Classrooms in the Mufumya community of Kayanza are packed with children as never before. Working together with Food for the Hungry, teachers now celebrate increases in student enrollments as well as higher attendance rates for female pupils.
Yet, this great victory has presented Mufumya with further challenges. The rising number students now attending school have placed great stress on the capacity of the regional education system. Teachers like Elyse Bucumi, struggle to teach over 80 children at a time in classrooms equipped to hold 40.
Elyse, who has taught second grade in Mufumya since 1988, says that students often sit 4 to a desk and are forced to share the few textbooks available. Instructing foundational courses like Math and English has proven extremely difficult as textbooks normally used to accommodate such lesson plans are nonexistent. "We want our students to succeed, but we are missing some foundational elements" stated one teacher.
There are great hopes to equip pupils of Mufumya with the materials required to succeed and in further, to create an atmosphere conducive to learning. Elyse mentioned that the addition of sports equipment like skipping ropes, soccer balls and running shoes would be such a blessing and would give children even greater incentive to participate in school activities.
Teachers express great joy at the growth that has developed in Mufumya. Their desire is to see that through partnership with FH this growth has a firm foundation from which to expand.
