Spreading love to Community Nursery and Primary School - Katikara
We have an exciting update from our shoe drive for raising funds for shoes for the children at Community Nursery and Primary School (Katikara). We were able to provide shoes and socks for all the pupils with the generous support of the friends and partners of WorldHope Corps!
Community Nursery and Primary School (Katikara) in Uganda was started in 2010 by Pastor Mukiga Eliasaph and his wife, Mrs Mukiga Aidah, pastors of the Katikara Pentecostal Church. The school was founded with the help of church members to provide an education for 20 children who had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. It has grown to educate 280 pupils (currently) from the community, with both boarding and day sections while accepting admission for children with disabilities. The headcount dropped from 415 pupils in 2019 to 250 because some children dropped out of school post-covid. Pastor Mukiga’s daughter, Agness, describes her father as “a compassionate man who stood by faith, trusting God to provide for the school when he started up this institution to help the needy children in the community.”
While in Uganda in 2019, members of WorldHope Corps visited the school and interacted with the pupils and directors. Many of the children who attend the school are struggling financially and cannot afford to pay all the tuition. Several of them also lack shoes and school uniforms which significantly reduces the quality of a young child’s school experience. During our visit, we observed that some of the children were barefoot, and most were wearing plastic shoes or flip-flops to school. At that time, money was raised to provide additional beds, mattresses, mosquito nets, and essential school supplies but there remained an unmet need – school shoes for the children.
In May 2022, WorldHope Corps started a shoe drive to collect money to buy new school shoes and socks for the children in Katikara. On 6 September 2022, the school leadership and the teachers distributed 280 pairs of new shoes and socks to the children. It was so heartwarming to watch the celebration at Katikara as the children received their new shoes and socks. Parents attended the celebration and classes participated by composing songs, dances, and speeches. Be blessed as you see the smiles that you put on the faces of the precious children from Katikara.