Africa School for the Arts, Mbale -- Build Team 6

Help us build a high school in Uganda!

Currently, just 1 in 5 Ugandan teenagers attend high school due to a lack of physical facilities and a shortage of teachers. In Namengo, the town where the school is being built, there is a dire shortage of high school classroom space, so many students cannot further their education.

Recognizing this educational void, Michael Mpyangu reached out to Rolf Bell in 2019 with an idea: to repurpose the land he had inherited from his father to build a high school. Rolf had been the West Coast Regional Director for Habitat for Humanity, so he was the perfect man for the job. Together, Rolf and Michael recruited Seth Watchel, an architecture professor at USF, to create working designs for the project and organized a group of over 30 Ugandan and American architects and construction professionals as they set out to build the Africa School for the Arts, Mbale.

The school will be nothing short of life-changing for the children of Namengo. Molding students into versatile and skilled adults, the school will instruct them in various trades, academic disciplines, and arts. It will nurture the community's rich cultural history and ensure the preservation of local languages and oral traditions between generations. The school will provide students with the tools and skills they need to uplift themselves and their communities.

You can help bring this school to life. Our volunteer group will be fundraising and providing manual labor for the construction of the school. By donating, you are contributing to our transportation, lodging, and food, and providing us with the tools and materials that we need to bring this dream to fruition. Beyond that, you are enabling us, as young people, to gain a broader perspective on the world, and in the process, helping us change the lives of hundreds of young Ugandans.

Please donate now.

Trip cost breakdown:

Flight: $2,000

Construction Supplies: $2,000

Lodging: $650

Meals: $510

Emergency medical Insurance: $250

Misc (In-country transportation, etc.): $680

Total: $6,090/person (6 people in the group)

Campus design plans and renderings:

If you want to learn more about the project, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74aNFw5VC6w