About the Nonprofit
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REACH for Uganda started 19 years ago with 1 school and about 60 students. Founded by Uganda natives John and Joyce Wanda, the grassroot supporters from Arlington, VA, wanted to improve the education of poor boys and girls in Bumwalukani, a very remote, destitute eastern rural region. We wanted to bring better education for boys and girls. Nineteen years later, we have built 2 schools and 2 clinics. We educate roughly 900 boys and girls annually; our 2 clinics serve between 20,000 people in the area where quality medical care is scarce. About 200 of the students our families have sponsored have completed University. And this is from an area where few children finish 7th grade, and girls are still married off at 12 years old.
Many of our kids have gone back as teachers, nurses, or medical technicians and are giving back to their community. We helped start a micro financing program for women in the area, who were then able to start small businesses or farms and support their families. We provide outreach and help to other schools in the area and provide scholarships to students in those schools. (One of our outreach scholarship girls won a full scholarship to a university in South Korea and is studying to become a nuclear physicist. Truly a remarkable story.) We have forged partnerships with Marymount University, whose teachers have visited to help teach our students and train our teachers in Uganda. We have introduced solar lighting in one of our villages. We employ teachers, medical personnel, administrative personnel, and support staff. With better wages and more jobs in the area, the standard of living has increased for many and helps lift the living standard of those in the community.
