The Kampala Lions Club New Century donates 780 books to a Wakiso orphanage school.

Located in Lweza off Entebbe road in Wakiso district is St.Mary Kevin day and boarding Primary School with a population of about 100 pupils, the largest number of them being orphans.

The Lions Club of Kampala New Century paid a surprise visit to the school and donated 780 books to students and teachers.

According to Brendah Namugga Mubeezi, president of the Lions Club of Kampala New Century, the donation was made possible by Fountain Publishers, who responded to a call for Ugandans to donate books to help the orphanage.

"Our main objective is to serve the less fortunate in the community and it is what we are doing now. When we looked at the school library, we noticed it was in poor condition. We ran a social media campaign called "donate a book" to find people who had old books they weren't using and wanted to donate them. When we realized the drive wasn't taking off, we approached several institutions, including Fountain Publishers, who overwhelmingly supported us," Namugga explained.

She explained that they received over 2400 books from Fountain Publishers and that the remaining books will be donated to another school in Masaka.

The French school also provided additional books.

Speaking about the orphanage in Wakiso, the president of the Lions Club of Kampala New Century stated that they have done several projects to help the orphans since 2018, with this year focusing on a campaign to improve literacy skills for students.

"We did this as a way of helping improve the reading skills of the pupils and also give them materials that support their education. "We hope that through education, we can contribute to the well-being of the children," Namugga said.

The Kampala New Century Lions Club has previously held medical camps, advocated and raised awareness about diabetes and pediatric cancer, provided scholastic materials to schools, and conducted a menstrual hygiene and management campaign in slum areas throughout the country.

According to Ronald Kavulu, one of the school's directors, Rosemary Kavulu and her husband, Joseph Kavulu, founded the school in 1996 to assist women and families who had lost loved ones due to HIV/AIDS.

"The school was established to assist orphaned children in obtaining basic education, but it also provides other basic services such as health, a place to stay, and alternative education mechanisms such as tailoring and brick making, among others," Kavulu explained.

He explained that the vocational skills were intended to ensure that once the orphaned children left school and were unable to continue their education, they could use the skills to fend for themselves.

"Right now, we have about 100 students in primary one through seven. Usually, the children are brought to us by their parents or guardians, and we investigate to see if what they say is true, that the child is orphaned or in need."

According to the school director, in other cases, the fees are subsidized to allow parents to pay half so that their children can receive an education.

In response to the book donation, Kavulu praised the Lions Club of Kampala New Century for providing the school with reading materials.

"Before the donation, we had a few curriculum books, and if students were learning, they had to share one book. This meant that students didn't have much time to spend with their books. However, the impact of the donation will be that each child will have their own book and will spend more time with it, reading and understanding the concepts in it. This will have a direct impact on their  performance," Kavulu stated.

He did, however, call for more school support, whether in the form of food, sports equipment, or financial aid to help students study.