INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

This school was founded by the Daughters of Mary Sisters of  Bwanda/Masaka – Uganda; whose role in the Church is to be the mothers of all people, especially the underprivileged of the society imitating the Blessed Mother Mary. This school was started with 12 children in 1996 but now (November 2022) the number has increased to 327. Initially, we started with only children who had hearing disabilities (deaf) but in 2004 we found out that some of our children were deafblind due to usher syndrome. So we found it worthy also to start a deaf-blind unit so as to help them have a better environment for study and make their movement easier.

In 2005 we started the construction of the building which was completed in 2009.

The deaf-blind unit started with 8 children with 4 teachers but the number has increased to 45 by 2022. Unfortunately the majority of the parents of these students cannot afford to pay tuition, boarding fees and all other kinds of necessities for their children. This year the number of children increased to 45, but only twenty of them pay half of the school fees while the rest cannot pay anything. It becomes even more difficult as all of the students stay at school in boarding (the school is like their home). That is to say we need food for all the meals, water, electricity 24/7, medical care, clothing, beddings, and all other necessities of life. This is a great challenge to the school administration (the Sisters of the Daughters of Mary). 

Apart from the academics, there are a number of activities done at the unit to bring up the children as any other child.

ADLS (Activities of daily living) includes:
toileting
eating
bathing
brushing
dressing and undressing

ACHIEVEMENTS

Some of the children have improved especially in ADLS (Activities of daily living) and vocational skills. They can make a necklace using beads and knitting, sawing, etc.

Parents have started seeing the future in their children. Children are very happy to be at school like any other children.

Pre- academic section: 

In this section, we prepare a child with residual sight in order to have the capability to do academic work for the main academic classes. 

Vocational skills: cooking, weaving, agriculture, and knitting.

Faith: The Children are also introduced to the knowledge of Faith; They recite prayers in sign language,Christian read the Bible while Muslims are taught the Koran.  Catholics attend mass thrice a week with their fellow friends from the nearby St. Therese Primary School. Their teachers sign for them everything that goes on during mass.Music and Dance:

• They are taught how to sing in sign language. 
• They are also taught dancing.

Most of these children do sing and dance very naturally, and they enjoy it very much.

Challenges: 

• Parents cannot afford to pay school fees and requirements for children. 
• Lack of some devices that can help the students to learn in class and outside class.
• Some children need special food to build up their growth because of being malnourished in their homes.
• Children with deaf-blindess need vocational activities, but the school cannot afford to give them all the necessary materials.
• We used to invite parents at school to be taught how to care for their children who are deaf blind but we canceled it due to financial problems whereas it is very necessary.
• Lack of enough trained teachers for the deaf-blind unit as the number of the children has increased. 

We also have home based programs for the children with severe cases who cannot be far away from their parents. We visit them twice a month. 

REQUESTS.We appreciate any help in this ministry to the children with disabilities in form of:

• School fees
• Tuition
• Food to feed them.
• Purchasing requirements such as the school supplies.
• Money for medical check-ups and treatment. These students do not have insurance, the school incurs a lot of costs to pay hospital bills for the children.
• Training more teachers