Ekisande is a non-profit organization that supports the local community in Bwera, Uganda near the Congolese border.
Through education, vocational training and health care we want to have a lasting effect on the Bwera community.
The vision of Ekisande Belgium vzw: -Enhance involvement of everybody by close and personal contacts -Traceable, verifiable and result-driven expenditure of donated funding -Results by well-considered and well-founded projects -Fun in fundraising
Sustainable development goals:
Ekisande Belgium vzw on the following SDGs:
zero hunger
good health and well-being
quality eduction
gender equality
clean water and sanitation
affordable and clean energy
decent work and economic growth
VAMCAST Vocational Training
Together with the local Bishop, Father Tom, we have made excellent progress, but our work is not done.
Fundraising FunFamily AffairThomas More 4 UgandaFr. Tom and his kidsHot salsa for UgandaHot, hotter, hotst
I am a down-to-earth person. I live in the reality of life. I give my best to serve another person.
In 2018, 4 friends started a non-profit organization, Ekisande, to support a school in Uganda. While the non-profit organization is new, we have been involved in the project since 2014.
It all started when Dirk, one of the Ekisande founders, was in Uganda to build a university radio station at Mountains of the Moon University, partly funded by Thomas More University of Applied Sciences. He met Bishop Thomas Kiiza PhD, one of the local coordinators of the inter-university project with several Belgian universities.
School in 2014School in 2014
Father Tom, as the bishop is often called, also helps the people of Bwera, a small village in Uganda. It started with schooling for orphans and deprived children in his church, later Father Tom added a football club, a health care centre and a vocational training centre for young people. .
We decided to gather funding and other support to help Father Tom grow his program.
Since 2014 we gathered over €40,000 in funding and used that to buy land and improve the infrastructure:
two-classroom building for a primary school
toilets for boys and girls
a new campus called Virgo Maria for the kindergarten and primary schools.
three-classroom building at Virgo Maria
a 3-classroom building and a 4-classroom building are constructed, one of which is sponsored by Canadians.
healthcare centre, called Mama Sabina
Water supply for both locations
Expansion of the plot around Mama Sabina
Virgo Maria CampusHealth Care at Mama Sabina
Three buildings are being built on the Virgo Maria Campus, for a total of 10 class rooms (August 2019). We also provide food for 400 students and teachers.
Construction of the new class rooms
August 2019October 2020February 2021January 2022January 2022
These beautiful videos were made by Katya Suykens of Medialab of AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts:
Most of the work & material is sourced locally to improve ownership and increase the positive effect Ekisande has on the Bwera community.
You can find our sites on Google Maps: • Virgo Maria: 0.019957, 29.729825 • Mama Sabina: 0.014917, 29.730444
Bwera – Virunga National ParkVirgo Maria – Mama Sabina
Future plans
We want to keep supporting this school for another 5 years, during this period we will continue to improve the infrastructure and overall quality of services provided by our school:
Improve and grow the health care centre. The existing class rooms will be converted to a wards for men and women. We also foresee a delivery room, a consultation room, a pharmacy, a lab, a utility room, an education area, a family room and cooking opportunity. The design is from Emma Verhas, Pauline Verbeke & Ying Liu from the bachelor and post graduate Space & Service Design of Thomas More. First step: water borehole worth €8000.
Provide electricity and water for both the school and health care centre.
Buy more land and build a larger campus for the vocational training centre. Add business oriented classes to stimulate entrepreneurship.
Provide 1000€ monthly support for staff wages and food for the children. We want to keep our students healthy and our teaching staff on board for sustained quality in schooling. We are looking for 100 monthly sponsors of €10. Our sponsors will receive a present.
Welding
Hair dressing
Tailoring
Wood working
Automotive technology
We work as much as possible together with Higher Educational Institutes to provide professional support in specific projects.
Academic year 2019-2020 nursing students from Thomas More University of Applied Sciences will go to Bwera to work on sexual education and health. The will also initiate a student follow up system, because a good health is the best guarantee for good schooling. This is cancelled due to Covid-19.
