Over the last four days we have been in the Budaka District where the two Bumba Foundation schools are situated. To get there we had a four hour drive, departing early on Friday morning from Kampala, then arriving at the school in Iki Iki just before noon. 

On arrival we were greeted by the headmistress and taken around to see how the schools are doing and hearing how many students are due to attend this term. Each school is complete with 9 Classrooms, toilet and wash facilities, kitchens, boarding rooms and a water source. 

Iki Iki currently has around 300 students this term, 60 of which are boarding, which means we are doing an incredible job to deliver education in the area and decrease the poverty level. 

After our visit we then travelled the short journey to our other school in Mugiti. Here we have our Agricultural Project which is giving members of the local community a  chance to learn and develop the ways they can increase crop productivity and inherit ideas of growing particular crops which will bring them income as well as being able to self-sustain their own agricultural garden. 

Our community garden is run by 3 incredible apprentices who develop the garden as well as selling to the local community. This means the garden is completely self sustainable and continues to operate using the income from selling crops locally. The apprentices also run workshops to increase the community’s knowledge and give them a better understanding of how to run their own successful garden. 

Through our demonstration gardens we have created a community education programme which has trained an additional 15 trainers who have created their own micro gardens where they run their own community education workshops. Also our apprentices spend their time visiting the local community, checking how they are progressing and ultimately giving them vital assistance. We had the privilege during our visit to go out and witness the impact the project was having in the local community and we spoke to those individuals about how their home life has improved because of it. 

The school in Mugiti currently has a similar number of students as Iki Iki (300) and also a similar number of boarders (60). Having the community garden attached to the school also means that students get the chance to learn about agriculture from a young age and discover its importance in this area of the world. 

There are many challenges in the area, one of which is affording education for children but with the work that the team are doing with the agricultural project, families can learn skills to work together to develop and sustain their gardens and benefit from its produce. 

In conclusion, the work the schools and the gardens are doing here in Uganda is incredible and the numbers of families and individuals it is helping are high and always increasing!