Latrines completed at Teddi Community School

Teddi Community School is a parent-run primary school. Parents set it up and pay about £6 per pupil per term to cover teachers’ salaries, books, and all other school costs. The school gets no funding from the Government.

“We are a community school and sometimes parents pay late. But we don’t mind. We don’t do this for the money. We volunteer so our community can be sustainable and so our children can have a future.”

– Head Teacher at Teddi Community School

We helped Teddi set up a School Demonstration Garden in February 2015. This is where parents learn new agricultural techniques to help them with their farming at home. Parents contribute around 30% of the profits they make from the garden to the school. We also helped Teddi set up a Village Savings and Loans Association, which helps parents save a small amount of money each week. Both the School Demonstration Garden and the Village Savings and Loans Association help generate additional income for the school.

As a community school, parents give as much as they can to ensure the school performs well and has suitable infrastructure and resources. When African Revival’s Construction Coordinator visited Teddi at the start of this year, he found 217 girls at the school were sharing two latrines cubicles. This overcrowding results in unhygienic facilities, long queues for the toilet, and missed lesson time.

Parents at the school said they would work on the construction if African Revival could help them with bricks, cement, and skilled labour. After seeing the commitment of the parents, we agreed to fund a new drainable latrine block.

– Parents contribute to the construction

This week, with the help of the parents, we finished a new two-cubicle latrine block. Because this latrine block is drainable, meaning it can be emptied, it will last at least 10 years – 8 years longer than a pit latrine!

Thank you to Bloomberg who funded this latrine block!

Bye Francis and Babra!

Today it is with sadness that we say goodbye to two of our Livelihoods staff: Francis and Babra.

Francis

Francis joined African Revival in 2012, after working with as an agricultural extension officer with many NGOs in the region, including the Norwegian Refugee Council. He holds a diploma in Agriculture from Bukalasa Agricultural College, as well as a BSC in Organic Agriculture from Uganda Matrys University.

During his time working for African Revival, Francis has made a positive and lasting impact. He successfully implemented the Community Empowerment Project in Nwoya district, helping to empower local communities through education and agriculture. Furthermore, for the last year in Amuru district, Francis has been using his extensive agricultural knowledge to help communities innovate their farming activities and learn marketing techniques to transform their farms into profitable enterprises. In this capacity, he has been a brilliant manager and mentor to Babra, Bosco and Patrick. Moreover, Francis has been a friendly and lively presence in the Gulu office, and is always a pleasure to work with. We wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavours, and have no doubt that he will go on to do great things in his new job in the Local Government Agriculture department.

Babra

After roles with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and Action Against Hunger, Babra joined African Revival in January 2012 as an Agricultural Extension Worker, before being promoted to Agricultural Project Officer.

During her time with African Revival, Babra has earned a reputation for building excellent relationship with the community. In her role implementing the School Demonstration Garden project in Amuru district, she has trained beneficiaries on good agricultural practices, Village Loans and Savings Association (VSLA) and business skills. Under her guidance, the parents’ groups diversified their crops, modernised their farming techniques and earned a considerable profit at market. Indeed, her extensive agricultural knowledge, excellent teaching style and vibrant, warm personality has made her hugely popular with both the AR staff and communities she works with. Babra will be sorely missed by all the African Revival staff in the UK and Uganda. We wish her the best of luck in her future career and are certain she will be successful in whatever she chooses to pursue.