When disaster strikes, the support of a community can make all the difference. After a tragic house fire in Nshungyezi village destroyed one family’s shelter, a little help getting back on track is just what they needed. With both a young baby and a person living with special needs in the home, the family was finding it impossible to fix things on their own. This left them worried and discouraged, as processes to replace basic needs can take a long time. “When my house got burnt, I thought that this is the end of me and my family, because I had no hope of getting any support,” one of the family members, Nyiramugisha, told us. No one should feel this way, so we got right to work bringing bedding and plastic sheeting to help reconstruct the family’s shelter. Soon enough, they were back feeling comfortable and safe in their neighborhood. This idea came right from the community, and one community worker said, “I really appreciate Alight for challenging the community to write in … [Read more...] about Better Days Ahead

Schools and sports: they go so well together! Whether teaching kids about teamwork, sharpening their hand-eye coordination, or simply as a much-needed outlet for letting off steam, sports are an important complement to academics. In Nakivale, Uganda, we visited three primary schools—Kashojwa, Kabazana and Ruhoko—to see if we could up our game when it came to sports equipment. As it turns out, there was plenty of room for improvement! We were able to get a wide variety of sports equipment, including netballs, volleyballs, and footballs. Since volleyballs are surely better with nets, we made sure there was one for each school, too. To make things extra official, we got whistles for each school and sets of sports uniforms for both girls and boys. Now, as they practice their skills, they can do so with style and ease! It isn’t just the kids who were excited about these new tools “Sports activities have always been a challenge due to the lack of materials,” one head teacher told … [Read more...] about Upping Their Games

Nshungezi Health Centre is a maternity ward in Nakivale Refugee settlement. They look after expectant mothers and make sure their health and safety are taken care of. But like the school from yesterday, this maternity ward has a problem: there are no lights! Babies aren’t known for waiting to be born until the conditions are perfect. When babies are born after dark, the midwives face many challenges. But our quick-thinking team thought of the perfect solution: solar lamps for the midwives to use during the night births! These solar lamps can be moved around easily and light the way wherever they may go! “Sometimes we receive patients at night when the generator is switched off, so we have been moving in darkness to attend to them. But with this lamp, I will have light at night,” said Doreen, a midwife. “This lamp is going to help get the medicine from the drug store at night, thank you ARC for this support,” said Hope, the woman in-charge of the maternity. Now … [Read more...] about Keeping the Lights On

All over the world, teachers have similar evening responsibilities. Whether grading papers, making lesson plans, and preparing for 8 hours of educating students, a teacher’s job is rarely over when the bell rings. The teachers of Rubondo primary school work so hard to teach their students valuable lessons and to set them on track for success. However, each day these teachers run into a roadblock. They have no lights in the school building! This leaves little time for all those nightly duties. But we had just the thing to shed some light: a solar panel and lighting system! “Most of my female teachers in this school are mothers with babies. They have been sleeping in the darkness. Also, they are required to get home early before they finalize their daily activities. This lighting system will help both the mothers and the babies, making happier lives for the teachers,” said Mrs. Gonza, assistant commandant at Rubondo. Thank you to the amazing teachers of Rubondo for your … [Read more...] about A Spotlight On Teachers

The kitchen. It’s a place people gravitate towards. Whether gathering for a meal or having a conversation over a warm cup of coffee, life in many homes happens in the kitchen. But for Aliyena and her family, who live in Nakivale refugee settlement, there’s no kitchen to gather in. In their one-bedroom house, they cook and live all in one small, unventilated room. This is a huge problem for two reasons. First, the lack of airflow is unhealthy for the family to be breathing in all the time. Second, an open fire in this setting can easily burn down a house. But we have an easy fix that will make a huge impact in this family’s life! We got to work building a separate area where the kitchen could be. It’s ventilated, and much safer to have a separate room next door. Aliyena, the mother, was so happy with the new space. “I appreciate Alight for this support of constructing for me a kitchen,” she explained. “During the rainy season, I always cook in the house which puts my … [Read more...] about No Fire, No Problem

