Our annual Gala, which is our largest fundraiser, will be held on Friday, 10/6/23, at the Washintgon Golf and Country Club in Arlington, VA.  We will have live and silent auctions, raffles, dinner, and a few other presentations that will inspire our attendees to donate to REACH for Uganda.  REACH for Uganda is a grassroots non profit which was started in Arlington, VA., by a few people who had a vision for improving the education of very poor boys and girls in eastern rural Uganda. Most of the children in this area do not even complete the 7th grade and the government schools in the area are poorly staffed and attendance by both teachers and students is spotty.  Girls are especially unlikely to go to school and are still married off at very young ages, so it was important that our schools admit as many girls as boys, which they do.

19 years ago we started the Arlington Academy of Hope (now called REACH for Uganda) with one school and about 60 students.  We now have 2 primary schools, one in Bumwalukani and one in Matuwa, and currently educate over 900 boys and girls each year.  We have 2 clinics in these villages which serve ove 25,000 people in the area annually.  Roughly 450 of our students have completed university or a tertiary school.  Many of these students have returned to their village to work in the clinics or teach in our schools.  Parents are required to cost share in the cost of their children's education; this was a requirment so that families, and by extension the community, would become invested in our schools.  And they have!  Parents raised money and donated land so that our second school in Matuwa could be built.  We currently are raising money to build a secondary school which will provide many jobs in the community, and a higher level of education to the children who attend.

Our program has also started micro financing programs for women in the area; we have solar generators that power our schools and clinics; we even have a solar lamp post in the center of the market area in Bumwalukani so that merchants can continue to work and sell goods after sundown.  We have outreach programs to other schools in the area to help with teacher training and educational materials; we do public health education in the community.  Our programs have made and continue to make a difference in the lives of those who live in these villages.

What do you find inspirational?  REACH has improved the lives of many girls and women, as well as boys and men.  It has brought hope and changed a community.  REACH for Uganda is unique in that it has involved those who needed our services in the execution of the changes their community needed.  We hope you will consider REACH!