Central Buganda Academy and Career Centre

 Background:

In February 2004, Kenneth Kasule took on the mantle and founded Wide Smiles For All Through Education Charity to:

Enable less privileged children the opportunity to acquire an education for their growth and development, who would otherwise have had no access to benefit through education.

 Achievements:

Throughout the years, hundreds of students have benefited from our education sponsorship program. Over 600 students have graduated with Degrees, Diplomas, and Certificates in different fields of study and have gone ahead to become middle-income citizens in Uganda. Some have become Carpenters, Beauticians, Electricians, Mechanic technicians, Practical nurses, Social Workers, legal advocates, Fashion designers, Teachers, Business Men and Women, Economists, medical doctors, lawyers, Counselors, and the list goes on…!

We congratulate all our graduates for their accomplishments while at the same time encouraging the 100+ in the pipeline between primary and university level to work hard because with education, a better future is possible.

As you can imagine, it has not been an easy journey to reach this far, but we kept pushing because we understood that our dream is real and very transformative. I will always be cheerful to our benefactors (churches and individuals), plus sales from our agricultural products that have supported us unconditionally, to be able to celebrate our accomplishments.

Problem Statement/What is the challenge?

Central Buganda Academy and Career Centre is a Wide Smiles For All Through Education charity project. For the past 21 years, the charity has sponsored over 700 students through many different schools, which requires a substantial amount of financial resources since each school has unique demands for student acceptance each academic term. These requirements range from tuition fees to brooms, brushes, squeezers, toilet paper, iron sheets, cement, hoes, reams of paper, and in some cases, a development fee that is added on top of those requirements, along with a computer user fee, not to mention textbooks and many other items. There is no alternative to this challenge except for a student reporting on the first day of the term with everything that is requested. In addition to school requirements and exorbitant fees, rural school settings often face poor facilities, which hinder their ability to cater to students’ varying skills and abilities, thus failing to provide the holistic educational environment necessary for learners to fully explore their potential as problem solvers.

From that background, we became convinced that if we had our school, we would have given the best quality education to many students using almost the same resources we used to sponsor over 700 students in the past 21 years of operation. It is never too late, we can still do what we would have done 16 years ago, and perhaps this is the right time than before.

Way forward/ What needs to be done?

I am inviting you friends of goodwill, to join hands with us to make an important investment; an investment in the future of deserving children in the greater Mpigi region in Central Uganda, an investment with Wide Smiles for All Through Education Charity to help shape a desired future for the future cultural, political, economic and religious leaders of our nation.

This school is designed to offer both an elementary and technical/vocational education, and for the purpose of instilling in our students a spirit of learning by doing, the two schools are going to be on the same campus. The elementary/primary section is designed to accommodate 2,000 students, while the vocational wing will accommodate 1000 students.

It is going to be the first school of its kind in the region and a practical solution for many students who cannot further their education beyond primary or secondary level for one reason or the other. The vocational wing will be very important to minimize a noticeable gap in skills training, which has led to unemployment, causing rural to urban migration with all its associated challenges.

WIDE SMILES FOR ALL THROUGH EDUCATION is a dedicated not-for-profit Charitable Organization seeking to give hope to the most deserving children through Education. This school will be an investment for breaking various cycles of ignorance, diseases, and poverty. It will strengthen the family, the society, and bring peace and prosperity to our rural communities.

For years, Wide Smiles has given greater attention to girls’ education and the wider vulnerable groups at large. As you may be aware, many cultures in the global south, the education of the girl child and the advancement of women have been tragically ignored. For centuries, girls and orphans have had to struggle against opposition from their own families, and orphans, especially due to HIV/AIDS, have been victims of the circumstance, besides facing blind prejudice from society. Though the situation of the orphans has been gradually changing of late, many girls continue to face discrimination in education, and some in rural communities have been prevented from attending school and have been overtaken and overshadowed by their boy counterparts.  At Wide Smiles charity, we strongly believe in equal opportunities for all for a better nation. These same values will be pivotal and enforced in the management policies of Central Buganda Academy and Career Centre.

The girl child is used as a domestic worker, and her time for education is essentially limited. Her place in society has been reduced to a tool for raising financial resources through payment of dowry during forced marriages from the same people who should have given them protection. Unpaid domestic work is a full-time job for the girl child in the greater Mpigi region.

The girl child works almost 14 hours daily, which results in physical constraints and fatigue. 70% of all domestic workers in Central Uganda are girls aged below 18 years. It is from the same region that many girls have decided to migrate to the Middle East region as an alternative in the search for greener pastures, but in return facing horrible experiences, those who survived to escape death! The unspeakable inhumane conditions they have had to endure are greatly due to a lack of employable skills, leaving them to only qualify as housemaids, which most Ugandans have come to agree that it is modern-day slavery in the Middle East!   Harassment, sexual abuse, and other abuses of domestic workers are common practices.

The girl-child migration in search of domestic jobs in urban areas of Uganda and elsewhere in the world has resulted in increased prostitution for economic reasons, which has in turn increased HIV/AIDS and mental illness for many of those coming back especially from the Middle East. Our Career Centre wants to change this tragedy for the better; we want young ladies to be well equipped with skills that will give them alternatives to better change their destiny. They essentially need to be in a boarding section to allow them time to concentrate on their studies.

Education will empower them to feel less insecure, as its lack has led to their exclusion, and with time, their vulnerability will come to an end; they will be in control as to when to get married and or have a pregnancy, as sexual exploitation will be mitigated.

I thank the Lord that He has still granted me life, and it is now my chance to rescue the situation; it is my chance to save the future leaders of my nation from illiteracy, ignorance, humiliation, rejection, isolation, and vulnerability. It is my chance to do what is right, they need a school; but I CANNOT DO IT ALONE! I am turning to you, friends of goodwill, to join hands with me and do it together! We need all kinds of support, including in-kind support, for this dream to become a reality. It does not matter how much you can support, but the love in support, and there is nothing small in the face of this project; every single coin and any bit of help counts.

CENTRAL BUGANDA ACADEMY AND CAREER CENTRE will be the solution to the challenge. I thank everyone for your support in the preliminary stages; quite a lot has been achieved.

Once the school is set, it will offer quality elementary and vocational skills to empower the youth with employable hands-on skills to stand a chance to craft their future.

The Academy will sponsor 150 students every year, and the Career Centre will support 50 students every year who won’t have to pay for their education.

For sustainability strategies of the school, the rest will pay a friendly cost that their pockets can accommodate.

We have secured enough land to start the construction of classroom buildings, and our first block will house 7 classrooms to the tune of 420 students and the majority of administrative offices.

Please stand with me as I stand with them

God Bless you

Kenneth Kasule
Director
Wide Smiles For All Through Education