Education, hope and a future.
Three things every Ugandan child wants.
Three things Keframa School Build seek to provide.
We are building a secondary school for 500 young people in northern Uganda.
We are excited about improving the lives of the young people at Keframa High school. It is a special place which has been founded by an inspirational family. This remarkable bunch of people have faced life in a warzone and struggled in abject poverty to make ends meet, yet their desire to establish a place of education for the least and the vulnerable in society is extraordinary.
The school has been operational since 2011. It has approximately 220 students and while teaching now happens in the new buildings, the dormitory accommodation is some distacnce away and completely inadequate.
Everyone makes sacrifices at Keframa for the sake of keeping the school going. The staff sometimes will not take their salary if money is not available and it means that there’s not enough food for the school- it’s incredible that the school remains open and that students are attaining such good results in these circumstances.
Secondary education is highly valued
It is fairly easy in Uganda to attend primary level education but the means for secondary are often hard to come by. The cha
nce afforded to individuals to gain O levels should not be underestimated, as with these qualifications students can then attend institutions for further learning, such as Agriculture, nursing, mechanics, business etc. (Read Agoro Christ story – coming soon…)
Every child’s potential is seen
Students are recommended for study by church and community leaders, if potential is seen in an individual means are made to give them an education. We have a sponsorship programme which gives support to academically able students whose parents are unable even to afford the low fees at Keframa.
Written by Claire Tufnell and updated by Ian Baird-Smith Apr 2024
Developing Keframa
Keframa High School is thriving with 220 students, but it was not sustainable on its original site.
I have witnessed the monthly juggling act required to keep the school afloat by minimising expenditure and motivating all the staff whether teaching or non-teaching staff to go the extra mile for the benefit of the students. There’s sacrifice across the board at Keframa and it’s incredible how they keep going!
We are thrilled that over the course of a few years, thanks to some external funding, we have managed to secure a new site for KHS to be built on. The first phase was completed and opened in March 2019 just in time for the school to be locked down by Covid for two years. The Anglican Bishop of Lango diocese has accepted the responsibility for ownership. This gives the project stability and longevity – two things important in making a lasting difference!
The first phase of the school development includes 6 classrooms, 2 laboratories, an ICT room and library for teaching. There is large hall for examinations, assemblies, whole school events and eating in inclement weather (there’s a dry season and a wet season in Uganda – sometimes it can really rain!) The hall can also be split into additional rooms. There are also offices, food storage and cooking facilities, toilets and washing facilities.
Pictured below are what the classrooms, admin block, toilets and kitchen look like…
The next phase of the building project will be to provide dormitories for the girls on site, since it is damgerous for them to be moving between sites after dark. Following that some staff houses and boys accommodation will follow as funds allow.
Keep watching here for more news
Written by Michael Arlington
A Brief History of the Area
A whole generation in northern Uganda suffered at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Children were abducted to become child soldiers and used as sex slaves.
The only way they could be ‘kept safe’ was to move them into camps for internally displaced people.
These areas, although technically ‘safe’, lacked many basic facilities and, needless to say, education was a low priority.
It was from this extraordinary background that Keframa High School was born.
Read more here.
