Hands-on learning

Future tailors, auto mechanics and welding engineers learn with their hands and the support of each other at the St. John Bosco Vocational School. The sound of sewing machines beckoned us into a classroom where Catherine and several other students were creating men’s and women’s clothing. Using one of us as a model, Catherine explained…

Building bonds and a network

One Heart Uganda has celebrated 28 university and vocational school graduates since its inception 10 years ago.  We recently gathered our graduates and soon-to-be-graduates to talk about their successes, challenges and dreams. Many aspire to be entrepreneurs and run their own businesses in the future.  They discussed their feelings of connection and a desire to…

Pennies fund full scholarship

St. Andrew School students and families met the challenge to raise enough money through a coin collection to fund Mauricia’s vocational school scholarship.  The annual Penny Challenge raised $4,747 – enough to cover Mauricia’s 3-year vocation school program and supplement two other post-secondary students’ scholarships. When we first met Mauricia, she was 11-years old and…

Shop with purpose

For the week of June 13, Noonday will donate 30% of all sales to OHU thanks to Andrea Keefe’s trunk sale. Use this link to shop: https://bit.ly/NoondayandOHU. In addition to benefitting our students – for every 3 purchases – Noonday will donate a week’s supply of food to artisan partners suffering from food insecurity in…

St. Andrew has heart

St. Andrew students set a new fundraising record of $4714.14 in this year’s annual Penny Challenge which will fund Mauricia’s vocational small business trade school education.  The fundraising total and the winning class were announced at an end-of-school pep rally. The 6th grade class won the competition which is based on the most pennies collected…

We got coin!

Last Friday, a small group loaded up their cars with buckets and buckets of coins collected from the St. Andrew School Penny Challenge. “The kids were so excited to have the Penny Challenge back to its usual event and were more competitive than ever. They kept asking, “Which class won?!” said teacher and OHU board…

Lawrence has graduated!

We’re so proud of Lawrence, who recently graduated from Uganda Martyrs University with a degree in accounting.  He has been interning at Grant Thornton in Kampala for the past several months and is now working to complete his CPA certification. Fr. Matthias introduced us to Lawrence in Mubende when he was 13- years-old and attending…

Bethany Land Institute visit

The Bethany Land Institute, BLI, is celebrating its grand opening this July after several years of planning and development. Its President, Fr. Emmanuel Katongale, has been a tremendous friend and mentor to OHU and we’re so excited to share an update on all that has been accomplished. BLI provides an integrated education program in sustainable…

Books open young minds

This past week, St. Andrew School students celebrated Catholic Schools Week by reading and  learning about Uganda, students in Africa and their unique challenges. The value of education and the struggle to afford school in different parts of the world was a theme shared throughout the books and activities each grade explored. The youngest students…

OHU Day at St. Andrew

We kicked off St. Andrew School’s Catholic School Week with One Heart Uganda day on Friday – when students and teachers came dressed in red to celebrate.  Teachers got to learn more about our program during a breakfast event and students will be visiting special table exhibits on every floor of the school to learn…