St. Anne Grace Secondary School. When we visited this school in June, we learned that the algae-covered pond that students use for a water source is now drying up. As you can see in the picture, students can barely fill their jerrycans because the water level is so low. Because of this, often there is not enough water, even contaminated water, for the students at the school. Enrollment has dropped in half to 350 because there is not enough water. The need is now desperate for a borehole at this school in Nakifuma. If the current pond dries up, the school may close. The local villagers will have no school to teach their children, and the region will suffer. We must now urgently try to collect donations for a borehole at this school. Please read the description of this school below. We need $9000 soon to build this borehole!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead

A borehole well at St. Anne Grace Secondary School

St. Anne Grace Secondary School was started in 2005 and grew to a population of 665 students at O and A level. Half of the students are boarding students. This relatively new school is registered with the Ministry of Education and is located in Nakifuma in the Mukono District 25 miles outside Kampala. The local population in Nakifuma consists of farmers and traders. The campus accommodates four classroom buildings and one girls’ dormitory. Girl students outnumber boys. Boys who board at the school are still sleeping in a classroom, awaiting a dormitory. Classroom size is very crowded with 100 students per class. There are no textbooks, very little electricity and no internet access on the campus. Academic performance is a priority and improvement is apparent since this year all students passed O level examinations to advance to higher level education. There is a successful sports program at the school, and students schedule 2 hours for sports practice one afternoon per week.

The Headmaster, Mr. Kiwanuka Joseph, is a dedicated teacher with 17 years experience in the classroom. He leads a staff of 38 teachers. He recognizes the need to also train students for practical life employment, and has introduced vocational training into the curriculum, including teaching skills such as farming, welding, carpentry, animal husbandry, tailoring and embroidery, and baking. Already, students operate a small farm on the campus and make clay bricks.

Currently, students fetch drinking water from a contaminated pond off campus, ~ 0.5 mile across a busy road. As you can see in the picture, this pond is covered with algae, which the students scrape aside before they fill their jerrycans. This pond now is drying up. The water is not clean, and the time spent fetching water for so many students is extreme, representing wasted study time. There is clear need for a borehole water well on the campus of this school. This deep well will give them clean fresh water and will not dry up.

We need $9000 to construct this well.

We at Quench and Connect thank you for your past donations, and we sincerely hope that you will be able to donate again so that we can build another water well, this time in Nakifuma. We need you to continue to help us so we can give the students at St. Anne Grace clean water to drink. We can’t do it without you!! Your gift will definitely make a huge difference in the lives of these students who hope to succeed in school, and rise out of poverty that is a struggle in the Mukono District.