HUMBLE School

Location: Mukono, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: Crossroads United Methodist Church

Launch Date: February 2012

Approximate number of students and teachers: 130

Number of devices: 100 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level: Primary 4-6

Types of books: Storybooks and reference materials

Deployment model: E-readers in a classroom set

Do students take devices home: Most students are boarding at the school so they can read after hours.

Naguru Parents School

Location: Kampala, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: FOYA Uganda and Otterbein University

Launch Date: June 2013

Approximate number of students and teachers: approximately 500

Number of devices: 50 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level: Pre-kindergarten to Primary Seven

Types of books: Storybooks and reference materials

Deployment model: E-readers in a classroom set

Students take devices home: Yes

Other notable points: A second school, in Mukono, was established in late 2012. E-readers may be shared with this second school as the Project Managers determine appropriate

The Story: The Naguru Parent’s School was started with a small group of preschoolers and currently serves marginalized populations of students. Some come from remote locations and reside at the school while others live nearby in crowded situations. Five years ago two Otterbein University Professors of Education from Westerville, Ohio partnered with the school to increase literacy, health and wellness, and to improve the physical conditions of the school. In-service has been provided for the teachers on the use of technology and pedagogy for literacy.

Bubaare Secondary School

Location: Bubaare, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: Grace Episcopal Church

Launch Date: October 2013

Approximate number of students and teachers: 160

Number of devices: 50 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level: A-Level

Types of books: Storybooks and reference materials

Deployment model: E-readers in a classroom set

Students take devices home: No

The Story: Bubaare Secondary School was started in 1983 as private secondary school founded by the Church of Uganda, Diocese of Kigezi as a co-educational secondary school. It started with a handful of students in Senior 1, and later on it was taken on by the government of Uganda as a government aided secondary school, at which point it attained A-Level Status. It is now a big secondary school with 1100 students and 50 teachers offering several subjects. The vision of the school is: Be a model School in all Spheres of Education and the mission is: To produce self reliant students through hard and team work.

Pole Pole Academy

Location:  Mawule Village Nangabo Sub-County Wakiso District, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: Worldreader NY Chapter

Launch Date: March 2014

Approximate number of students and teachers: 70 students; 22 staff and teachers

Number of devices: 100 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level: Kindergarten, Grades 1 – 5 (9 classrooms total)

Types of books: Beginning Readers and Storybooks

Deployment model: Library

Students take devices home: No

The Story: In February 2013, Pole Pole Foundation started Pole Pole Academy, a school for orphans founded by orphans. Pole Pole Foundation is a non Government Organization which was started in February 2006. It advocates for sustainable human development through community development approaches, to enable men, women, youths and children at the grassroots to access primary health care, education and training in life skills, information, empowerment and capacity building to the rural poor people.

Nyaka School

Location: Village of Nyakagyezi, Kanungu District, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: The Nyaka Aids Orphan Project, Catherine Inanir

Launch Date: July 2014

Approximate number of students and teachers: 235 students; 15 teachers

Number of devices: 25 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level: Primary 1-7

Types of books: Storybooks and reference materials

Deployment model: Library

Students take devices home: No

The Story: In August of 2001, two acres of land were purchased to build a school. Construction began in October of that same year. Nyaka began with two classrooms in levels Primary 1 and Primary 2. Today, Nyaka is educating students preschool age through Primary 7, many of whom are victims and orphans of HIV AIDS.

Kutamba School

Location:  Village of Nyakishenyi, Rukungiri District, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: The Nyaka Aids Orphan Project, Catherine Inanir

Launch Date: Summer 2014

Approximate number of students and teachers: 230 students, 14 teachers

Number of devices: 25 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level:Primary

Types of books: Textbooks, storybooks and reference materials

Deployment model: Library

Students take devices home: No

The Story: This very remote and rural area is even poorer and more destitute than the Kanungu District. In 2007, a student named Hilary walked 50km to ask us to assist him and others attain an education, and Kutamba was born! This school was designed and built with help from Architecture for Humanity and is considered one of the best constructed schools in Western Uganda. It continues to grow with strong support and oversight from its local management committee and community.

St. Matias Mulumba Primary School

Location: Kiganda, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and Dominican University

Launch Date: Summer 2014

Approximate number of students and teachers: Over 1,000 students, 20 teachers

Number of devices: 75 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level: Primary

Types of books: Learn-to-Readers and Storybooks

Deployment model: Library

Students take devices home: No

The Story: For the last five years faculty, staff and students of Dominican University have developed a relationship in which the urgent needs of this small rural area can be addressed. Education is a primary factor for allowing the children to move themselves and their families out of extreme poverty. The faculty volunteers, as former primary grade teachers, recognize the systemic barriers these children face in learning how to read. The primary one is the lack of books.

Mustard Seed Academy

Location: Lukaya, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: Real Partners Uganda

Launch Date: October 2014

Approximate number of students and teachers: 500 students, 12 teachers

Number of devices: 50 Wi-Fi Kindles

Students’ grade level:Primary

Types of books: Textbooks, storybooks and reference materials

Deployment model: Classroom

Students take devices home: No

The Story: What began as a small community-based nursery school in 2005 became Mustard Seed Academy (MSA) in 2009 when Tree of Life Ministries (a Ugandan non-profit) was formed to expand and operate the school and related sustainability projects. MSA has now grown to serve 500 orphans and vulnerable children ranging in age from 3 to 17. Located in the truck-stop town of Lukaya, along the “AIDS Highway,” students are all in some way affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty in the community. Both education and comprehensive care are provided by sponsorship programs through Real Partners Uganda (a 501(c)3 in New Jersey). Despite the obstacles, students have been very successful in academics (leading the district in 2012 and 2013) and are generally thriving. The powerful combination of literacy and technology has arrived in Lukaya, and the school motto: “We can move mountains!” is being realized every day.

Good Shepherd High School

Location: Kameke, Pallisa District, Uganda

Sponsoring Organization: UNESCO Center Netherlands and Casterenshoeve

Launch Date: February 2016

Approximate number of students and teachers: 400 students & 15 teachers

Number of devices: 50 Kindle 7s

Students’ grade level:Secondary 1-4

Types of books: Literature, fiction, poetry, textbooks

Deployment model: Classroom

Students take devices home: No

The Story: Good Shepherd High School in Kameke is a secondary school in rural East Uganda. Around 400 pupils attend the school and in 2016 the first pupils took their exams. Before the introduction of the e-readers, Good Shepherd High School did not have any novels, poetry or study books available in their library. The e-readers that are now part of the Worldreader program at Good Shepherd High School provide the pupils and their teachers with a complete library.

Digital Futures for Ugandan Libraries

Locations: Kabarole, Hoima, Nakaseke, Zigoti, Teso

Sponsoring Organizations: BookAid International and Quest Foundation

Launch Date: September 2015

Approximate number of students and teachers: 2,500 library patrons

Number of devices: 200 Kindle 7s

Types of books: Literature, fiction, poetry, reference, storybooks

Deployment model: Library

Patrons take devices home: No

The Story: Book Aid International, an NGO that distributes books across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, in partnership with the National Library of Uganda (NLU), is embarking on a 2-year project called Digital Futures for Ugandan Libraries. The project aims to put a total of 200 e-readers and 20,000 e-books in 10 libraries across the country, with 20 devices in each location.