-old girl. ‘The dormitory is built to a standard not to be found in many schools within the Hoima town,’ he says.
‘I am very happy that my daughter is among the pioneer students to be enrolled in the new dormitory. She can now concentrate on her study without the burden of worrying about the commute home. I am sure she will improve in her academic performance now.'
The staff and students at St Francisco are all grateful for the assistance you have provided. ‘We appreciate the support that Catholic Mission Australia has given us in educating and mentoring the young people, particularly the girl-child,’ says Deogratias Rubagumya, the school's chaplain.
‘We hope that the pupils under our care and those who use this facility will be helped in their academic pursuits and in a way be empowered to serve the needs of humanity in the future.
‘We commend your efforts in supporting education and pray that such form of support, as we have received, will be extended to many other communities in the world.’
