St. Andrew’s Matale Secondary School Girls Dormitory Project
Matale, Uganda
The building of a dormitory for girls at St. Andrew’s School will create a safe space for 400 girls to focus on their studies, unleashing the opportunity for them to reach their full potential, achieve their dreams, and become tomorrow’s leaders. The mission of the project is twofold:
Improve student safety
Improve academic performance
Projected Completion Date: Funds are needed for finishing touches (plastering, plumbing, windows, and painting) and furnishings. We are actively raising these funds to complete the work in full in 2021. With these finishing touches and final furnishings, the dorm will be ready for girls to move in as soon as pandemic shutdowns are lifted.
Why it Matters
Safer conditions
The girls dormitory will eliminate the need for daily walks between home and school (some students walk between 3-7 miles to/from school each way), reducing exposure to unsafe conditions along the way; such as physical attacks, sometimes including rape. If a girl becomes pregnant by rape, she will not longer be able to attend school and additionally be robbed of her education.
Disabled girls will be especially helped, bringing some fine minds into play that may not otherwise have the opportunity to attend school.
The dormitory will provide a safe haven for girls who have unstable or unsafe conditions at home.
The dormitory will also house a sickbay where girls can get help with health related matters.
The dormitory will also be an integral part of a new water harvesting system that will provide more reliable, safe, clean water to the school through a Water Harvesting Project.
Better education
Some girls spend up to 3 hours a day walking between home and school. Living at the dormitory will give them 3 more hours a day to focus on their studies.
Girls are expected to help at home by collecting firewood and water, cooking, cleaning, taking care of younger siblings, and more; while the boys are allowed to focus on their studies instead of chores. On campus living will free girls from their additional household duties and allow them to better compete with boys.
Teacher apartments within the dorm will attract more qualified instructors and provide for safety and mentoring.
The top floor of the building will also include classrooms.
You can help girls achieve their dreams!
Help improve the lives of girls in rural Uganda through a donation to help complete final touches on building construction and furnishings.
200 desks for 400 students are needed. Each desk will accommodate 2 students & costs $60. If you’d like to purchase desks, we will add a plaque with your name to the desks your donations go towards.
105 5-gallon cans of interior and exterior paint will complete construction. Each can costs $90, including labor.
Help us reach the finish line by donating to any of the other finishing touches needed to complete this project.
Made Possible By
Since 2015, we have seen friends and family give to the Girls dormitory work in ways we never imagined. We thank all of you for investing in the lives and futures of girls in rural Uganda by providing them a safe place to focus on their studies - you help dreams come true!
Special thanks to:
The Nike Ever Higher Fund for the grant that funded the start of this project
The community of Matale, Uganda for investing in the education of their girls through committing to raise 20% of funds needed for the project
The Brink family for donating beds for 400 girls
To all the supporters who have donated money, skills, and time towards this project