St. Elizabeth Education Fund

St.Elizabeth Girl’s Education Trust Fund.

Started 2010

Hon. Sylvia contributes $1500 monthly.

Objectives

1. To support adolescent girls from disadvantaged background meet their school fees requirements.

Activities

• Payment of school fees for needy but talented girls. This could be in form of full support, half support or quarter support depending on assessed need and level of performance.

• It could be a one off in appreciation for good performance

2. To contribute towards improving science and vocational education for girls.

Activities

• Support to procure science and vocational equipments

• Construction of laboratories and science rooms

• Textbooks for sciences and vocational subjects

3. To provide opportunities for sharing and exchange of knowledge for girls who excel in various fields.

Activities

• Organize exchange visit programmes within the country and outside

• Build networks and linkages with exemplary schools

• Meet travel expenses for arranged education programmes

4. To support girl’s Entrepreneurial and leadership initiatives.

Activities

• Girls will be encouraged to develop proposals for income generation projects which can be funded to help them be self sustaining.

• Girls will be encouraged to involve in community development programmes like support to the elderly, PWDs, Orphans and disadvantaged children.

Trust management Board

1. Sylvia Ssinabulya; Founder and co-Founder to chair

2. George Mukasa- adolescent specialist

3. Ruth Kiwummulo; Representative of Board of Directors

4. Faith Mutebi; Representative of community

5 .David Mukwaya-Accountant

Sources of Funding

1. St. Elizabeth Girls school

2. Hon .Sylvia Ssinabulya

3. Individual donors

4. Corporate Organizations

5. Charity Organizations

6. Foundations

The story of St. Elizabeth Girls' S.S.

The story of St.Elizabeth Girls school and the Girls therein

 I opened the gates of St.Elizabeth Girls School for the 1^st batch of girls in February 2010.All together I enrolled 57 girls by the beginning of 1^st term 2010. 11 in their 2nd year of high school and 48 in the 1^st year.

I went on identifying and admitting girls who were missing out on education .For example Irene Marion was supposed to be in her 3^rd year of senior school but her father rejected her because she had gone to spend holidays with her mother without her father’s permission. The mother didn’t have the money to pay for her fees so she couldn’t go back to school. I invited her to join St.Elizabeth but she had to repeat her second year because we didn’t have S.3.Her Mother has never been able to pay school fees to date

Jane missed the whole of 1^st term because her mother didn’t have the money to pay fees, I admitted her in 2^nd term as a day scholar and she pays just a little fee for Uniforms.

Senoga’s daughter joined the school in her 2^nd term as a day scholar. Her late father was a friend of mine and I felt a moral obligation to see her get a good education.

Later on in August 2010 while on my political campaign trail, I came across 2 orphaned sisters Namakula Noeline and Namigadde Viola who were staying with their grandparents. Both their parents died of HIV/AIDS and their grandfather is bed ridden. They had joined a community secondary school but travelled 7Kms to and fro every day. One day 2 men way laid them and attempted to rape them. They made an alarm and were rescued by people who were nearby. Because of this threat and the fact that their grandmother didn’t have money for fees, Their grand mother had decided to marry them off and when she heard that I had a girls school, she came to me during my campaigns and asked that I take in the girls.

Who are the other girls of St.Elizabeth?

Majority of these girls come from very disadvantaged back ground and only the parents of 4 of these girls Annette, Dorcus, Betty and Namagembe can afford to pay full school fees of $540 per year. 39 students pay only $270 and 15 students cannot afford to pay fully for the half Bursaries and just pay as little as they could. Some spend an entire term without clearing their fees and I top up the rest from my salary which am paid as a Member of Parliament. The parents of these girls are peasant farmers. This year the Farming sector has been affected by falling prices of Maize and Beans rendering many parents unable to pay their fees. I have turned my contribution into a scholarship fund which we use to cover up the financial gaps of the school. Every month I contribute $1750 to the fund making it into a Total contribution of $21,000.
I wanted to give girls from my district and beyond an opportunity to have a well tailored quality education within a good environment that will mentor them and prepare them for a competitive future. I wanted to develop these girls for leadership today and in the future. I wanted to give them an education that was a replica of what my daughter was getting. I wanted to bridge the gaps that I encountered as I was in school and fill up the many gaps that are in the contemporary rural secondary schools.
One of my biggest challenges is achieving my Vision of turning St.Elizabeth into a centre of excellence for girl’s education. It calls for the construction of modern structures for Classrooms and Laboratories. The space is small so I have to construct storied buildings to accommodate up to 600-1000 girls in 5 years.
The expansion of the school stalled because I used the money I had put aside for construction into school fees for those girls unable to pay and I use this money to pay teacher’s salaries and to purchase scholastic materials.
We have put focus on Science subjects, vocational subjects and ICT and all these require plenty of room and volumes of books and equipments. Equipments include Computers, Tailoring, Embroidery and knitting machines, Food science equipments like Cookers, Ovens and refrigerators, equipments for woodwork and technical drawing and for Electricity and Electronics, Music, Dance and Drama Instruments.
We have carried out visits to villages to reach out to communities and encourage parents to educate their girls and make use of the opportunity provided. We talk to the parents about the benefits of educating their girls. I always use myself as a role model. Having been born in a village, I have been able to achieve what I have because my parents gave me an opportunity and didn’t consider me for marriage in the 1st place. I tell parents that their daughters will marry after completing school the way I did. I tell them that their daughters have a potential to be like me and beyond.
The response of the parents is impressive and we are likely to have over 150 new girls next year 2011.Though we have enough classroom space for up to 500 girls, we have no Dormitories. Currently, the 58 girls are housed in a block which is meant to house the Library and staffroom. There is therefore urgent need to get funds to the tune of $50,000 to construct a dormitory block to accommodate 300 girls and the Matrons.
Iam launching an appeal to people and organizations that are interested in educating girls to do any of the following;
1. You can sponsor a girl at a cost of $540 per year or contribute part of that to top up for those girls who pay half.
2. You can contribute funds for construction of dormitories or laboratories
3. You can donate equipments either in kind or donate funds for purchase
4. You can become a volunteer teacher at St.Elizabeth
5. You can become a promoter or fundraiser for St.Elizabeth and tell your friends about it.
6. You can become a fun of St.Elizabeth Girls school Mityana on face book and at our BlogSpot; www.stelizabethgirlsss.blogspot.com
“Join hands with me, together we can ensure a promising future to the girls of Uganda

The Genesis of St. Elizabeth - 2010