Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Before and After

The first photo is of TAOST's old school. The Ugandan Ministry of Education inspected the space and determined it to be unsafe. The school was in danger of being shut down.

Through partnership with Fount of Mercy and Redeemer Church, TAOST is now located in a building they are proud of. Not only is the building safe and ministry approved but it has separate rooms for classroom privacy and has allowed for growth. Since TAOST relocated their enrollment has more than doubled.

Through Travel with Purpose donations, pie sales and individual support, Redeemer has propelled TAOST into the next phase of their schools growth!




Library Construction has Begun!

Fount of Mercy’s Literacy Advancement Initiative is working to equip indigenous grass-root schools with working, culturally appropriate libraries from which teachers can teach core subjects and students can learn to love to read. In conjunction with providing reading material, Fount of Mercy's Literacy Advancement initiative offers professional development workshops for educators providing each educator with the tools needed to best utilize their school's library.

During the Fall of 2009, Francis(TAOST's principal), Rini (Fount's Intern) and Lori (Fount's International Development Director) worked together to respond to Fount of Mercy's Literacy Advancement request for proposal. The budget includes money for the following activities:

1. Renting two more rooms.
2. Tearing down the walls separating two rooms to make space for a small school library.
3. Building wooden shelves along three sides of the walls to hold books and other library resources.
4. Purchasing relevant books and library resources to fill the library shelves.
5. Putting in place the relevant furniture needed in the library such as chairs and tables.

Fount of Mercy, in partnership with Redeemer Church and South Reno Baptist Church, is granting TAOST's library proposal. Once the library's construction is finished the library will be filled with the following:

1. English dictionaries;
2. Pupils books for students in all grade and subject levels;
3. Primary school atlases;
4. A teacher’s guide in all grade and subject levels;
5. Teacher’s Thematic Curriculum texts for grade levels P1 to P3;
6. Teachers Reference books;
7. 3 types of Readers Series press grade level;
8. Various story books;
9. Bibles

In January, TAOST started construction on the Library. Picture will soon follow. Our education teams can not wait to see the library and provide professional development workshops for the teachers on how to utilize their new library.