Villages of Bembe and Buwasa ready for the opening of two new primary school academies, set to serve a total of 650 students in grades P1-P7.

KAMPALA—On May 20, 2008, Building Tomorrow, Inc. (BT) along with U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Steven Browning will officially open the doors to two new primary school academies serving rural children in the villages of Bembe and Buwasa, Uganda in the country’s Wakiso District. The academies, each serving approximately 325 children are scheduled to open in conjunction with the start of the second trimester of the 2008 academic year and will welcome the 1,000th Ugandan student learning in a BT classroom. The academies will be BT’s second and third in Uganda.

The BT Academy of Bembe supported by Key Club International is located roughly 46km from the city centre of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The school’s foundation wall was built in September 2007 by high school students from across the US who traveled to Bembe to work hand-in-hand with local volunteers and brick masons. The BT Academy will be the first formal school to ever operate in the area and will take the place of a CHANCE school, an informal two-class school previously operated through support from Save the Children.

The BT Academy of Buwasa supported by Global Playground is located roughly 56km from Kampala and approximately 10km from the BT Academy of Bembe. Under construction since September 2007, the project has enjoyed the assistance of over 125 local volunteers who have contributed over 20,000 hours of labor to build the seven-classroom school.

The over 60,000 bricks required for the construction of both buildings have been purchased from local vendors, many of which will be able to send their children to a BT Academy to receive a formal education for the first-time. BT Academies are constructed through a partnership with the local community and government that enables children to attend BT Academies at no cost.

Building Tomorrow, Inc. is an international non-profit organization working to empower young people by raising funds and awareness for the construction of primary school academies serving vulnerable children throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The organization’s first school built in partnership with Meeting Point Kampala opened in May of 2006 and currently serves approximately 400 children. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, BT works with over 12 college campuses across the United States and has a partnership with Key Club International, a high school service organization with over 245,000 members worldwide.