We are a group of friends from across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire brought together by Michael Arlington. Collectively we have a variety of different and disparate links to Keframa High School but we are all keen to work hard at raising the necessary funds to build the best secondary school!
Check out the team profiles below:
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The Arlingtons
Michael has been visiting schools in Uganda for 8 years and has assisted in numerous projects to improve education. He first met the Keframa team in 2011 and has been increasingly impressed by their commitment to bring hope and enlarged horizons to the children of the rural communities surrounding Lira, northern Uganda. As a farmer and countryman in the UK, he has learnt so much from them and seeks to use his own skills and resources to add to their efforts. His wife, Alison, has also visited Uganda on several occasions and is excited to be using her gifts to make a difference too. She has given Ugandan children the experience of ceilidh dancing and recorders, which was a great success! She comments, “the children never forget you and enrich your life even from the shortest of visits – I encourage any and all to get involved in whatever way the can and visit if they can (I’ll come too!).”
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The Baird-Smiths
Ian and Shelagh Baird-Smith first visited Keframa High School in 2011 soon after its foundation while they were living and volunteering in Lira and got to know Jimmy-Francis and Augustine, the founding brothers, very well. Ian and Shelagh continue to be inspired by their vision and personal willingness to put time, money and effort into developing the school. Keframa High School has grown and been successful despite the very limited facilities, they are excited by the opportunity to make Keframa a leading school in the region to reach more of the deserving young people of this poor area.
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The Halls
Lois Hall spent a month living with the Kezzy family and taught English to the students at Keframa High School during the summer of 2016. She was later joined by her parents, Tom and Sarah, and her younger sister, Esther, where they all had the privilege of visiting, helping and befriending many of the staff and students at the school. They were amazed at how much was done to educate the students with so little, and despite the very basic and run down building, how the students themselves work so hard. Having met with the Kezzy family, and seen their vision, they wanted to help them achieve a new building and new future for many more students in this area where there is little or no provision for education if you have no money.
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Hugh Middleton
I visited Lira and Keframa in 2012 and was moved in three particular ways. The first was the sense of disorientation that still hung over the district some five years after the formal end of hostilities. The second was how rudimentary the school’s facilities were, and the third was the determination of students, staff and sponsors to address both of these. Each one of us can only do so much but together we can do much more, and do what will undoubtedly support these wonderful people in trying to help themselves.
The Tufnells
Uganda has got under our skin a bit – in a good way! We lived in western Uganda for nearly two years and it was during this time that we first met some of the directors of Keframa High School. You can’t fail to be inspired when you meet them! From such humble and traumatic beginnings they have created a truly remarkable school. They are quite unique for Ugandans of their relatively young age and know how to make a little go a long way. We have had the privilege of visiting them and working with them on several different occasions and find it a joy every time!
The Family
Their compassion to help the needy vulnerable children of northern Uganda knows no bounds! They are responsible for providing the opportunity for secondary education in the area for those who can’t afford it. They work tirelessly and with big hearts!
Augustine and Jimmy Francis (far left and far right), the two directors of Keframa High School, come from a family of 12 brothers and sisters. The two of them originally worked for charities that helped re-home evacuees from LRA rebels. Many of the evacuees in Lira were displaced for several years and so make-shift schools were set up in vast campsites to try and attempt to control the growing number of children residing there. Both Augustine and Jimmy Francis recognised that in order to progress, more substantial school systems would have to be put in place- especially for those who by any other means would not be able to afford it. Inspired by their father, who at 72 has only just retired as a primary school teacher to help run his local church, they began to make plans for Keframa High School.
Never has a family before been so invested in the success of the school. The very land that the original school was built upon was in fact the family’s ancestral home and in fact, several of their distant family members still reside there. The land was given to the brothers by their father originally to build their family homes upon and many of the bricks used to create the foundations of the school were taken from the houses they were supposed to live in. Their Aunt Dora (pictured above in the middle) who was living on the site at the time donated a vast amount of her savings for roofing for the dormitories and so the girls dorms are affectionately named ‘Dora Dorms’ in tribute.
The family also make up a vast amount of the staff and faculty. Augustine and Jimmy Francis’ sister, Gloria is one of the teachers. Their other sister, Dolly, is the schools administrative assistant. Their elder sister, Rebecca, is the current matron. Their niece Rachel is one of the English teachers. Their brother, the storeroom manager, their half-sister, the cook, the list goes on and on!
This family is so incredibly invested in Keframa school, their story is inspiring and their aspirations for the education of the young people of Uganda is incredibly powerful.
Written by Lois Hall
