With the end of the year fast approaching we are still on track to successfully complete our very aggressive development plans. Our #1 priority for 2024 was to build an 8-classroom primary school on newly acquired property across the road from the JPSS campus. That has been completed and the 1000 + Adodoi School primary students will begin the 2025 school year in these new facilities. As soon as the primary school year ends, in early December 2024, we will rehab the existing primary school classrooms on our campus and convert them for our JPSS students. Our second priority was to provide additional housing for our ever-increasing student body, now…

Year 2023 saw the culmination of two essential and large projects, the Multipurpose building supported with a, large modern kitchen, and our big water project. Giddy from the success of these two projects we have even more ambitious plans for 2024 which are well underway. With the school now approaching 700 students with a staff of 50 we need more of everything – beds, classrooms, books, land and the list goes on. Our plan addresses each of these issues. The first priority is increasing the size of the campus, and we have come up with a creative means to acquire a large parcel. Currently there is a primary school with…

We are very excited to announce that the JPSS water project is now complete! Access to clean water has been an ongoing journey since the beginning of John Paul Secondary School in 2007. Initially our students and teachers would walk long distances to reach the community well in order to fill their Jerry cans of water needed for drinking and bathing. After several attempts, we were successful in digging a functioning well on campus in 2015 which made the journey to retrieve much shorter for students and the local community alike. The hand pump served the campus well for a long time, but as the school community continued to grow,…

Water, water, everywhere, but not enough to drink. That is the position we found ourselves in recently. When the school first opened its doors in 2007 there was no water on the campus. As is the case in most of Uganda, those living in Chelekura had to spend an inordinate amount of time standing in line at a community well, waiting their turn to fill Jerry cans. Students at JPSS were no different than the local citizenry; they took their turn also at the community well. Then in 2015, we commissioned drilling for a well and were successful in bringing good clean water, with a purifier on the hand pump,…

Thirsty?  Walk 20 feet to the fridge and get a glass of clean, cold, filtered water from the dispenser.  Ready for bed?  Wash your face and brush your teeth with warm and cool water from the faucet in your bathroom.  We forget what a blessing clean, running water is, available wherever and whenever we want.  In rural Uganda, running water is not the norm.  Little children learn early to help the household by carrying water back home from a local well, if they are lucky enough to have access to clean water. A full Jerry can (like below) can weigh up to 40 lbs. When the first well was completed…

Our incredible contractor Vincent has made tremendous progress since we first broke ground on the Multi-Purpose Building in June. Employing lots of extra workers from the local community, he now fully expects to have it completed by this year’s end. And, this much-anticipated Dining Hall will be fully operational by the start of the 2023 school year. In addition, while just as important but not getting as much attention as the MPB, a new modern Kitchen will also be completed and fully operational by the start of the 2023 school year. The modern stoves are purchased and ready to be installed when the Kitchen is done. The final phase of…

Just as we are feeling the effects of inflation here in the USA, people in Uganda are struggling with similar challenges… Ugandan schools reopened in February this year after a 22-month hiatus, the longest shutdown of schools anywhere. The inflation rate had just spiked 1/2 point to 3.2%. But the ever-upward rise in energy prices is driving inflation to alarming levels. Today the rate of inflation in Uganda is 6.8% and is expected to increase again in July. In addition, the price of all goods and services has risen dramatically. Food prices have nearly doubled in just four months (100 kgs of flour were $41.60 – now $70.00, a ream…

Construction Is moving along at a good pace and it’s very exciting to see the progress that is being made. Be sure to read the following update and view the photos…… Despite the many challenges facing the school over the next few years, we continue to develop and grow the campus. We broke ground two months ago for our most ambitious project yet. . . a massive Multi-Purpose Building and a large, modern kitchen. When completed (scheduled for late 2022) it will accommodate 500 students at a time for lunches and dinners. It will also have a raised stage for performances with room to seat 750 guests and will be…