Sponsor a Child

How it works

Selection

The Rwenzori Trust subsidises the school fees for approximately 43 children each year. Children are selected to receive these subsidies by a local committee of community representatives based in Ruboni. The Rwenzori Trust in the UK is not involved in the selection of students. All students are from families based in and around Ruboni village. Students are selected based on factors including need, disadvantaged status and school grades. Students who do not perform well academically may be replaced in the programme, and this incentivises students to work hard.

Schools

Our supported children are spread across many schools and institutions throughout Uganda. More and more of our supported children board, and families are willing to send their children far and wide in search of the best value education. We have traditionally focused on secondary education, but we occasionally support children in private primary school and we regularly support a small number in tertiary education. Tertiary education includes vocational courses, such as teaching and nursing, as well as university academic courses. The cost of tertiary education is much higher than secondary education, and for this reason some years the number of students sponsored is reduced to give greater financial support to tertiary students.

Your Donations

School fees for secondary education are the equivalent of approximately £6 per month. Usually boarding fees, and required extras (including in some cases bags of cement!), will significantly increase those fees, but nonetheless our contribution of approximately £6 per month per child really make a difference. We transfer money to a designated bank account in Uganda at the start of each term. Our local coordinator arranges payments from that account directly to the schools where our children are studying. Crucially, families do not touch that money directly, and this reduces the risk of it going missing.

Graduates

Each year that passes, we are seeing more of our students graduating from the programme and finding paid employment in long-term careers. We now have over 30 graduates, earning a monthly wage from careers such as teaching, nursing, tourism management/hospitality, accounting. Their wage will support themselves and their families, including perhaps younger family members who want an education. Their wage also gives them freedom from the insecurity of subsidence farming. These success stories validate this programme, and inspire younger members of the community to work hard.

True Stories

We're changing lives for young people in Western Uganda. Here's how...

Masika Serena

Masika Serena is 18 years old, and is studying to be a midwife at Bwera Midwifery College. Like many of our students, she boards during term time and due to the distance from Ruboni village will not see her family outside school holidays. Boarding is not a comfortable experience, with metal bunk beds, malaria nets, large dormitories and basic meals of cassava flour paste and beans, but the girls support each other and are happy. When we met Serena she was playing in a college netball match but she was very proud to show us around her college, built a few years ago with foreign aid. Before she graduates she will have to deliver 12 babies.

Baluku ronald

Baluku Ronald is 28 years old and graduated five years ago from a vocational course in tourism and hotel management. His secondary education and vocational course were subsidised by the Rwenzori Trust. After finishing his studies, he worked at the Ruboni Community Camp, and now he works for the Rwenzori Mountaineering Services, booking in foreign tourists who come to the area to climb the Rwenzori Mountains, and setting them up with guides and equipment. He earns 380,000 Ugandan shillings per month, around £80, which
is a really good salary in this area. He has just got engaged and is planning a big wedding.
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Rwenzori Trust

Sponsor a child

Just £6 per month covers the secondary school fees of a child in Uganda