St. Dominic’s Secondary School is a private school that was established in 2000 in the Masindi district in Central Uganda. In the first years, the school struggled with community support, and enrollment dropped to 100 students. In 2009, the current teacher, Mr. Mugisa Fred, came to revitalize the school. Since his arrival, and due to his vision and energy, enrollment has steadily increased to its current level of 630 students. One-third of the students board year round at the school, including girl students who are housed in the girls’ dormitory. Mr. Mugisa actively recruits students from the local elementary schools, and he envisions that the school population will grow to 1500. In his first years as Head Teacher, he established a Board of Governors for oversight and built strong community support. He has recruited a staff of 20 teachers who teach in a set of eight classrooms. The curriculum includes O and A level, as well as some vocational training, and St. Dominic’s is now ranked 3rd among the 20 private secondary schools in the District for academic performance in national exams.
The students at this promising school need a source of clean water to improve their health so that they can study. Currently, the only source of water on campus is a single pipe and faucet (see the picture) with water pumped through rusty pipes from a nearby lake. The water coming from this pipe is contaminated. The electricity that pumps the water is sporadic and, when electricity fails, the water is not pumped, causing a disruption in flow for periods as long as two weeks. In cases when the water flow stops (as happened when we were on campus in March), students have to walk nearly a mile to a contaminated stream to fetch water. This stream is located in a deep valley, and students have great difficulty climbing back up the hill with their heavy filled jerrycans. Much good study time is lost trekking to the stream to carry water to drink and cook. The students at St. Dominic’s Secondary School clearly need a borehole well on their campus to provide a reliable source of clean fresh water.
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 Masindi. We need you to continue to help us so we can give the students at St. Dominic’s 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.