KIBAALE – School Daze

Just to affirm how large a project Kibaale Community Centre actually is; when Rachel takes me on a tour of the site it lasts for pretty much half the day. We begin as the students gather for their morning assembly. It’s very much like the old style British versions; except with praise music filling in for hymns. The primary and secondary schools assemble in two different groups. For the younger students, especially, it’s a chance to make sure uniforms are complete and well presented before the start of the day.

As we look into the various school buildings and see classes underway, it’s clear just how large the Community Centre’s ministry has become. There are traditional academic classes, as well as a whole vocational school with tailoring, woodwork and baking as the mainstays (sales from the produced items form part of the centre’s funding) There are also special classes for deaf students. This is, Rachel tells me, a rarity in East Africa as usually if children with special needs are able to find a place to be taught, it’ll be at specific schools for the deaf or blind and far apart from the mainstream schools. To be able to minister to those with special needs as part of the whole school community is really rather special.


A North American favourite; Duck Duck Goose.

We also take a look at the new clinic building; which appears to be very well equipped (I also get to see the corner of the old community centre where a pair of nurses ran what was the old clinic; it’s a vast improvement) and the even newer daycare centre for the children of staff members which, literally, had opened its doors for the first time that morning. Obviously the centre is well funded via its Canadian supporters, but it’s also clear that there’s a lot of passion among the senior Ugandan staff who run the ministry which keeps the centre seeking to do even more for its community. Rachel spends most of the time fielding questions and sharing ideas about what’s next for the school, she explains that the Canadian staff aim to direct the project and its funding; while equipping the Ugandan staff to actually staff the school, clinic and all of the centre’s other ministries. The trick seems to be matching the funding and resources with the ambitions of those growing the ministry!


The Kibaale Community Centre Clinic. Shiny!

Another impressive sight at the centre is the blzing hot smoke-filled kitchen where, each day, a small staff cooks lunch for the hundreds of staff and students. There’s a feast of rice, beans, chicken and matoke (that’s the name for the savoury mashed bananas which are a Ugandan staple) Like back at Alfa Gente in Brazil, the provision of a full daily meal is actually one of the most significant ministries of the Kibaale Community Centre. The school charges a nominal fee for students; but that’s mostly to ensure participation rather than for funding purposes. The need for nutritious meals is paramount and, when there is a drought and a poor harvest as seems to be the case in Kibaale at the moment, not every family can feed themselves properly.


Kibaale's kitchen. Imagine cooking for hundreds in here every day. Now that's commitment!

Later in the week Jeff and Shannon’s eldest son, nine year old Joel, takes myself and one of the other Canadian volunteers for a walk up a nearby hill to get a better look at Kibaale and the centre. Joel bemoans our unwillingness to scramble up vertical slopes of thistles as we skirt around the edge heading for switchbacks. Along the way we pass by a collection of dilapidated buildings. They look like classrooms but many are missing walls or pieces of roof. I wonder if it’s a former school but, apparently, it still is. This is one of the government run schools and the poor condition demonstrates why so many churches and foreign agencies are working on education projects in the country… From the top of the hill, the scale of the Kibaale Community Centre is even more obvious. Together with the staff housing and farm land it encompasses, it’s comparable in size to the town itself!


The town of Kibaale; you can see the beginnings of the Community Centre nearby.


Joel heading straight for the most vertical part of the hill...