School for the mentally challenged children in Uganda

1. NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE ORGANISATION
PRESENTING THE PETITION
Catholic Diocese of Jinja
P.O. Box 673
Jinja –Uganda
NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE ORGANISATION IN
CHARGE OF THE EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT
Sisters of Mary - Kakamega
P.O. Box 1869, Jinja
Contact Person: Sr. Francis Theresa Okondo
Title: Project Coordinator
Telephone: +256 712 212 304
Email: ftheresaokondo@gmail.com
NAME OF PROJECT
Two dormitory blocks for St. Ursula Special School
2020

2. 1
Executive Summary
St. Ursula Special School cares for children with mental impairment in the Diocese of Jinja
which constitutes of the nine districts in Busoga region. Many mentally impaired children are
unable to attend school at St. Ursula Special School due to long distance from the school. The
school is situated in the Diocese of Jinja in Busoga region of Uganda. According to the
Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Busoga region has a total population of 2,595,416 people with a
growth of 3.2 per annum and majority of the population are living in rural areas on less than a
dollar a day.
The Sisters of Mary for a long time have been educating and caring for the children and
youths with different disabilities for example St. Martin Mumias Primary school for the deaf,
St. Angela Mumias Secondary and Vocational school for the deaf and blind youth in Kenya;
Butiru Rehabilitation Cheshire home for physically handicapped children and youth in
Uganda. In May 2003, they started their new apostolate of caring for the mentally impaired
children and young adults in the Diocese of Jinja. They work mainly with the children and
young adults from impoverished families within the Diocese of Jinja. They realized that most
children and young adults from these poor families are:-
 Denied access to school because they believe they cannot be educated.
 Isolated from their siblings and neighbours.
 Hidden away by their families either as a way of protecting them or fear of being
stigmatized by the society.
 Lack proper medical care.
 Never given responsibility with the family because they believe they are unable to
comprehend and do any kind of work within the home or in the neighborhood.
It is on this background that the Sisters of Mary opted for St. Ursula Special School to
educate and care for the mentally impaired children from impoverished families in Jinja
District.

3. 2
Introduction
St. Ursula special school is one of the projects of the Sisters of Mary in Uganda; like many
organizations and individuals who work with people with disabilities, the Sisters of Mary for
a long time have worked and cared for children with various disabilities. These disabilities
include visual impairment, hearing and physical impairment, but have now included children
and young people with mental impairment. These categories of children and youth with
mental impairment are given minimal attention at home, in their communities and schools
due to the negative attitudes parents and community members have towards children with
disabilities and learning disabilities.
In 1997, our former formatters, the Ursuline Sisters of Bergen North Holland in The
Netherlands, shared with the then Superior General of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega about
starting a school for mentally impaired children in Uganda. This idea was accepted by the
Sisters of Mary and was adopted. In May 2003, the first Sisters of Mary came to Jinja and
settled in a rented house in Jinja town.
The Sisters of Mary had consultation with the late Diocesan bishop, and the community
around designed a project to take care of the needs of children and youth with mental
impairment (slow learners) in Jinja District.
In July 2004, the first class of the mentally impaired children began in rented premises in
Jinja town with four children, but since then the school has expanded from a small rented
premises with four children to a fully-fledged school in Musima village caring for over one
hundred children.
The school’s current infrastructure includes two blocks of three classrooms each and a
recyclable pit latrine with bathrooms. One of the classrooms is used as the office by the
headmistress. This is so because the administration block is still lacking. The current school
population stands at about one hundred (100) children who attend classes on a daily basis,
while there are many others who would like to attend school but are unable due to the long
distances from school. If the school had boarding facilities, theses category of children would
attend classes in the school.

