The 2026 school year is in full swing

School life at HOREMI is becoming more vibrant and diverse every year. The second school building is now complete and in use. Over 240 chil­dren have been attending classes here since the first trimester of 2026!

Last year, around 180 chil­dren attended HOREMI Junior School. This year, the school has already been able to admit an addi­tional 60 chil­dren from the surrounding villages—an increase of one-third!

Thir­teen teachers ensure that the students can learn success­fully and enjoy­ably. Six teachers work with the youngest chil­dren, starting at around age four, in the three preschool classes, while seven teachers teach the elemen­tary school grades P1 through P5.

Starting next year, we plan to expand to all seven elemen­tary school grades up to P7 and, as part of this, register as an educa­tional insti­tu­tion at the state level. However, there are still some admin­is­tra­tive, construc­tion, and finan­cial hurdles to over­come.

The grounds surrounding the old and new school build­ings have also seen signif­i­cant improve­ments. With a great deal of gardening skill and even more hard work, trees were planted and small hedges were estab­lished around the green spaces. The trees have grown quickly and now provide pleasant shade and protec­tion from the trop­ical sun, espe­cially in front of the “old” school building.

To give the many school­children a chance to clear their heads after studying, get some exer­cise, and really let off some steam during recess, the play­ground was expanded and another slide was purchased.

The growing number of students poses a major chal­lenge for the school’s modest kitchen. Two cooks now ensure that everyone gets a proper meal during lunch break. Most of the kids still receive a simple, thin porridge. Full meals are avail­able only to the few chil­dren whose parents can afford to pay for them.

Another issue is the construc­tion of addi­tional restrooms, which, according to govern­ment regu­la­tions, must be sepa­rate for boys and girls. New restroom facil­i­ties are there­fore among HOREMI’s most urgent invest­ments.

The first trimester of 2026 had begun in early February—a little later than usual due to the elec­tions in Uganda. Two months have passed since then; a lot of new mate­rial has been covered, and the first midterm exams have taken place. To ensure the chil­dren have enough space and quiet (and can’t copy from each other so easily…) during exams, desks and benches are set up along the school build­ings and in the court­yard.

We see that the demand for quality educa­tion continues to grow. Yet far too many people in Uganda still can barely afford an educa­tion. And since the last elec­tions in January, their lives have unfor­tu­nately not gotten any easier. We will soon publish a sepa­rate article detailing which new govern­ment measures are making their daily lives and struggle to make ends meet even more diffi­cult.

By the way: The ground­breaking cere­mony for the first school building took place just two and a half years ago. Here’s a brief look back at the construc­tion of the school build­ings and the devel­op­ment of school oper­a­tions.

Would you like to give the chil­dren of HOREMI a helping hand? You can donate quickly and easily here. Thank you very much!

You can find all the ways to support HOREMI on our dona­tions page.