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A Community-Based Effort The destructive effects of Colonialism are still apparent within the education system in Uganda. In resource-poor schools, teachers must use whatever textbooks that are handed to them, and they often illustrate a life that the poorest Ugandans have never experienced: cooking on electric stoves, using computers, traveling on trains. The lives of children that attend these schools, from poor socio-economic backgrounds, are strangely absent from these books. Consequently, formal education becomes something that distances students from their roots; to be educated often means dismissing that which is not Western. i.HUG believes that a vital part of our students’ education is to be provided with the space, time and resources to explore and celebrate their African heritage. As such, the SEEDS school proactively supports the development of our students’ identity as Africans and a pride in their history and community through a number of ways: the mission statement of the school had been formed as a result of collaboration between teaching staff at the school, parents and guardians of pupils and volunteers from the local community the school has an advisory committee whose members come from the local community ensures that our students have access to storybooks written about Africa for African children by showing the utmost respect for the children’s mother tongue includes a robust curriculum of traditional dance, music, and storytelling that celebrates the richness of Ugandan and African culture. Here at i.HUG, we strongly respect the community’s experiences, values, and knowledge. We see this principle as central to all our work—and the key to a long, sustainable, and effective role in enabling the local community of Kabalagala to empower itself.

A Community-Based Effort

The destructive effects of Colonialism are still apparent within the education system in Uganda. In resource-poor schools, teachers must use whatever textbooks that are handed to them, and they often illustrate a life that the poorest Ugandans have never experienced: cooking on electric stoves, using computers, traveling on trains. The lives of children that attend these schools, from poor socio-economic backgrounds, are strangely absent from these books. Consequently, formal education becomes something that distances students from their roots; to be educated often means dismissing that which is not Western.

i.HUG believes that a vital part of our students’ education is to be provided with the space, time and resources to explore and celebrate their African heritage. As such, the SEEDS school proactively supports the development of our students’ identity as Africans and a pride in their history and community through a number of ways:

the mission statement of the school had been formed as a result of collaboration between teaching staff at the school, parents and guardians of pupils and volunteers from the local community

the school has an advisory committee whose members come from the local community

ensures that our students have access to storybooks written about Africa for African children

by showing the utmost respect for the children’s mother tongue

includes a robust curriculum of traditional dance, music, and storytelling that celebrates the richness of Ugandan and African culture.

Here at i.HUG, we strongly respect the community’s experiences, values, and knowledge. We see this principle as central to all our work—and the key to a long, sustainable, and effective role in enabling the local community of Kabalagala to empower itself.