KAMPALA, UGANDA – 29 April 2006 – Sixteen months after a surprise Christmas Day 2004 delivery of $45,000 by students representing the College of William & Mary and Indianapolis community, Meeting Point Kampala (MPK) and Building Tomorrow (BT) proudly announce the opening of a new three-story Learning Centre that will serve nearly 700 children in the Ugandan capital’s Namuwongo district, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. On hand to preside over the day-long opening ceremonies will be newly appointed United States Ambassador to Uganda, Steven A. Browning as well as several local dignitaries and members of parliament. Events begin at 9 a.m. on the grounds of the new building.

“Each time we see the new school, we think of the old timber building and how far we have come,” Meeting Point Kampala director Noelina Namukisa said as she accepted the keys to the new building on 1 April 2006. “The children now will have real classrooms, they will all be inside and we’ll no longer be crammed.”

For six weeks in the fall of 2004, William & Mary students embarked on an initiative entitled ‘Christmas in Kampala’ to raise $10,000 for the construction of a new Learning Centre at MPK. The initiative, which attracted international media attention from outlets such as the Associated Press and CNN was very successful, raising more than four times the original goal.

Construction began in March of 2005 with the demolition of the former Learning Centre, a dilapidated one-room timber structure. Community members were asked to assist in the construction of the Learning Centre by contributing their time, labor and resources. In addition to several classrooms, the building boasts a third-story community hall to be used mainly for performances by MPK’s well-known song and dance troupe.

Meeting Point Kampala serves approximately 1400 individuals in the Namuwongo area with programs in microfinance, AIDS awareness and outreach, and home-based counseling. All of the children receiving an education at the Learning Centre are orphans who have lost one or both parents, or come from very poor families. Approximately 40 double orphans—children who have lost both of their parents to AIDS, reside at the MPK Foster House.

Building Tomorrow is a nationwide non-profit initiative based in Indianapolis, Indiana, aimed at giving U.S. students the opportunity to raise awareness and funds to build and support educational infrastructure projects for vulnerable children in and around Kampala, Uganda. For more information, please visit our Website at www.buildingtomorrow.org or email us at info@buildingtomorrow.org.