First Brick School Building

Finished August 2019 at a cost of $23,911 USD

 

September 8,  2019, was truly a memorable day! Six donors from California had the honor of attending the Official Opening Celebration of the four completed Bright Future Primary School classrooms and the latrine building.  The Hon. Bigirwa Nora, the female Member of Parliament for the Bulissa District, spoke and cut the ribbon to open the school officially.

It was a day of celebration, music, dancing, village fundraising, and also a time to honor the top students from each academic level.     As was evidenced on the day of the celebration, the new classrooms have already become a vital part of the village.  Hundreds traveled a great distance on foot to attend the opening celebration, many of whom took refuge in the classrooms overnight due to a  thunderstorm and downpour that made travel to their homes very difficult, if not impossible.  (Note:  Rain during a celebration is considered a blessing in Uganda.)

As of September 2019, there are now 8 teachers with 175 children attending the school.   They have already outgrown our new building and are still using the shade structure for the nursery school classes.  There are still just as many kids in the village whose parents can’t afford to send all their children to school.  The villagers are mostly subsistence farmers with little income.

More pictures of the celebration are at the bottom of this page.

Scroll down to see the progress from start to current status.

These pictures document the start to the completion of Mubaku Bright Future School’s first four classrooms.

Work was completed on the foundation for the four-room schoolhouse in the spring of 2018

With the contributions raised during Charles’ visit to the USA in early Nov 2018, materials were purchased and delivered. (Nov 20, 2018)

Red soft soil pile with buildings foundations in the back.	The first load of red soft soil being delivered!	More sand and for Slab Fill, Cement and Plaster!
Cement and Plaster Sand	Red soft soil with schoolhouse foundations in the background.	Rocks to build the pillars.

Sample Material Costs

150 bags of cement at 33,000 UGX (Ugandan Shillings)  $8.90 USD each,  with transportation costs of 3,500 UGX (0.94 USD each) have arrived on site.

6 Truckloads of red soft soil at   150,00 UGX ($40.47 USD each) to fill in the floor before pouring the final slab.

4 Truckloads of rocks so far at a total cost of 1,400,00 UGX ($377.68 USD)

Charles is buying locally sourced materials whenever available.  Local labor is being hired, so the project benefits the kids with a new schoolhouse and the village.

The engineer (Contractor) came on-site on Tuesday (Nov 27th), and work started on the building.

Nov 28, 2018 progress:  Bricklaying has begun!

building the front steps	Laying Brick	Working on the back wall
Front Wall Rising	Nov 29: Students inspecting the school construction	View of Work Site

Nov 30, 2018 progress:  Bricklaying continues! Working on scaffolding for the upper part of the walls.

Starting laying upper wall bricks	The villagers start working early in the morning.	Front of the building, team mixing cement.
Laying another row of brick	Working up on homemade scaffolding	Rebar and Lumber for the school.

Dec 1st, 2nd, and 4th  Work Continues

Another 6,700 locally made bricks purchased at the cost of 1,675,00 Ugandan Shillings or $448.68

Dec 2, 2018: 6,700 more bricks have been delivered!

Dec 4, 2018: Upper walls almost finished!

Dec 4, 2018: It is amazing how fast the building has gone up!

Dec 5, 2018: Early morning on the worksite. Work is progressing on interior walls.

Click to see video and pictures from Dec 2, 2018, Bright Future Nursery and Primary School Graduation and Celebration of the schoolhouse’s start of construction.

Dec 9, 2018: The plate beams are in!

The beams took a little longer than expected because of arranging the timbers, putting up the rebar (called iron bars in Uganda), and mixing up the aggregates.

The Contractor (called the engineer in Uganda) advised Charles that after he finishes the wall plate, he will give it time to set before starting on the roof, so in case of cracks, he can fix that before roofing starts.

Dec 9, 2018: Wallplates are in!

Dec 13, 2018: Ozhelle Gilbert, Head Teacher, inspecting the construction

While they wait for the walls to cure, they will add soft soil to the classroom floors to prepare for pouring the floor.

Dec 22, 2018: All the walls are completed!

