Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School Project

Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School is both an orphanage and a boarding school that provides education and care for orphans in eastern Uganda. The boarding school caters to both orphans and some local paying students and is located just a few kilometers outside of the town of Tororo in Eastern Uganda, about 200 kilometers from the capital, Kampala.

The school was opened in 2006 with international financial support, and with the goal of providing both secondary education and vocational training. In 2012, the World Children’s Fund began to provide generous funding for operational expenses, support for orphans, and academic quality.

The student population is mostly from northern Uganda where many children have been affected by ongoing wars, floods and HIV/AIDS. Many of the students’ parents were killed by rebels or AIDS which left many of the children as orphans; some boys had been forced to be child soldiers. Students range in age from 11 to 24, and attend secondary grades 1 to secondary 4.

RMF’s plan is to,

• Provide education funding for underprivileged children at World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School
• Support operational costs and administration in payment of staff salaries and daily running of school programs
• Supply school textbooks and laboratory and chemistry equipment for science practices
• Supply computers to equip students and staff with computer skills
• Fund students’ extra-curricular activities geared toward talent development
• Support the school in feeding the students a balanced diet in order to enhance the health and growth of the children
• Support the school with medicines and medical supplies to allow the school nurse to treat the children on school premises and to continue decreasing cases of malaria among staff and students
• Support of the school’s gardening project so that the school produces its own food, thereby reducing food costs
• Support school with costs of candidates sitting for Uganda National Examinations
• Provide funds for housing and other facilities such as dormitories, classrooms, and administration offices

• Lack of computers to train all students
• In need of up-to-date textbooks
• Some students who are HIV positive and are on ARVs need supplementary feeding to boost their immunity; this is difficult for the school to provide
• Students who have completed senior four are unable to join the advanced level due to lack of school fees to continue
• Staff quarters are needed to be able to fully utilize teachers
• In need of a bus to support the school’s co-curricular activities
• A multitude of orphans and vulnerable children are coming to the school to seek assistance and it is painful to turn their requests down

Starting at the beginning of the Second Quarter of 2012, the World Children’s Fund started significant financial support of the school’s operational funding. This funding is being used to cover the school’s various operational expenses, enabling it to significantly raise the level of academics and support for the orphans. This will also enable the school to attract more paying students and work towards becoming self-sufficient.