Project 25 - A Place for Food & Fellowship will occur in Nayamingo, Uganda, at the Magooli Academy for Children (MACN). This academy is the only non-profit school in the entire Namayingo District, supporting 160 children in 4 different class levels. 

In the Namayingo district, MACN lacks proper facilities for the school cooks to prepare daily meals. Currently, the cooks make meals in pots on the edge of the field next to the school. It is labor-intensive, taking a very long time to prepare food, and extremely unsanitary. During the rainy season, the women who cook the children’s meals find protection in a few trees around since there is no enclosure for meal prep. Unfortunately, on some rainy days, the children and staff have to go without eating due to the inability to keep a flame or dry firewood.

For Project 25, eMite will partner with Child Crisis Center Uganda, an organization that provides relief for children through sanitary living conditions, medical care, and educational support. Because of you, we will help CCCU build a proper cafeteria and kitchen for Magooli Academy for Children.

Project Scope

Country:  Uganda

City: naMaYingo

# Served: 160

Need: Completed

Join us today! Let’s give these kiddos a good place to share food and fellowship.

Day 2 Infield

Early in the morning, we drove for hours on dirt roads to get to the Magooli Academy for Children, where the kitchen and cafeteria you helped make possible was ready to be used for the first time. Once we arrived, the students, community, and school staff welcomed us with a joyful celebration. For hours we listened to local songs, poems, and speeches. Milenita, our Project Coordinator, even got to show her moves while dancing with the children (video in Instagram Stories).

With the community, we opened the brand-new kitchen and cafeteria with huge smiles on our faces. Experiencing first-hand how fast the cooks prepared lunch (cooking time was cut from 7+ hours to one hour) was insane and proved the dramatic change.

Day 1 Infield

We've been busy these last few days... traveling to Uganda for Project 25! After 32 hours of travel, crazy traffic on the Ugandan roads, and a lot of planning amid COVID circumstances, our team finally made it to their destination: the Namayingo District, eastern Uganda.

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the opening of Magooli Acadamy for Children's new kitchen, and cafeteria you helped make possible. Woohoo!

Pictured are the incredible cooks Kwagala Betty, Nekesa Pamela, and Nabwire Sylvia, who will no longer have to cook under trees in the rain or shine for 7+ hours every day. Because of your generosity, they now have a clean and safe environment to make food for the 160 children at the school.

---> Check out our Instagram Stories to see more infield photos & videos + the steps we went through to travel to Uganda.

*Our team followed all the measures Uganda has implemented to keep their people safe and healthy during this time.

March Update

The construction team is hard at work in Namayingo! They have finished plastering the inside of the kitchen and cafeteria building and are adding the doors this week. Plastering walls give a strong, smooth, and durable finish, perfect for the rainy season in Uganda.

We are so excited for the cooks at Magooli Academy to have a clean and safe environment to make meals for the 136 students!

January Update

The construction team has been hard at work and making excellent progress on the kitchen and cafeteria. We will let the photos speak for themselves!

COVID-19 Impact:

COVID-19 has impacted Uganda, and many schools were closed until recently. The Magooli Academy for Children still has not been cleared to open back up. CCCU wrote to the District National Taskforce and District Education Office for permission to open the school since they have fewer children attending than most public schools and can better follow the guidelines being implemented by the Ministry of Health. However, as of mid-January, they still have not been given the go-ahead to re-open.

Thankfully, CCCU has been fortunate enough to supply teachers with their monthly wages and provide all children with several dozens of soap bars to keep their hands clean. The children have been learning remotely from home, and they were able to secure a printer, paper, and ink. The teachers have been distributing learning materials to the children's families regularly.