Set up in 2005, The Uganda Link is a Dean Close charity which supports a secondary school in Western Uganda, Nyakatukura Memorial Secondary School. Nyakatukura School was set up by the Church of Uganda to provide secondary education to poor and orphaned children.
Life at Nyakatukura
The local church donated five acres of rough farmland on which the school has been able to develop. When Dean Close first visited Nyakatukura in 2005, the children were sleeping on the floor, they had to walk 30mins to a natural borehole to collect water and there was no electricity. Furthermore, lessons took place under a mango tree on makeshift benches.
Thanks to the Dean Close community, Nyakatukura has evolved from its humble beginnings to become a blossoming secondary school with over 350 students. The school now has five fully equipped classrooms, a library, an examination hall and solar electricity, as well as a water harvester and a tap on the school site. Most recently a girls’ dormitory, aptly named ‘Fawley and Shelburne’, has been constructed, with a boys’ dormitory currently under construction too. Over the years a strong relationship has formed between two schools which is celebrated by a plaque in Nyakatukura: ‘Dean Close and Nyakatukura Memorial School – Friends Forever’.
Since the charity was set up, we have raised thousands of pounds for Nyakatukura and supported hundreds of children through their education. However, the aim of the charity has always been to build relationships, not just buildings. The Uganda Link is founded on friendship.