My Grandparents Built a School in Africa

My grandparents are Paul and Nancy Berrigan and in 2007 they built a Catholic secondary school in the small rural village of Chelekura, Uganda, East Africa. The school was named John Paul Secondary School. A little-known fact is that the school was named in memory of my great-grandfathers, John and Paul. When the school first opened it consisted of a total of nine classrooms. And, there were only 14 students and 10 teachers.

Please click on the video below to see the full story:

Fast forward to 2024, the school now has close to 700 students and 40 teachers. In addition to the classrooms, now there is the Daryl D. Wittich Science Center which houses Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Labs, and the Anne Bidigare Computer Lab. A new cell tower means the students for the first time now have access to Wi-Fi. In addition, there is the Glen Dorie Teacher Housing unit. Most importantly, they have a well on campus that produces enough water for the entire campus as well as for the local population! 

Last year, they had the dedication of the new multipurpose building now named “Berrigan Hall” which can hold up to 1000 students. The brand-new kitchen is named the “Comerford Family Kitchen” and makes it possible to prepare all the meals for the students. This year, they are building two new 100-bed dorms, one for girls and one for boys.  And soon, JPSS will have a new FIFA-approved soccer field!! The students can hardly wait for that to happen!!

I am grateful for the opportunity to share this video with you. It was my last class project of my senior year in high school. It was fun making this video and I love being able to share this story about my grandparents. I hope you enjoy it.