New Year, New Goals, Same Love of Learning

W.A.S.H Fundraiser Update

Friends of Sabina started the year with amazing news! Thanks to your generous donations, we met our $80,000 goal for the W.A.S.H fundraiser.

We are excited to start improvements on the water, sanitation, and hygiene at Sabina. We look forward to updating you on our progress in future newsletters.

A Joyous Return to Campus Life

The students brought life back to the Sabina campus as they resumed classes in January after a six-month hiatus.

Teachers and staff were overjoyed to have the students back on campus. "The learners were happy to interact with their teachers," said Rose Nassiwa, religion and math teacher for Primary 1,2, and 4. "Many learners faced challenges during the break, but we are happy we received most of our learners back at school."

We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the preparations for the students' return and their first weeks back on campus.

Friends of Sabina ensured the administration and staff were set up for success with new textbooks that lowered the student-textbook ratio to 2:1 and refreshed classrooms with new paint, corkboards, and refurbished desks.

Joshua Nyiro, a primary 5 and 6 science teacher believes the updated classrooms will improve the teaching-learning process. "Teachers are able to display teaching-learning aids after using them. So, learners will have additional access to the knowledge."

In addition to ensuring the school grounds were sanitized and fumigated as well as setting up stringent COVID protocols, the Sabina administration and staff attended a series of workshops to support teaching in the new normal, navigate the abridged curriculum, gain computer skills, garner insights on the management of student with various abilities, and more. The school also made psychosocial support available to the staff and parents of students.

During the first weeks of school, students loved seeing the campus updates and were motivated to start their classes "Many students were very eager to learn since they have taken a longer period without classes," said Mr. Nyiro.

One of his eager Primary 5 students, Andrew Matovu, says, "This year I am looking forward to being first in my class. I know I can do it because I believe in myself, I have courage and I trust God."

All of the staff at Sabina received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine before the start of the school term.

In February, the COVID-19 vaccine was also made available to all students over the age of 12 and 100% of our students in this age range were vaccinated.