Dec 22, 2018: Completed Back Wall

Dec 22, 2018: Completed End Wall

Dec 22, 2018: Completed Front Wall

Dec 23, 2018: All Walls Complete!

Work remaining to be done:

• Finish the floor
• Construct roof
• Plaster walls
• Install windows and doors
• Construct the veranda
• Add toilets to site

Jan 25, 2019: Materials for the roof, doors, and windows are arriving!

Jan 21, 2019: Fabricating Windows and Doors	Jan 24, 2019: Loading roofing into a truck in Kampala for transport to Mubaku	Jan 24, 2019: Doors ready for loading into trull in Kampala for transport to Mubaku
Unloading Roof Panels	Jan 25, 2019: Unloading doors	Jan 25, 2019: Unloading lumber for roof

Jan 26, 2019:  Construction is underway again!

Jan 26, 2019: Window shutters being installed	Wallplates are being readied for roof trusses.	Stacking roof trusses on walls
Jan 26, 2019: View inside of stacked roof trusses	Roof trusses ready to install over a  classroom.  The floor is not yet poured.	Jan 26, 2019: Great Progress!  Roof trusses started. All window shutters were installed.
Jan 27, 2019: Roof trusses going up	Roofing being installed	Doors are installed,  roofing continues.

Jan 29, 2019: Roof is Completed!

Kids helping get the floors ready for the cement pour.

Gilbert helping out doing whatever needs to get done

Roof, Doors, and Windows Complete

Feb 8, 2019: Plastering walls and mounting blackboards

Mixing Plaster

Plastering

Plaster Finished and Blackboard mounted in Classroom 1

Feb 8, 2019: Preparing the floors for finishing

Jan 24 to Feb 14, 2019: Building the latrine.

Jan 24, 2019: Digging started for latrine For school

The latrine hole is finished.

Laying brick for the latrine

Feb 22, 2o19:  Progress on the site continues.

Feb 22, 2019: Latrine almost to slab level

Feb 22, 2019: Outside Plastering Completed!

Feb 24, 2019: Finishing up the hole

Feb 26, 2019: Preparing top of the pit	Feb 27, 2019: Finished pour. The schools  in the background	May 24, 2019: View of Latrine with the school in the background
May 24, 2019: Boy’s side	May 24, 2019: Girl’s side	May 24, 2019: Side View

June 29, 2o19:  Classes are held in the new building!

Students arriving at the new building

Lining up for classes

First sessions in the new building.  Floors are still dirt.

July 8, 2o19: The children are working hard to make the compound of their new school clean and beautiful.

Students making the schoolyard nice

They are making a lot of progress.

Cement for the floors

August, 2o19: Floors are in!

A

B

C

Sept and Oct, 2o19: Finishing the building.

To handle the expansive soil, a short wall is built so that the soil movement affects the short wall instead of the building walls. Then the space between the two is cemented over, so water runs away from the main walls.

Building short wall

Building up the shirt wall

Adding the Cement Cap

Sept 8, 2019  Dedication of the school

The teachers and school board  L to R; Birungi Bashaba, Aweko Rosemary, Ayiorwoth Oliver, Parmu Robert, Michan Patrick, Ozelle Hosea Gilbert, Charles Oyer, and Donata Kasangaki.

View of the crowd at the dedication.  This is where the parents of students sat.

 

The children with the highest grades were honored during the dedication. The parents were so excited that they danced up with their kids — such joy.

 

There was so much dancing at the dedication.  It was interesting how this dance started with just one woman singing, and then drums were added.  Then people started joining in.  It was so fun!

This is what matters to us. Students arriving to use a school to gain the advantage that education will give them, their families, and their village.

 

Read our November 2019 newsletter! Please contribute so we can further support Mubaku Bright Future School. All contributions through this website go to the  Mubaku Educational Foundation (MEF), which sends the funds to Uganda.

Click on the heart to donate.

 

On March  11, 2019, Mubaku Educational Foundation (MEF) was granted  tax-exempt 501(c)3 status by the IRS. (#83-3206945)