One of the things we're most proud of is our work in protection - protecting vulnerable people against violence of all kinds. And our colleagues all over the world do so much for so many to make it happen. These people are there for individuals who might have gone through something that few of us can begin to imagine, and they do so with limited resources and with a full heart. So to show how grateful we are for them, and to make a protection space a little more warm and welcoming, we decided to revamp one of our counseling rooms in Nakivale Refugee Settlement! To soften the room a bit, we added a new coat of paint, some new flowy curtains, and a soft light fixture. We then added some pillows, a blanket, stress balls, tissues, and lavender to help the patients feel more welcome and comfortable. And finally, as many of the clients have young children they bring, we set up a children’s corner with toys, books with short stories, coloring books, something that might distract … [Read more...] about A Softer Space

The Alight office at Nakivale Refugee Settlement is at the center of the settlement - and a lot of the action. Sandwiched between the Office of the Prime Minister and a number of other NGOs, the office experiences a lot of foot traffic, as well as some people waiting for appointments at nearby facilities. One reason people wait outside our office is to register newborn babies. Moms with young babies can often be found waiting in the shade outside, sitting patiently for their turn. Even though they're not always seeking our services, we felt we wanted to do something to help - it can be a long wait in the heat. We purchased large benches that could hold dozens of people. Now, both people waiting for something at the Alight office, or at a nearby office, will be able to sit comfortably in the shade. As soon as we put the benches out, they instantly filled up with people! It was a bit of instant gratification for us — seeing that we could meet a need in such a short … [Read more...] about Rest While You Wait

When we think of a school, we think of desks, blackboards or dry erase boards, books, and more - we think of them as filled to the brim with the things needed for learning. But getting a school started from the ground up can be tough - when the structure is built, there's still all the expensive furniture to consider. The Rubondo Secondary School had a creative solution to this problem. They made an agreement with a nearby church that students would pick up the church pews on Monday morning and use them throughout the week, and then return them to the church Friday after school so that they could be used for weekend services. But it's a lot of work...they have to walk up a steep hill with the pews to get back to the school. The pew system was working - but it was pretty time consuming. So we thought we might do something to help the school, and ensure that they had enough desks for all of the students to use. We also wanted to make the classroom brighter and more … [Read more...] about A Place to Sit

Only 62 students are enrolled in Rubondo Secondary School's schools Senior 1 and Senior 2 classes this term. Part of the problem is that students can’t afford to pay for school fees, and even if they can, many of them struggle to get basic materials they need to succeed in their classes. We wanted to take away that worry for as many as we could... We found some durable backpacks and packed them with supplies that the students and teachers had wished for — erasers for their notes, fine arts pencils, colored pens, math class supplies like protractors and compasses, umbrellas for walking in the rain or bright sun, and more. A group of visitors from the US packed 80 backpacks, so that the current students could be stocked up with school supplies and new enrollees would be welcomed to the school with supplies too! As the students walked in one by one, a traveler slipped a backpack over their shoulder, like a parent sending their student off to their first day of school. It … [Read more...] about All Packed Up

The Rubondo Secondary School sits on a large hill, with lots of land surrounding the school. When you stand outside of the classrooms, looking down the hill, you feel the vastness of the Rubondo community and how green and lush it is. The area around the school is green, and just down the hill is a well where the community pumps water. But there are no trees past the main road, and the students walk up a bare hill in the heat before getting into their classroom. As another learning opportunity, as a way to shade part of the students’ walk to school, and even as a source of additional nutrients, we decided to plant over 200 fruit trees on the school property! Students, visitors from the US, and staff from our international programs planted a combination of different trees to line a walkway for the students to use, and decorated other parts of the property that have plenty of sun and space. The students had anticipated our arrival - they decided to dig most of the … [Read more...] about Shading the Way