WOODSTOCK – It’s a labour of love for a school in Uganda built on it.
On August 23 local volunteers in Beachville raised $1,500 for the Amazing Love School located in a remote village in Uganda where poverty and starvation are part of everyday life.
Organized by Oxford County residents and Woodingford Lodge employees, the money was raised through raffles and games.
The school, founded and funded by Canadian couple Phoebe and James Gonahasa in 2006, is located in Nakyere Village, Namutumba District.
It is built on ancestral lands that Phoebe Gonahasa, who grew up in the village, inherited from her mother.
“What the Gonahasas are doing is completely selfless,” said Sheilagh McDonald, one of the organizers of the fundraising event, adding her goal is to raise awareness about the school. “They are so dedicated to improving the conditions of their home village — it’s such a noble cause I wanted to support them.”
McDonald actually travelled to the school in February to teach English to the students. She said the school is so remote that it took five hours to travel the 160 km from the airport in Kampala.
The village has no hydro or running water — or any retail outlets — and the population survives off of shallow wells known as boreholes.
“This couple from Uganda recognized that this area is so remote the children were not getting educated and would live as peasants the rest of their lives,” McDonald said.
A number of the students are orphans from the AIDS epidemic, she said.
The Gonahasas, who now live and work in Canada, started the school and operate it with their own funds.
“From the desks to the books, they pay for everything; they also feed the students,” McDonald said. “Many of the students come to the school because they get fed and their parents want them to go so their children get an education.”
While the school costs about $4 US a year to attend, as many as half of the parents just can’t afford it, but the children are never turned away.
“The goal for this couple is to see the Amazing Love School flourish and to provide their students with a strong educational foundation that will make them employable,” McDonald said.
