Nanyidik Bull Roasting and Education Festival - Celebrating a new school and new project
Posted on: 8th January, 2024 By: NRDO Uganda 10 min readMOROTO – Karamoja sub region, one of the mineral rich regions in Uganda, has most of its people living in acute poverty without affording basic needs of life such as food, education, healthcare and water. The region is predominantly semi-arid and faced with a number of challenges including famine, malnutrition, protracted conflicts and many more that make it so hard for socio-economic development of the sub region to thrive amidst numerous interventions undertaken by government and development partners both local and international.
This multitude of challenges has affected the education sector of the region despite the government implementing Universal Primary Education and Secondary Education programs. Many students still do not achieve minimum levels of literacy and numeracy, leading to low learning levels, which contribute to low completion rates and many students fail to transition between grades, which increases dropout rates. Some rural areas do not even have access to schools and children have to travel several kilometers to access education, which is the case for Nanyidik, a village found in Rupa, Moroto district.
“Most of the people in Nanyidik, migrated from nearby villages because of the minerals that were discovered here. Many of the children they came with don’t have access to quality education due to lack of schools.” Mr. Maru Peter, Inspector of Schools Moroto District said during the Nanyidik Bull Roasting Education Festival.
The festival was organized by Nascent Research and Development Organization (NRDO Uganda) under the WNCB consortium (Work: No Child’s Business) together with the Moroto District Local government, with the theme “Rekindle Energies for Education and Sustainable Water for All” and took place on 15 November 2023 in Rupa sub county. The festival attracted thousands of people from all parts of Moroto including children, caregivers, elders, clan leaders and all cultural leaders, who came together to celebrate the newly constructed school by the development partners under the WNCB consortium and witnessed its handover to the Moroto District Local Government.
“We are proud of this achievement but I have only 3 teachers who cannot match the huge numbers of pupils joining the school in this village since it’s the only primary school,” said Robert Oriokot, the new Head teacher of Nanyidik Motivational Center, which will soon turn into a Primary School after coding by the government. “We also don’t have sufficient water at the school after the breakdown of the nearby borehole, yet water and sanitation remain a vital component in the child’s health,” he continued.
Poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as unequal access to safe drinking water, make thousands of children very sick and at risk of death due to diarrhoea. Early childhood diarrhoea is not only deadly but also contributes to Uganda’s high levels of stunting, which in turn affects children’s cognitive development and performance at school. According to UNICEF data, “Diarrhoea alone, one of three major childhood killers in Uganda, kills 33 children every day globally”. In most cases, children get the disease by drinking unsafe water or coming into contact with contaminated hands.
“We are bringing new boreholes to this village with our new Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project titled I-WASH.” Anna Kamusiime, the Programmes Director at ‘NRDO Uganda’, assured all the stakeholders during the festival. “We are even going to repair the broken ones,” she continued. ‘NRDO Uganda’ secured funding from FEMI foundation for a WASH project titled “Improving Water Hygiene and Sanitation” (I-WASH), which aims to construct more boreholes in the region but also repair existing non-functional water sources in Nanyidik village.
“There is a water crisis in my area and it is a big challenge. There are few existing boreholes which are stressed by many residents causing them to break down.” Hon. Dr. John Baptist Lokii, the Member of Parliament for Matheniko County in Moroto district, said during the launch of the I-WASH project at the Bull Roasting Education Festival. He was also the chief guest for the festival and has continued to support the Nanyidik Motivational Center with usable items and pledged to make school uniforms for the students who attend the school.
This multitude of challenges has affected the education sector of the region despite the government implementing Universal Primary Education and Secondary Education programs. Many students still do not achieve minimum levels of literacy and numeracy, leading to low learning levels, which contribute to low completion rates and many students fail to transition between grades, which increases dropout rates. Some rural areas do not even have access to schools and children have to travel several kilometers to access education, which is the case for Nanyidik, a village found in Rupa, Moroto district.
“Most of the people in Nanyidik, migrated from nearby villages because of the minerals that were discovered here. Many of the children they came with don’t have access to quality education due to lack of schools.” Mr. Maru Peter, Inspector of Schools Moroto District said during the Nanyidik Bull Roasting Education Festival.
The festival was organized by Nascent Research and Development Organization (NRDO Uganda) under the WNCB consortium (Work: No Child’s Business) together with the Moroto District Local government, with the theme “Rekindle Energies for Education and Sustainable Water for All” and took place on 15 November 2023 in Rupa sub county. The festival attracted thousands of people from all parts of Moroto including children, caregivers, elders, clan leaders and all cultural leaders, who came together to celebrate the newly constructed school by the development partners under the WNCB consortium and witnessed its handover to the Moroto District Local Government.
“We are proud of this achievement but I have only 3 teachers who cannot match the huge numbers of pupils joining the school in this village since it’s the only primary school,” said Robert Oriokot, the new Head teacher of Nanyidik Motivational Center, which will soon turn into a Primary School after coding by the government. “We also don’t have sufficient water at the school after the breakdown of the nearby borehole, yet water and sanitation remain a vital component in the child’s health,” he continued.
Poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as unequal access to safe drinking water, make thousands of children very sick and at risk of death due to diarrhoea. Early childhood diarrhoea is not only deadly but also contributes to Uganda’s high levels of stunting, which in turn affects children’s cognitive development and performance at school. According to UNICEF data, “Diarrhoea alone, one of three major childhood killers in Uganda, kills 33 children every day globally”. In most cases, children get the disease by drinking unsafe water or coming into contact with contaminated hands.
“We are bringing new boreholes to this village with our new Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project titled I-WASH.” Anna Kamusiime, the Programmes Director at ‘NRDO Uganda’, assured all the stakeholders during the festival. “We are even going to repair the broken ones,” she continued. ‘NRDO Uganda’ secured funding from FEMI foundation for a WASH project titled “Improving Water Hygiene and Sanitation” (I-WASH), which aims to construct more boreholes in the region but also repair existing non-functional water sources in Nanyidik village.
“There is a water crisis in my area and it is a big challenge. There are few existing boreholes which are stressed by many residents causing them to break down.” Hon. Dr. John Baptist Lokii, the Member of Parliament for Matheniko County in Moroto district, said during the launch of the I-WASH project at the Bull Roasting Education Festival. He was also the chief guest for the festival and has continued to support the Nanyidik Motivational Center with usable items and pledged to make school uniforms for the students who attend the school.
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Last updated on: 8th January, 2024
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