Abayudaya High School: Support a New Kitchen
Donation protected
Help the Abayudaya Jewish community provide meals for high school students at Semei Kakungulu High School!
We are collecting donations so that the school can build a new kitchen for meals to be prepared in a clean and safe environment. The current kitchen at the high school is unfit to use, and once the rainy season comes (starting in March) they will be unable to cook outside at all. Additional funding will go towards a dining hall (currently there is none) and sanitary pads for girls so they do not have to skip school while on their periods.
We are collecting donations so that the school can build a new kitchen for meals to be prepared in a clean and safe environment. The current kitchen at the high school is unfit to use, and once the rainy season comes (starting in March) they will be unable to cook outside at all. Additional funding will go towards a dining hall (currently there is none) and sanitary pads for girls so they do not have to skip school while on their periods.
**If you'd like your donation to be tax deductible, please donate directly through Shomrei Torah Synagogue (STS) HERE and write "kitchen" in the comments section. Abayudaya's Rabbi Sizomu has a long relationship with STS. All funds raised through gofundme will also be transferred to STS, and then directly to the Abayudaya community.**
Background:
Semei Kakungulu High School is the only high school in the village of Nabogoyewhere the Abayudaya community lives, and serves the entire village community (Christians, Muslims and Jews alike). It is also the only high school in Uganda that respects Shabbat and Jewish holidays, along with Christian and Muslim holidays, and teaches Jewish values. The school currently has a total population of 196 where 108 are boys and 88 are girls. There are 19 teachers.
The Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda is a community of approximately 2,000 practicing Jews living in villages surrounding Mbale inEastern Uganda. The Abayudaya self-converted to Judaism in 1919, and today follow mainstream Jewish practices under the leadership of Rabbi Gershom Sizomu. Rabbi Sizomu is ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies atAJU, and is the first native-born black rabbi in Sub-Saharan Africa. The community follows Jewish rituals, observes the laws of the Shabbat, celebratesJewish holidays, keeps kosher, and prays in Hebrew.
Thank you so much for your help! Any questions, please contact me!
Organiser
Rebecca Ottinger
Organiser
San Diego, CA