Wheels of Change

Human lives are frequently described as blank canvases—they start untouched, full of potential waiting to be explored. For many, education acts as the brush to fill in that empty space—with knowledge and ideas, distant dreams, and goals that lay the foundation for our lives. Act4Africa has nurtured such a space for children from disadvantaged families at Kathy’s Kindergarten in Uganda’s Mayuge District, but it now faces a significant challenge that threatens those ambitions.

The school hosts 74 children from ages 3-6, providing them with very essential cognitive, social, and emotional development opportunities that help them intellectually engage with the world and secure a future for themselves. That future has been challenged by the breakdown of the minibus ferrying them safely from their homes to the school.

Their villages are located miles away from Kathy’s, and with the breakdown of transport, the children have had to resort to unsafe means to get to school. While their families cannot afford to provide alternative means of transport, which costs a weekly fee of about £35 per child, the schoolchildren often walk barefoot for miles or travel on unsafe modes of transport like motorbike taxis.

For five-year-old Lorena and Madrine, the bus is their sole lifeline towards a brighter future. They live nearly 11 kilometers away, and without the bus, the route to school takes them along a busy road with speeding trucks and vehicles. “I don’t like the boda,” Madrine whispers shyly, referring to the local motorcycle taxis they take in the absence of the bus. “There are too many accidents along this road. I get scared.”

For the children, the bus isn’t just a simple means of transport but a space to socialise with others as well. “I like the school bus because it has windows, and we sing songs with teacher Grace,” says Lorena.

Persistent breakdowns of the old bus result in students arriving late to school or being stranded until another vehicle can be arranged. These disruptions not only threaten their safety but also their academic performance and emotional well-being. “When the bus is working, I know I’ll see them smiling at morning assembly. But when it breaks down, I worry the whole day. Their safety becomes a huge concern,” says Jennifer, the head teacher at Kathy’s Kindergarten.

According to 2023 UNESCO data, the number of children out of school globally has risen to 250 million, and roughly only half the children of primary age are enrolled in schools. The primary school completion rate for Uganda stands at a low 52%. Without the arrangement of an alternative means of transport soon, two-thirds of the children at Kathy’s face the risk of dropping out of school as well. Out of the 74 learners at Kathy’s Kindergarten, more than 60 depend on the bus for transport. Unfortunately, the school is already experiencing a drop in attendance. “When the bus doesn’t run, some children simply stay home, and it just affects their overall performance,” says Jennifer.

Every child—from Lorena to Madrine to millions around the world—has a fundamental human right to accessible education, a right that we are fighting to protect at all costs. Dropping out of school will have lifelong consequences for these children, as without basic education they stand fewer chances to secure stable, well-paying jobs that will help them break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Additionally, children out of school are more vulnerable to working in the informal sector under exploitative labour laws.

Kathy’s Kindergarten isn’t just a school for Act4Africa; it is a space created for community development where women from nearby villages also gather to receive life-changing assistance like vocational and livelihood training, health and well-being as well as community development and financial training through our She Leads programme. So the bus is also used to transport them. Often the kindergarten educates the children of the mothers we support; therefore, if there’s no bus, it also affects them as well.

The children and women at Kathy’s Kindergarten have exemplified their passion for learning despite the challenging conditions they are fighting every day, reaching precious milestones that take them one step closer to a promising future. A restoration of safe and secure transportation to Kathy’s will ensure that these dreams stay within reach, a sentiment echoed by head teacher Jennifer: “What we truly need is a new bus—for Lorena, for Madrine, and for all the children whose education depends on it.”

Wheels for Change is our project to raise £15,000 for this new bus (covering bus logistics, registration, and insurance). We’ve raised £2,000, but we urgently need your help, large or small, to get this over the line. Every donation makes a difference.

Donate now to help us reach our goal, or join in on one of our Latin and Afrobeats dance classes this June in Chichester, where all proceeds will go directly to Wheels for Change.”

Written by Veronica Balyan & Vincent De Paul Ogwang