Greetings From Lasting Smiles Uganda!

We have a lot to report! We’ve had several positive developments at the school and through the generosity of donors like you, we’re accomplishing some great things.

On Monday, May 29, 2023 we begin the spring semester after a three week break. Our students and teachers continued to have meals and activities for our students throughout the break in an effort to keep the community connected and nourished.

Lasting Smiles is supporting 28 high school students who have successfully graduated from our school and are now attending a nearby secondary school. This continuing education is a critical part of our mission to provide the best opportunities for our students to break the chain of poverty and provide a platform for them to flourish in life. 

Our garden activities over the last few months have been very successful. We planted and harvested 9 acres of corn and 2 acres of beans. These crops help to feed our students, and also serve as a teaching laboratory for the community in sustainable agriculture. 

Through the goodness and generosity of our donors we funded five capital projects totaling just over $95,000. 

Lasting Smiles took delivery of a new Toyota pickup truck last week. This is a HUGE help allowing for safer transport our leaders, staff and students. The truck will help us to serve children in need of critical medical care as well as expedite the delivery of supplies, materials and other support staff to Kyajja. The truck was funded through donor contributions and a $50,000 loan from Blue Harbor Bank in Mooresville, NC.

We also completed the purchase of a new generator to pump water from our ground well up to our reservoir tank. Our team previously had to rent a generator for this purpose that was often times unavailable.

We also were able to purchase a second new reservoir tank that will provide basic water services to our teacher housing units. 

New Projects

As a result of some very generous donations received in the last two months, the board approved $19,000 in funding for a gate and fence system for the school. This is a requirement of the Uganda Ministry of Education for our upcoming certification. The new fence will greatly improve safety for our students and staff. Semei expects that we’ll have the fence constructed in the next 60 days.

$19,500 in funding was also approved for the installation of solar power to illuminate the campus at night as well as provide some charging power for the basic computers and technology that we are beginning to use at the school. The school and village have never had electricity, and this will be a big help to our team. Electricity lines terminate about 7 miles from the school and our long term plan is to encourage the utility company to bring permanent power to our campus. However, this is another 3-5 years away.

Passing of Michael

We unfortunately lost one of our 10-year-old students, Michael. Despite the best efforts of our team to get him to the hospital via boda-boda (motorcycle), he passed away prior to treatment. We believe that he had something lodged in his airway. Some of our operating budget was used to conduct funeral services for his family.  

Mark Lingo Joins Our Board

We’re excited to have Mark Lingo from Brighton, Michigan join our board. Mark brings a great deal of experience in fundraising and donor relations. We're excited to tap into Mark’s expertise as we work hard to support the continued development of Lasting Smiles Uganda.