Where do I begin?

We’ve had an awesome two weeks at Building Tomorrow. REAL awesome.

On a sun-filled Friday in the tiny community of Kabasegwa, more than 400 students, parents, teachers, community leaders (and even a couple barnyard animals) joined to celebrate the commissioning of Building Tomorrow’s 14th Academy. Complete with a community-cooked lunch and seemingly interminable celebration, a local chairman beautifully summed up the reason for such a momentous occasion:

“For years we have been under a shelter built to catch rain. Today, the heavens have opened up and it has rained more than we could have ever imagined. It has rained us a school.”

A couple days later, work kicked off to launch the Building Tomorrow Fellowship program, our latest initiative aimed at boosting enrollment while equipping headmasters, teachers and our School Management Committees with the skills and resources they need to ensure that every child inside a Building Tomorrow Academy has access to a quality education. In a matter of months, we expect to recruit a corps of up to ten Fellows, working with approximately 30 rural schools throughout Uganda. Vivek and Robert, our two leads on this initiative are sharp, dedicated and eager to get the program up and running.

Two thousand miles away, our friend and advocate President Bill Clinton offered a keynote address to the 800+ delegates attending the second annual Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, UAE. A few minutes in, President Clinton referenced his visit to Building Tomorrow in July 2012 and held up our model as an ideal public-private partnership. If you’ve not yet heard it, I’d invite you take two minutes and check it out (around the 7:12 minute mark):

And, if all this weren’t enough, the community of Kibimba, Uganda came together to commemorate ground breaking on Building Tomorrow’s 20th site just days ago. Building Tomorrow’s financial commitment is made through funds raised by Indiana University, DePauw University and Hope College, and is matched by the donation of three acres of land from the family of Tumusime Efurayimu and thousands of hours of labor by the people of Kibimba.

Speaking of awesome, Build-a-School Night 2014 is just around the corner and we would love for you to join us. Joseph Kaliisa, our Country Director from Uganda will be with us, and plans are in motion for a spectacular night. Yeah, I’m biased, but we do know how to throw a great party, and we’d love to have you with us.

On behalf of our entire team, thank you for supporting the continuing work of Building Tomorrow and may it rain many, many more schools.