Mbarara, Uganda, once a refuge for people displaced from war-torn Congo and Rwanda, saw women and children frequently wandering its streets. In response to this, Mbarara Parents Primary School was founded. Father John Baptist Bashobora, along with his team, acquired a former homestead in the leafy Kakyeka area of Mbarara to create a haven for these vulnerable children.
This school provided education, shelter, food, uniforms, caregivers, and limited medical care. It offers a basic primary education following the national syllabus, as well as practical skills, sports, and counseling, recognizing that many students come from impoverished backgrounds.
Often walking long distances, some up to 10 kilometers, these children live with elderly grandparents, their sole surviving relatives, without a source of income. They attend school barefoot, lack school supplies, and study in overcrowded classrooms.
The daily meal provided at the school, maize flour (posho) with beans, is often the only sustenance these children receive, though it falls short of a balanced diet.
The school faces several challenges, including:
1. The urgent need for additional classrooms and dormitories. 2. Deteriorating buildings lacking proper drainage and desks. 3. Insufficient sanitation facilities given the student population. 4. Limited access to clean drinking water. 5. The unmet need for sanitary products, which hinders girls' education and exam performance due to the associated stigma.
Mbarara Parents Primary School aims to address these issues and offer a brighter future for these disadvantaged children.