Inselschule Uganda e.V.

Qui sommes-nous

The association Inselschule Uganda e.V. (Islandschool Uganda) was founded in 2016 by employees from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Hewlett Packard Inc.(HPI), but it is legally independent from both companies. However, both HPE and HPI are supporting the association in the area of management of the association. This ensures that a maximum of donations can be funneled into the supported projects.

The purpose of the association is to support the Lake Bunyonyi Secondary School on Bwarma Islands in Uganda or similar institutions within Germany and outside Germany. This includes financial, material, technical or personal support. This further includes support by collecting donations and by the procurement of means in other ways. The purpose of the association is achieved by organizing donation activities and member commitment.

Under the leadership of Denis Maniragabe, the Lake Bunyonyi Community and Island Schools Association was founded in January 2017. This was a prerequisite for the German authorities from the Ministry of Finance to accept the Islandschool Uganda e.V. as a charitable/non-profit association ("Gemeinnützigkeit") in Germany. From the setup, we have now two associations working hand in hand:
• Islandschool Uganda Association located in Boeblingen, Germany - this association will initiate donation activities and collect funds to build the solar ferry and help the Island school in other means
• Lake Bunyoni Community and Island School Association located in Bwarma, Uganda - this association will be the main recipient of the funds collected by the Islandschool Association and will then also be responsible to run and maintain the solar ferry

Bunyonyi Secondary School was setup on a small island in the middle of the Lake Bunyonyi in Southern Uganda to leverage buildings from an outdated leprosy isolation camp. While school on an island sounds idyllic, it does create a barrier for many potential students to even reach school.

Getting to school from around the lake requires boats that are scarce, very slow and expensive. The solution of this problem is the Musana Ferry. Musana is the word for sunshine in one of the local languages. We want to design and build a solar ferry that can transport all students to and from school for free, powered by the sun. Designed by students from the University in Emden/Germany and built locally.

Projects:
• Fund and build a solar ferry that, is owned by the Lake Bunyonyi Secondary School, picks up kids for school and takes them home afterwards, serves as an emergency boat to bring patients to the hospital on the island and can support the community with transportation across the lake during school.
• Energy: Solar/Batteries exist, but not enough to provide consistent energy needs of the school, i.e. to run multiple PCs or Laptops at the same time. Thus there is a need to diversify energy production to ensure enough energy also during changing weather patterns.
• Internet Acces/ Wifi
• Science Laboratory: Equipment to teach is very limited and could need many additions

Gerfried Kroeger is the President of the association Inselschule Uganda e.V. (Islandschool Uganda).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.