safe the future

I was born on May 3, 1993 in Padibe west sub-county, Kitgum district in Uganda. My mother died when I was a week old and my father decided to leave me with my grandmother because he had to go back to fighting the war against the LRA, he never returned. My grandmother raised me as her own son and did everything in her power to help me survive. At the age of 10, I was abducted in the early hours along with my two cousins in 2003 by a rebel group called the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. I was a prisoner of this rebel group for over a year, I thought I would die there. There were no dreams of escape because any children who attempted to escape were beaten and others were killed in front of us. The rebels made sure we had nothing but fear that all hope and dreams were lost. One day we were attacked by the government soldiers and all I saw were fellow children running around panicking trying to avoid the soldier’s bullets. During the gunfire I had fallen and when I tried to get up my arms was not supporting me, that’s when I realized I had been shot in both hands and right leg, but still I had to run. I thought that was the end for me, I was in the bush with vicious wounds and no medicine or doctors in sight. I was patched up by a commander major who, for some reason, took care of my wounds day and night. He brought me back from the brink of death. Six months passed and I had become very close to this man that had saved my life when he had come up with the idea to escape the LRA. He took 15 of us, not telling anyone where we were going, and led us to a camp where we would then surrender. After some time I then left a rehabilitation center and was taken to a hospital near my village where they would then work on my arm that had healed very poorly. Soon after that I had come back home to my grandmother and shockingly found both my cousins there as well, safe back at home. After some time back at home my family encouraged me to go back to school. School was a dream of mine that I thought I had to let go of, along with everything else. I was now thriving at this new school thanks to the donations and support of my sponsors from the UK. It’s here at this school that I met my wife, my soulmate. Once I graduated, some years later, I then moved to the U.S. to be with my wife. We were married in July 2015. Throughout all this what sticks in my mind and heart is that I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for someone reaching out and looking out for me. Whether it’s my grandmother who took me on as her own, the commander who took care of my wounds which kept me alive and then brought me to freedom, or my sponsors miles away in the UK that believed in me and supported me throughout my secondary education. So, this brings me to why my cousin & I have decided to give back and do our part by opening up this nursery school in our village. We want to make a difference in our village by opening up a school to educate the younger generation so that they don’t go through the same rough life we went through. Our family has given us the land for the school and the community members have come together and have begun construction on the school themselves using the little money they have. We are reaching out for help to make a difference in these children’s lives so they never have to see war as the only condition they will live in. TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS! School name: ROCK FOUNDATION NURSERY SCHOOL. School vision: To be a leading school in the country in providing holistic education. School mission: To produce self-relying citizens who are morally upright and academically sound. School motto: Education for a brighter tomorrow. School core values: Hardworking, patriotic, and respect to others. MAIN OBJECTIVE To eradicate illiteracy and early school dropouts in sub county SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: * To provide quality and affordable education to the local community. * To produce spiritually upright generation. * To uplift the spirit of hard work, discipline and teamwork. * To provide a solid foundation for education at higher level * To provide self-awareness to the community   PROBLEM STATEMENT Due to long distance travelled by children to access early childhood education, it has prompted parents to set up a nursery within the community. It has been seen that most young children do not attend early childhood education in the sub county. This has brought challenges in the late childhood education which resulted in poor performance and high level of school dropouts     BRIEF BACKGROUND   Rock foundation nursery school is located at Tegot mission Village, Madi kiloch parish, Padibe west Sub County, Lamwo district in Uganda   The school will be started by parents who collectively join hands to construct and open the school with the intention of uplifting the level of education within the sub county The government of the Republic of Uganda under the ministry of Education , sport ,science and technology does not provide for early childhood education (Nursery school education) and African communities are highly isolated, making access to private Nursery education a challenge to our community.   FUNDING OF THE SCHOOL The school is totally dependence on parents’ contribution and donations.     LIKELY CHALLENGES FACE BY THE SCHOOL * Payment of teachers and non-teaching staffs * Lack of basic facilities like good classroom , seats, text books, playing kits etc. * Shortage of nearby safe drinking water     FIVE YEARS PLAN 1. Construction of permanent classroom block 2. Buying enough sitting facilities 3. Buying text books 4. Organizing fund raising 5. Construction of staff quarters 6. Construction of boreholes to provide safe drinking water 7. Opening up primary sections