KAMPALA, UGANDA (17 August)—Building Tomorrow, Inc. (BT) is proud to announce the groundbreaking of the future BT Academy of Jomba, supported by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UWRF) and the City of Indianapolis. The Academy, expected to eventually house more than 300 students, will serve the four villages of Jomba, Kibone, Kitinda and Kawooya in the Wakiso District of Uganda, providing the first formal school for hundreds of children within a 4.5-mile radius.

The groundbreaking ceremony, attended by Vice President of Uganda Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, drew hundreds of community members, local leaders and parents of future students. Collectively, the Jomba community has not only committed to providing the 25,000 hours of labor necessary to construct the Academy, but through the generosity of the Aloysius Dan family, has also donated more than 2.5 acres of land where the Academy will be housed.

“We’re very much excited to bring a BT Academy to Jomba,” BT Uganda Country Director Joseph Kalisa said. “There are no public primary schools here in this area and we’re excited to give P1-P7 students the chance to receive a formal education.”

Currently, nearly 100 students attend a makeshift, community-supported school very near to the Academy’s future location. Of the five classes offered, three are held outdoors under the shade of trees and seldom meet during the country’s two rainy seasons.

BT’s chapter at UWRF has raised over $15,000 to fund the construction of the new Academy through a series of student-driven initiatives that have taken place on campus over the last three years including a large homecoming weekend concert dubbed The Big Event and Bike to Uganda, which debuted in spring 2009.

The BT Academy of Jomba is expected to open in mid-2010. Progress of the school’s construction can be followed at: http://www.buildingtomorrow.org/site/construction-updates/bt-academy-of-jomba.

BT is an international social-profit organization encouraging philanthropy among young people by raising awareness and funds to build and support educational infrastructure projects for underserved children in sub-Saharan Africa. BT works with a college network of nearly 20 chapters nationwide and has a partnership with the 245,000 members-strong Key Club International, the world’s largest high school service organization. The BT Academy of Jomba will be the seventh location built and opened by the organization, which currently has space to accommodate over 1,250 students in four Academies throughout Uganda.