Bootstraps Education
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BOOTSTRAPS EUCATION TODAY:
We opened our first school in August 2020. with 25 students and doubled our enrollment in 2021. Assessment data is showing our students making excellent strides in their education.
For much more information, please visit our website at bootstrapseducation.org. (Currently under construction)
BACKGROUND:
My name is Marla Pender McGhee, I taught high school English online for international students, of all ages. A few months after having Irenge Mbwiriza in my English class, in 2020, he began to tell me about his life in the Kyaka 2 refugee camp in Kampala, Uganda. We began emailing back and forth as he told me how he, as the only surviving adult in the family, is the caretaker/father to his 4 brothers and a niece, at the camp, as he has been for the past 4 years. *Update: Irenge recently found his mother and some siblings and they are now all living together in Kampala City, Uganda.
Irenge also told me how appreciative he was to be getting an education and how he wished the refugee children could get an education, so they would be able to have a chance at a future out of poverty. As we talked our plan grew from me thinking I could mail him some supplies, to us actually starting a school in Kampala, for urban refugee children living in the city of Kampala.
We are starting the school with 20 children and a few basic supplies, in a 3-room rental in Kampala. Other non-governmental-organizations (NGOs) in the area try to provide the refugees with basic necessities, mainly food (beans, cornmeal, oil, and salt) and shelter. As much as those NGOs would like to provide education, their resources are too limited to do so. Many of them, including "Future for Refugee," are interested in partnering with us. Another NGO, the Whitmire Trust, has offered us land to build a school on within the Kampala2 camp.
As a 35 year veteran K-12 teacher, I am able to create the curriculum needed to begin, but as everyone knows, one teacher from the U.S. cannot fund an entire school, even a small one like ours. Our 4 pillars are English, Math, Computer Skills, and Self Esteem. Most of these students have experienced multiple traumas related to their refugee status, including seeing their parents killed, being raped by soldiers (boys and girls), lack of food, and inadequate clothing and shelter. We are blessed to have 5 teachers, most of whom are multi-lingual refugees themselves, who understand the conditions these children have endured, and who are committed to working as volunteer teachers in our school.
After a successful year, we are heading into our second year with generous funding from one large and some small donations. We are working with NGOs in Uganda to have us included in their budgets for 2022.
Thank you for taking an interest in these deserving children and for considering donating to our cause.
Sincerely,
Marla and Irenge
We opened our first school in August 2020. with 25 students and doubled our enrollment in 2021. Assessment data is showing our students making excellent strides in their education.
For much more information, please visit our website at bootstrapseducation.org. (Currently under construction)
BACKGROUND:
My name is Marla Pender McGhee, I taught high school English online for international students, of all ages. A few months after having Irenge Mbwiriza in my English class, in 2020, he began to tell me about his life in the Kyaka 2 refugee camp in Kampala, Uganda. We began emailing back and forth as he told me how he, as the only surviving adult in the family, is the caretaker/father to his 4 brothers and a niece, at the camp, as he has been for the past 4 years. *Update: Irenge recently found his mother and some siblings and they are now all living together in Kampala City, Uganda.
Irenge also told me how appreciative he was to be getting an education and how he wished the refugee children could get an education, so they would be able to have a chance at a future out of poverty. As we talked our plan grew from me thinking I could mail him some supplies, to us actually starting a school in Kampala, for urban refugee children living in the city of Kampala.
We are starting the school with 20 children and a few basic supplies, in a 3-room rental in Kampala. Other non-governmental-organizations (NGOs) in the area try to provide the refugees with basic necessities, mainly food (beans, cornmeal, oil, and salt) and shelter. As much as those NGOs would like to provide education, their resources are too limited to do so. Many of them, including "Future for Refugee," are interested in partnering with us. Another NGO, the Whitmire Trust, has offered us land to build a school on within the Kampala2 camp.
As a 35 year veteran K-12 teacher, I am able to create the curriculum needed to begin, but as everyone knows, one teacher from the U.S. cannot fund an entire school, even a small one like ours. Our 4 pillars are English, Math, Computer Skills, and Self Esteem. Most of these students have experienced multiple traumas related to their refugee status, including seeing their parents killed, being raped by soldiers (boys and girls), lack of food, and inadequate clothing and shelter. We are blessed to have 5 teachers, most of whom are multi-lingual refugees themselves, who understand the conditions these children have endured, and who are committed to working as volunteer teachers in our school.
After a successful year, we are heading into our second year with generous funding from one large and some small donations. We are working with NGOs in Uganda to have us included in their budgets for 2022.
Thank you for taking an interest in these deserving children and for considering donating to our cause.
Sincerely,
Marla and Irenge
Organizer
Marla McGhee
Organizer
Asheville, NC
