51,941

Five years ago, in partnership with Educate A Child, Building Tomorrow made it our mission to enroll 51,000 out-of-school children across Uganda by 2019.

This April, we enrolled our 51,941st out-of-school child. And while we set our sights on enrolling even more children in the coming years, looking back on the last five - it was quite the journey…

Let's start with some simple math:

150

Building Tomorrow Fellows deployed since 2014.

Fellows like...

Michael

Fellow Michael shows off his school on a hill in the distance

Cecilia

Fellow Cecilia smiles and hugs a student

Namata

Fellow Namata takes a selfie with a group of students

+

3,400

Community Education Volunteers recruited by Fellows.

CEVs like...

Clementina

CEV Clementina smiles for the camera in front of her school

Bashir

CEV Bashir helps students inside a classroom

Godfrey

Vera

CEVs Vera and Godfrey laugh at the camera with a group of students

=

612,000

combined hours supporting education

or

70
years

These hundreds of thousands of hours were spent

Traveling to rural and remote areas of Uganda via cramped buses and small motorcycles.

A Fellow rides a motorcycle down a rural dirt road
Fellows walk up a hill towards a church

Crisscrossing villages and farms on foot.

Engaging school and community leaders to identify children who have left school.

A group of Fellows, CEVs, and community leaders sit in a circle in discussion inside a classroom
Fellows talk with a parent at her home as her child sits on her lap

Patiently discussing the importance of education with reluctant parents.

Fellows and CEVs revisited discussions and pushed again and again for action until…

An out-of-school child enrolled in school!

All the long hours and weary miles in blistering heat and deafening monsoons, in dust and in sweat to unlock education for children like…

Esther

Student Emily leans on a tree branch smiling for the camera

Robert

Robert takes pencil and paper notes at his desk as he surveys the front of the class

Vanitah

Emily

Vanitah and Emily smile for the camera on either side of the CEV that brought them back to school

We brought an eager learner to school

every hour

every day

for the past five years.

And when you add them all up, you get

51,941

out-of-school children enrolled

And as we celebrate this accomplishment, we're motivated to dive right back in and continue enrolling out-of-school children until every child receives an inclusive, transformative education.

View the official press release