Source: International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)
A Continuing Partnership Brings Water and Education to More Children
Since 2009, IOCC has supported the construction and upgrading of schools in rural Uganda, in collaboration with the St. Nektarios Education Fund and the Uganda Orthodox Church. These complexes provide education to children in rural areas who would otherwise have no opportunity for schooling. They also include wells and rainwater harvesting systems provided by the Katherine Valone “St. Photini” Water Fund, offering clean, safe water to both the schools and their surrounding communities.
In April 2024, powerful storms badly damaged the Prophet Obadiah primary school in the Butembe region, severely disrupting life for the school’s 212 students and teaching staff. The school’s well was also damaged, depriving students and around 1,000 local residents of their only source of potable water.
IOCC began repairs immediately by removing damaged roofing material from the school and replacing it with new corrugated, galvanized steel sheets. The roof on the bathroom block was replaced, and new ventilation pipes were installed. The hand-operated water pump and damaged well were also completely rebuilt.
Once those major projects were completed, smaller repairs got underway. Two interior doors and their frames were replaced because of termite damage, and six exterior metal doors in the school and bathroom block were cleaned of rust, sanded, painted and their joints reinforced. Today, students are back at the Prophet Obadiah primary school—and the partnership with the Uganda Orthodox Church continues with work at several additional schools in 2025.
Among them is the Orthodox Secondary School of St. Luke in Lwemiyaga, where projects will include building a kitchen and dining area as well as adding a rainwater harvesting system. At the Orthodox Secondary School of St. Paul in the Nakabaale village, reconstruction of the girl’s dormitory and construction of a rainwater harvesting system will get underway shortly. In addition, a program focused on improving irrigation and agricultural production is also planned at the St. Mary of Egypt Monastery in Kampala, which includes an orphanage that hosts 71 children as well as a primary school with 250 students.
Through partnership and donor support, IOCC will complete these projects and continue to invest in rural communities in Uganda as they build for the future.