Bwindi Learning Centre Uganda

Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for his life.

The Bwindi Learning Centre, est. August 2018, is locally owned and operated by caring Ugandan individuals who give their time to help their own people. This Facebook page was established just in March 2019.

The idea of a Learning Centre for enablement was the brain child of our friend and local guide Mr Herbert Twesigye, after we discovered there was no grid power for the Computers. These we purchased for the School of our children we sponsor.We agreed with Herbert’s solution to start a Learning Centre in the town centre of Buhoma, together with 10 Sewing machines we had purchased for another school.

For us, being Australian means being rather privileged when we compare living standards with African countries. It was this feeling that prompted my wife, Diane and I again on our return trip to Uganda to become even more involved in helping this Community.

Because of the unexpected high demand and associated costs we are now calling on others, & your help to support the Centre. By its initial success, shows just how much this is needed in this Community where basic educational equipment and computers aren’t available due to lack of things we take for granted.

Our long term aim is to make this Learning Centre self-funding, so the BLC have other enablement programs working to help with our mission. The Centre is managed by a small team of 4 local dedicated volunteers, 2 local Head Masters, Enos Babiriisa, Philemon Ruikehenyima , and Gerald Ndahura, our book keeper and of course Herbert, plus ourselves.

This all guarantees that your dollar doesn’t get lost in administration fees, & transparency is foremost in our minds. Become more involved if you wish via Facebook, discover the satisfaction & fun to see your input in another world where your dollar goes further than you could imagine.

We hold many Sewing classes, done on a shift roster, as demand is so high, and equipment numbers so low. You will be amazed at how they are doing hairdressing courses with minimal equipment, & we congratulate them on this added course. The centre is now just commencing what I like to refer to as The Piggy Bank project, by loaning pregnant Sows and the recipients raise them, who then get to own and keep all but 1 or 2 of the litter. The Kanyashande Primary School is about to receive the first 5 Sow’s to start the project off. Follow the link…. https://www.facebook.com/Kanyashande-Primary-School-547756445674653/, another small but separate initiative, but still a very important project, is The Lunch Program. https://assets.gogetfunding.com/kanyashande NOTE: KANYASHANDE LUNCH PROGRAMME has now joined forces with the BLC so we now run under the 1 banner 'Bwindi Learning Centre.'

While we have amazing volunteers at the BLC,we need funds to pay for more teachers, more sewing machines and their maintenance. We still only have our initial 10 machines, which are now used in shifts.We need more and better hairdressing equipment plus many other incidentals. Our success has seen student numbers now from just a handful to over 60 in the first 12 months with word of mouth advertising only. Even with the newly built add on to the premises, management is still struggling to accommodate the different course numbers.

We are also in the process of introducing 2 courses for the non academic boys, Carpentry and Brick Laying. We feel this will help the young men learn a trade and be able to enter the work force with ease. More funds are desperately required to start this up.

Your help will be so appreciated, and if you wish you can email myself with suggestions of what specific ideas you would like to involve yourself in, to give you even more than just the satisfaction of having donated._{Follow us on facebook} https://m.facebook.com/bwindi.learning

Our motto isn’t new, but is how we operate….. “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for his life.

David and Diane Mcneish.