Africa Rising works by extending the networks of the organizations we support. This summer we did this for the Millenium School in Mityana, Uganda. Christopher Kigongo, one of the Africa Rising board members, founded the school when he was living in Uganda. He is now living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and working at Duke University.

Christopher described the school to some of the faculty and staff of Duke University’s Global Health Institute. The Institute decided to create a summer project that would benefit the school and some Duke students who would carry out the project. Eight students traveled to Uganda for two months; six females and two males. The project had several parts:

• Administer a community assessment tool to document the community resources and decision making processes.
• With local builders, construct a means to catch rain water off the school roof and store it in large cisterns (see photo).
• Teach music.
• Start skills development projects. For this they brought two sewing machines and material for practicing tailoring. Two local parents served as the instructors.
• Teach nutrition and start a school garden.
• The female Duke students spoke with the Millenium School girls about the challenges of adolescence, including the prevention of sexually transmitted disease, including HIV. They used the Uganda national guidelines for these lessons.

The Duke students' travel expenses were funded by the Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Engage (another Duke program for students providing services), and family and friends. The project funds were provided by the Global Health Institute.

One Millenium School teacher described the departure of the Duke students at the end of the summer: “We were all saddened when we met to bid them farewell. We saw our pupils crying, the Duke students sobbing, and we could not hold it in. We all cried. Thank you very much for getting us those friends and tell them to come again and soon please!” Becky Aurbach, the Duke team leader plans to do just that. She is looking for a way to return for a year and develop projects that benefit the community.