Part 1: How to start a school with no funding

The story of Empower Uganda School is truly extraordinary.

It starts with Robert Bogere growing up as the eldest of 10 children in Mijjunwa village, southwestern Uganda. His parents had fled war-torn Rwanda and arrived in Uganda with empty hands.

It continues with Robert beginning primary school - but not until the age of 12, when he was old enough to be able to earn money to pay for his own school fees. He did this by making and selling crafts from papyrus leaves, and by doing digging work in the school plantation.

Robert then went to high school and continued through to complete his final examinations. Remarkably, he was offered a place to study a Bachelor of Arts with Education at Makerere University, the top university in Uganda. Not only this, but he found sponsors to pay for his tuition and was able to complete his degree and graduate in January 2016.

Before he graduated, Robert had decided that instead of taking his degree and getting a paid teaching job, he would go back to his village and start a school for the poorest children who can’t even afford to go to the local public school.

But how do you start a school with no money? No one took him seriously enough to put money into the project. So Robert made bricks. 30,000 bricks, to be precise. He formed them, fired them, then sold them. That money bought the plot of land where the school is now located.

Once the villagers saw how serious he was about the school, they helped him make more bricks and build the school buildings.

The school was opened on 7th March, 2016 - with no furniture, no textbooks, and dirt floors.

This is why we are raising money to buy desks for Empower Uganda School.

Please, will you help us furnish this school?