Taking global issues into their own hands, University students became involved with Building Tomorrow, a national program aimed at expanding educational opportunities for some of the world's less fortunate youth.
Building Tomorrow provides school buildings to underprivileged children, operates on 10 college campuses in the United States and provides organization, structure and motivation to student-led groups. The organization's time, money and effort specifically focus on the nation of Uganda and the economically deprived regions within the capital city of Kampala.
"Choosing Uganda and the city of Kampala specifically was a choice that the national office made based on several factors, like need and its capacity to help," said Mary Slosson, third-year College student and Building Tomorrow campus director.
Slosson said she realized the amount of work needed to fund the construction of a school was no small task.
"We discovered it takes $32,000 to obtain a legal title to the land upon which the school will be built and actually to construct schools," Slosson said.
Over the past winter break, a team of five students from the University chapter of Building Tomorrow traveled to Kampala to get a feel for the area and to preview what their hard work will produce when they return in the near future.
"The purpose of our trip was to see work that the organization has already done and familiarize ourselves with the region," Slosson said. "We worked for one week playing with kids, teaching math and English with kids in one of the schools already built by Building Tomorrow. The U.Va school is going to be built in the Wakiso district; we are raising money for that and we are halfway [to our goal] right now."
The trip was not only a journey to the other side of the world but also a drastic culture shock to students used to the comforts of Western civilization.
"I think it was a real eye opener," second-year Nursing student Anne Franklin said. "You always hear things about how there are millions of starving children across the world; it makes a real difference when you really see those starving children living in destitution."
The students volunteering with Building Tomorrow recognized the daily hardships experienced by community members living in Uganda, but they also gained a sense of the Ugandans' constant fear of political and military violence.
"The most prominent difference was in terms of basic human security," Slosson said. "The school we worked with located where most kids live in had a lot of people that are internally displaced persons from the north of the country and they're coming from all over as refugees."
Third-year Engineering student Maggie Kirkpatrick, who serves as campus assistant director for Building Tomorrow, expressed concern for those families victimized due to a severe lack of financial resources and means of self-sustenance.
"We were helping refugees from all over Soweto [township]," Kirkpatrick said. "The next day we got in car to leave and it poured, which was really rare for that time of year. I remember looking and talking to Building Tomorrow's director about what happens to those homes and he told me that they just pray."
Working in an area rampantly affected by HIV-AIDS, students observed what a terrible toll the disease takes on local populations. Kirkpatrick mentioned that almost all of the families they encountered had dealt with the disease.
"The national director said that when he was there this past fall, there was a sign in the orphanage saying there were 0.9 million children orphaned by AIDS," Kirkpatrick said. "When we went there in January, the number moved to 1.8 million."
Despite the social and economic differences, student participants observed firsthand that they had a lot in common with local inhabitants.
"These kids are doing the same things in school we did," Franklin said. "They all have their own personalities. It's interesting to see kids in a completely different world than I was brought up in but our lives are so parallel in ways you wouldn't think."
Whether tutoring or kicking around a ball in "really crazy soccer matches" described by Kirkpatrick, the students said they found great joy in interacting with the children for whom they are providing educational opportunities.
"It's really refreshing to work with kids who you know come from an unstable socioeconomic background," Slosson said. "They're kids, and kids all like to have fun and play sports. It's refreshing to see that universalism of childhood."
In addition to growing close to the residents in the Kampala area, students gained an appreciation for the beauty of Uganda's quiet countryside, which Kirkpatrick said has remained so similar to the state it was in 30 years ago that the makers of "The Last King of Scotland" filmed much of their movie on the same grounds that the students spent time on.
"It's a beautiful area with rolling hills and a lush green landscape," Kirkpatrick said. "It's very, very rural."
Just before Spring Break, the University chapter of Building Tomorrow held a panel to raise awareness about their cause and inform the public about their philanthropic goals.
"We started the panel with a photo slide show to orient the crowd," Slosson said. "I briefly spoke about Building Tomorrow, our mission, why we are going and also about Meeting Point Kampala, the name of the school that we were working on."
While the chapter will not begin its construction project until next January, the organization continues to keep itself busy with fundraising and sparking student interest.
"Our big event this semester is going to be called Bike to Uganda," Slosson said. "There are going to be 10 bikes set up, where members of the U.Va. and Charlottesville community can hop on and bike. The purpose of the event is to have people bike the equivalent of 7,300 miles, the distance from Kampala to Charlottesville."
In addition, Slosson mentioned that this semester, the organization is busy finding corporate sponsors to help support their cause financially.
While the task of raising $32,000 is certainly daunting, students said there is no limit to the organization's willingness to help out students in Kampala.
"I think once we raise the money for one school we will just continue to try and build more," Kirkpatrick said. "If you go to the store and buy something for a dollar, think about what else you could buy with this for the kids."
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