Academic year 2018-2019 students interior design from Thomas More University of Applied Sciences will design a functional set up for the health care centre, in the frame of their service & human-centered design. Two of them will travel to Uganda to prepare the conversion of Mama Sabina.
Academic year 2019-2020 students of Thomas More will go and support the conversion ofMama Sabina.
In the ACTEA project from AP University College, sponsored by the EU, the vocational training centre (VAMCAST) will be outreach partner. Teachers from VAMCAST will be trained in industrial electricity and automation.
In the summer of 2022, 4 engineering students from the KUL and the VUB will install a solar panel installation and a drinking water well with pump and water tower via Humasol vzw.
In the summer of 2022, 12 students and 4 teachers from AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts and 4 students and 2 teachers from Mountains of the Moon University will help with the operational functioning of Ekisande Rural Development Center (ERUDEC).
We will strive to make the local organization self-supporting:
Various vocational departments (hair dressing, car repair, wood work,…) will offer their services against payment.
Eco-tourism
After the 5 year period ends, we will continue to provide for the wages and food. And we will evaluate the constructional needs. If a decent level of self-sustainability is reached we will move on to another project for investments in infrastructure.
How can you help?
Monthly donations
Under the motto: every little bit helps, we are always looking for regular monthly sponsors. €5 or €10 per month is enough to make a difference and to write this on your tax return. Even with a small contribution of €5 per month, you can already pay 2.5 days’ wage from a teacher
€30 / per month two cooks
€30 / per month one grounds keeper
€40 / per month one nurse
€60 / per month one teachers
€80 / per month one head teacher
€150 / per month lunch for 300 pupils
Teachers at Virgo Maria
Top products
We regularly sell good products for a good price. You probably feel like a delicious wine for the summer or champagne for the Christmas Holidays, you are a big fan of hot sauce, you want to surprise your employees with an apero box full of goodies or you want an authentic bag, made in Uganda. Pass your name and we will keep you informed of these promotions.
Single donations
Donations for infrastructure: an average 3-unit school building costs €15,000
• Material We try to limit this as much as possible and source our material locally. 2 exceptions: – Technical infrastructure – Football jerseys
• Support on site: we are open for any collaboration on site, this will be explored & discussed on a case by case basis.
So what are you waiting for? Give in to your inner philanthropist or compensate for your other shady activities by supporting a nurse in Uganda for 40€/month. It will set you back an acceptable 20€/month after you tax deduction. Besides the sense of enormous well-being, you will get a conversation starter to get you through boring receptions.
Gifts are also possible throug the online donation page of the King Baudouin Foundation: https://donate.kbs-frb.be/actions/PA-EkiEkisande-Belgium
***
Schools, companies, organisations and private sponsors can pay directly to our account: BE33 0689 1089 0146
Our sponsors:
Our wall of fame is impressive. But there is always room for more support.
Schools, companies and organisations
With recognition and support from:
Team
Jan Calliauw Jan is into de-risking development projects, cooking hot sauce and gathering funding. He is a Robin Hood from Aldi.
Greet Dufraing Greet coordinates the Running for Uganda actions. She takes care of all official documents, legal matters and governmental support.
Ijou El Kaimoche Ijou is specialist public relations. Our eyes on the world.
Dirk Van Merode As Dirk, one of Ekisande’s founding members, manages a EU-funded project in Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia the next 3 years, he will be on site every now and then at no cost for the Ekisande organization.
Father Tom Father Tom is the right person to manage this project on site. As a bishop he is respected by parents, local government and other organizations. We at Ekisande like him because he is an open thinker who believes in gender equality and a pragmatic approach to safe sex and aids. In the years we have been doing our combined efforts, Father Tom proved to be a hard-working, honest and intelligent leader. He has clear goals on how to improve all the different initiatives, and has the right people at the right place to get the work done.
