Horizon
Primary School

Kasese, Uganda
Start of construction January 2023

The Nyamwamba and Kirembe divisions in the Kasese district in western Uganda are an area of poverty. The majority of the inhabitants live from agriculture, and many families have to get by on less than €1 a day. In rural areas of Uganda, most communities have no schools, and the few government schools that do exist are very far away, in poor condition and perform very poorly in the national exams, forcing children to walk more than 10 km to the nearest school, which charges high fees that most families cannot afford. As a result, a large proportion of children do not even receive a primary education, and of those who do start, many drop out due to lack of money and the long walk to the nearest school. The old or temporary Horizon Primary School in Kasese by REP in 2013 was seen as a relief by many families and orphans, but the school is still in very poor condition, has few amenities and offers no education beyond primary schooling.
For this reason, the construction of a new school complex had long been planned and was essential.

To change this situation, WES and REP (Reach the Poor) are building a school of excellence that will enable children to progress from kindergarten (Early Childhood Education) through primary school to the end of their education. The school will not only meet the educational needs of the children, but also provide literacy classes, ICT training and lectures on practical life skills to improve the students' skills so that they can keep up with their peers in other developed cities in the country that already have better school facilities, thus reducing the economic gap.

REACH THE POOR: The school follows the guidelines of the National Curriculum Development Center and the teaching standards of the Ministry of Education and Sports. We focus on nurturing the personality of the children by ensuring the holistic development and growth of each child. Our teachers are trained to recognize and nurture the strengths and talents of the students. They strive to recognize the children's individual weaknesses and offer them support so that they can find their own way of learning and develop into confident and responsible individuals.

Dr. Joseph Wasswa, Managing Director

Dr. Joseph Wasswa has been committed to promoting the musical and linguistic education of disadvantaged children in his native Uganda for many years. To this end, he has founded successful aid organizations in Germany and Uganda, among other places.

As Managing Director of the Werner Erkes Foundation East Africa, he will develop further educational projects in Uganda and neighboring countries over the next few years on behalf of the Werner Erkes Foundation.

Contact has already been made with various NGOs in East Africa. Further exploratory talks and, above all, visits on site are planned.
As a native Ugandan who studied in Germany and has lived in Regensburg for many years, he is the ideal bridge builder and mediator between the cooperation partners who are pursuing the same goal.

E-Mail: wasswa@erkes.de

WEF East Africa would like to thank the FMK association for its active support of the IMLS project in Masaka, Uganda.
FMK (Regensburg) supports music and cultural projects in Uganda both ideally and financially. The focus is particularly on the International School of Music Languages and Polytechnic Studies (IMLS), the construction and maintenance of which is also financed by donations from the association.

Regular benefit concerts, such as the Euro-African concert series "Himbisa Mukama", concert tours, music workshops and other fundraising campaigns will continue to make an important contribution to the school's upkeep in the future.

Further construction of the International School for Music, Languages and Polytechnic Studies (IMLS)

IMLS was initially launched in 2016 as a combination of music school, cultural, IT and language center. As the local sponsor, the Ugandan organization IMLS has set itself the task of providing support, structure and community to needy and talented people through music and cultural and language workshops.

Since 2021, it has also been possible to learn apprenticeships at the IMLS. In order to create realistic life prospects for the many young people in this respect, the Werner Erkes Foundation will take over this project and build a training center above the recently completed "music floor" construction phase in addition to the existing music, language and IT offerings. This will include training in tailoring, journalism, print media, carpentry/instrument making and repair, recording studio, hairdressing or fashion design, bricklaying, electricity, IT, plumbing, welding, car mechanics, agriculture, business administration with project management, education, cooking, catering/hotel management, film and photography.

In particular, a sewing workshop, a carpentry workshop with an integrated instrument-making workshop, a recording studio, a meeting room, choir and orchestra rehearsal rooms and a band room are planned for the upper basement (the building will be constructed on a slope). Large seminar rooms with movable walls, a library, a museum, a piano practice studio, a health advice center and a job placement office are also planned for the first floor. In addition to offices and training rooms, two further floors will round off the center with a large multifunctional concert and theater hall under the roof.

Masaka, Uganda
Start of construction summer 2024

Kindergarten
Nkamba, Rwanda

After just a few months, the construction of the kindergarten in Nkamba next to the elementary school was completed. All the rooms have been furnished so that the little ones can enjoy a playful education and a daily hot meal from the summer.
The construction of an administration building including a room for the needs of young girls was also built on the site by WEF East Africa.

The partner NGO NOBE was officially recognized on 08.09.2022. This non-governmental organization has the following main objectives:
To promote cooperation, partnership and assistance between private individuals or groups in Germany and Rwanda in particular and the rest of the world in general, in the field of education and in the socio-economic field.

Completion spring 2023

The WES Executive Board during the visit to Rwanda in October 2022

Teaching kitchen for the IMLS

In the immediate vicinity of the IMLS music school, WEF East Africa will construct a separate building with a professional kitchen, which will fulfill two functions. Firstly, the kitchen will train specialist staff for cooking and service and secondly, hundreds of meals will be prepared here in future for the pupils and staff of the IMLS.

The spacious dining room will also be used as a seminar room.