4. 3
Problem Justification
The Uganda National Health Policy and Draft Mental Health Policy (2000 – 2005), indicate
that an intricate link exists between the incidence of mental disorders and chronic poverty in
Uganda. The two are linked in a vicious cycle of exclusion, poor access to services, low
productivity, diminished livelihoods and assets depletion, as well as failure of affected
individuals and families to be economically active. In addition, people with mental illness
contend with powerlessness and exclusion imposed upon them by the community and their
family members. According to the mental health policy draft (2000-2005), it is estimated that
there are between 500,000 – 1,000,000 mentally ill adults and common mental disorders
account for six percent (6%) of Uganda’s population. Mental services in Uganda were
decentralised in the 1960’s, and in 1996, the Ministry of Health began to strengthen mental
health services and integrated them into Primary Health Care. The Mental Health Act was
revised and integrated into the health services bill. Psychotic and neurological drugs were
included in the essential drugs list. Mental health was included as a component of National
Minimum Health Care Package.
Despite the positive policies, the reality of mental health services, care education and delivery
on the ground is still undermined by inadequate funds, weakness in the system, competing
priorities especially Malaria, HIV/AIDS; stigma by people in the communities, planners and
decision makers.
This research (Uganda National Health Policy and Draft Mental Health Policy (2000 – 2005),
showed that mental illness was higher in Busoga and Soroti region than in any other parts of
Uganda. Yet there was no fulltime institution in the whole of Eastern Uganda that had been
established to look after the children of this category.

5. 4
Statement of Need
Culturally, people with disabilities are not so much considered especially in terms of
education and other benefits in the families and community around. Mentally impaired
children suffer more because they are unable to compete with the ‘normal’ children in
ordinary schools. Schools for mentally impaired children are very few in the country and St.
Ursula Special School is the first one in Jinja district.
St. Ursula Special School being the only school for the mentally challenged children and
youths realises that there are many children who are mentally challenged within Jinja district
and Eastern region of Uganda. The mentally challenged children are unable to be
rehabilitated in daily living activities e.g. eating, toileting, bathing, sleeping etc. This
rehabilitation process is only well done when these types of children are monitored all the
time for a given duration of time. Therefore when a boarding facility is in place it helps in
this rehabilitation process. After the rehabilitation process the children are once again ready
to fit in the society and attend day school. The sensitization process is also done to the parents
through seminars.
If there were enough schools for theses category of children in the district, e.g. schools near
their homes there would be no need for boarding facilities. But this is not so. For the last
seven years, the management of St. Ursula Special School has tried to keep the school as a
day school but it has now been realised that the boarding facilities are needed for the learners
from far.
It is on this background that the need for St. Ursula Special School to have dormitories is
justified.
Project Goals and Objectives
St. Ursula Special School overall goal is to provide ample boarding facility for over 100
mentally impaired children who are unable to travel to school on daily basis in order to attend
classes. This will be achieved by having boarding facilities e.g.
i. Constructing two dormitory blocks for girls and boys
ii. To furnish the two dormitory blocks as per the requirements of children with special
needs

6. 5
St. Ursula Special School anticipates that when the construction and furnishing of the two
dormitory blocks are completed, the following objectives will be achieved in the long run:-
i. More mentally impaired children will be attending school thereby giving them the
opportunity to get education and psycho-social support offered by St. Ursula Special
School.
ii. The improved living conditions of the children, safety, morale, and hopefully,
academic performance will be testament to a truly met need.
Project Implementation and Evaluation
St. Ursula Special School will ensure that the construction work will be awarded to a
qualified contractor with experience and competence in the construction industry. The Sisters
of Mary together with the architects will be responsible for the overall supervision,
management and the implementation of the construction. The Sisters of Mary will employ a
competent technical person in the building industry who will supervise and monitor the
project progress for the sole purpose of ensuring quality work. This particular person (clerk
of works) will be on the building site all the time.
The Sisters of Mary and the architect will ensure that timely, regular financial and progress
reports are submitted to the donors.
Conclusion
The Sisters of Mary will actively engage all the stakeholders together with the school to
ensure that the facilities meet the required standard for children with mental impairment. It
will be our great joy if this proposal meets your approval, so that the children who at the
present time are denied admission due to long distances a ray of hope for the bright future
Jinja district.
Project Budget
Attached find the Estimates of the project.