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By Markus Staudinger from Kasese, Uganda, July 22, 2024, 05:30 am
Photo: Markus Staudinger
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Photo: Markus Staudinger
KASESE. Girls abused on their way to school, more than 100 students in one class: schools in rural Uganda are struggling with problems that are hard for us to imagine.
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to improve life. School desks, for example, so that children don’t have to crouch on the floor.
Teacher Miriam Mbambu teaches a first class at a seven-year primary school on the slopes of the mighty Ruwenzori Mountains in western Uganda. Her 1B class has 126 children. Not all of them are in school on this Wednesday. It rained in the morning, making the walk to school on the clay roads and paths difficult. With just under 90 students, the room is already full enough.
Today we’re learning numbers. Students take turns coming to the board and pointing to the numbers with a stick. The class repeats them in Lukonzo, the local Bantu language. The first letters come later.
First new classes, then benches
Isn’t it difficult for children to learn to write when they have to rest their exercise books on their thighs? “Of course,” says Ms. Mbambu. Would benches help? “Of course.”
However, there is a problem: If you put benches in the classroom, there will no longer be enough space for all the students. If necessary, all 126 children can sit on the floor.
Photo: Markus Staudinger
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Photo: Markus Staudinger
The Kitswamba primary school, where Ms Mbambu teaches, is bursting at the seams like many in rural Uganda – not least because of the rapid population growth in Uganda. New classrooms in new school buildings – in reality simple building structures – are also needed.
The central government in the capital Kampala has set a maximum number of 55 children per class. To us, this seems grotesquely high. On the slopes of the Ruwenzori, however, it is more like a paradisiacal utopia: the government does not do much more than specify the number. It certainly does not provide new school buildings here.
This is where “Be so free Upper Austria” comes into play. The development policy organization of the Catholic Men’s Movement in Upper Austria has been active in the Kasese district in western Uganda for almost 30 years. “Be so free” – known until the 1990s as “Brother in Need” – builds additional classrooms and equips them with school desks.
Photo: Markus Staudinger
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Photo: Markus Staudinger
We are guests at the Rwakingi primary school. “Be so free” has already helped here. A new school building has been built, offering seven additional classrooms. Before, some classes were taught in the schoolyard under a large tree. When it rained, a wooden shed, reminiscent of a stable, served as a shelter classroom.
It is a grand opening: the local political celebrities and residents of the village are here. The region’s MP is said to be highlighting local customs in his speech. “If someone gives you something, then it is our tradition to ask for more.” It is not a slip of the tongue – he will repeat it again later. It is formulated as an invitation.
Photo: Markus Staudinger
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Photo: Markus Staudinger
Franz Hehenberger has been running the “Be so free in Upper Austria” business for more than 25 years. He has problems with some alleged traditions. He addresses this openly in his speech. The role of women must be respected. Family planning is also essential. The limit should be two or three children – so that every child can be fed and given an education. Many families we speak to have nine, ten, eleven children.
Domestic violence and sexual assault are also major problems in rural Uganda. In Ibanda, a few kilometers up the dirt road towards Ruwenzori National Park, “Be Free” built a “Girls Hostel” in 2014.
Dormitory protects against abuse
It provides safe accommodation for around 140 pupils from the adjacent school in Ibanda. In the foothills at the foot of the Ruwenzori Mountains, which are up to 5,000 metres high, some of them have to travel to school for up to two hours – one way only.
The distance is not the problem. The problem is that the girls were often ambushed on their way to school, abused and raped. “The girls became pregnant – and that was the end of their education,” says Florence I. Basaliza. The 63-year-old heads the “Ripple Foundation” (Rifo) in Kasese. Rifo is something like the local branch of “Be so free” in Kasese. Ms. Basaliza exudes a quiet, solid authority. She has worked at Rifo and thus at “Be so free” for ten years. Before that, she was a teacher herself.
The project is supported by self-initiative
The “Girls Hostel” was founded by Basaliza and the local group of the Catholic Women Association (CWA). The construction of the building was financed by “Be so free” and since then it has been running without any subsidies from Austria. Around a dozen experienced ladies from the CWA Ibanda take care of it.
Photo: Markus Staudinger
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Photo: Markus Staudinger
Contributions from parents and donations from the village can also be used to finance part of the supervisory staff. If this is not enough, the CWA ladies step in themselves. It is the opposite of the tradition, presented with astonishing matter-of-factness by the MP, that if someone gives, you just ask for more.
“Ideally, it will work out the same way as with the Girls Hostel,” says “Be so free” managing director Hehenberger. “That the projects initiated with start-up support from us and the local community will be self-sustaining in the long term.” Although they still check things out regularly, “Be so free” can use the money to focus on new projects.
Perhaps one of these will include building new classrooms and funding school desks at Mrs Mbambu’s school.
Information about Uganda and “Be so free”
With around 240,000 square kilometers, Uganda is three times the size of Austria. Uganda currently has around 50 million inhabitants; in 1994 the population was 20 million. If population growth continues at the same rate, Uganda will have around 100 million inhabitants in 2050 – too many for the country to be able to feed them all.
In Uganda, “Be so free OÖ” focuses on projects in the Kasese district in western Uganda. In addition to its involvement in schools, “Be so free” accompanies small farmers and supports them with know-how and with purchases such as beehives, seeds or goats. “Be so free” currently spends around 350,000 euros per year on projects in Uganda. Since 2014 alone, 111 classrooms have been set up and more than 300 small farmers have been supported.
“Be so free OÖ” is financed through donations. There is also support from the state of Upper Austria. “It is great to see how ‘Be so free’ is so consistent in ensuring that money is used efficiently so that it provides the greatest possible benefit in the long term,” says State Councilor for Agriculture Michaela Langer-Weninger (VP), who accompanied the trip to Uganda on behalf of State Governor Thomas Stelzer (VP).
You can find donation options at www.seisofrei-ooe.at, the IBAN of the donation account is AT30 5400 0000 0069 1733
