I was a project worker for EPAfrica in 2010 and spent my 12 weeks working with Masosa Mixed Secondary School. I’ve managed to visit the school a few times since I left, whilst a Summer Project Manager and during my time on the Management Committee. However, it has been almost 4 years since I last visited and so whilst working in the region I took the ‘long way’ from Kampala to Nairobi going via Kisii […]
Written by Harry Rawcliffe, Richard Ware and Ali Tonks. Project Workers in St John’s, 2017. Being a Project Worker for EPAfrica can seem pretty daunting. Raising over £2,000 (to invest in your school and cover expenses) is no small commitment; spending 10 weeks living and working in East Africa is quite a lot more. It’s safe to say that all of us had doubts and reservations when applying, but now that we’ve completed our projects we […]
Written by Yamini Cinamon Nair and Alex Raca. In 2017, Yamini Cinamon Nair, Alex Raca and Alex Vassilev were the first Project Workers to invest in a sprinkler system. Rwampara Farm Institute in Uganda is the first farm institute EPAfrica has ever partnered with. This presented an exciting opportunity to apply the EPAfrica model in a new context and resulted in the innovative project of an industrial sprinkler irrigation system. Unlike most EPAfrica schools, students […]
By Carly Munnelly and Charlotte Mackey, 2017 Project Workers at Holy Family Marukusi On our first day at Holy Family Marukusi my project partner and I noticed the school was lacking one very vital element: a library. The existing ‘library’ was in fact a small cramped room containing textbooks piled haphazardly on desks. Attempting to locate the book you were looking for was difficult enough, not to mention the gymnast-style manoeuvres necessary to circumvent mountains of books […]
In central Kampala, a huge flyover is under construction. My driver, Sam, promises its completion will ease the congestion, but for today the rush hour traffic is crawling and I’ve got plenty of time to think. It feels like lots is changing here. Passing through immigration in less than thirty minutes felt like lightning pace, with an East African visa as my golden ticket. It’s designed to encourage tourism in the region, lasts three months, […]
Evan Reekie, Hui Min Ang and Donya Mojtahed-Zadeh are at St Benedict’s Technical Institute. They are the second set of project workers to work with the school. St Benedict’s Technical Institute, a school offering mainly vocational courses, is based in the beautiful rural setting of Kakindo, Sheema district. This institute reflects the future of Ugandan secondary schools as the government are investing in this type of educational institution to equip students with the practical […]
As we’ve reached the mid-point of the summer, we have been reflecting on our first half experiences in Hillside Vocation Secondary School, Uganda… Our school project began with a full week working in the Hillside Vocational school all together, after Norbert, the third member of our trio, had arrived. Following a massive, vibrant religious conference on Sunday 9 July, which took place at Kitagata Secondary School in collaboration with several local schools, we already felt […]
What a difference ten days makes! This week I visited three of our Kisii Project Pairs, just ten days after waving them off to their schools at the EPAfrica Kisii Head Teachers’ Conference. From their knowledge of their schools and their relationships with teachers and students, I’d have thought they had been there much longer! I started with a matatu ride out to Magena, a bustling market town where I met Sean and Miriam. They […]
There is nothing quite like travelling in a Kenyan Matatu. After our 10 hour matatu ride from Nairobi airport to our central house in Kakamega, we knew what awaited us on the morning of Friday the 30th of June as we set off for our visit to Kakunga Girls’ Secondary School. As multiple matatu drivers jostled for our business in the bustling town centre, project worker Tom was charged with negotiating the best fare. Once […]
As part of our first week training here in Uganda, we visited Nombe Secondary School, which received investment from EPAfrica in 2013 and 2014. We carried out what the charity calls a ‘courtesy call’, with the aim of checking how the projects carried out by past project workers were getting on, and to see how the school was doing in general- including whether the school could be a candidate for further investment in the future. […]
