User:NyakaIntern/Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project

Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project (Nyaka) is a non-profit organization, founded by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, that strives to "provide a high-quality, free education, both formal and informal, to children who have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS in order to counteract pervasive hunger, poverty and systemic deprivation." The foundation is based in Nyakagyezi, Uganda with its domestic offices in Lansing, Michigan.

History
Nyaka was founded in 2001 by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri after the death of both his brother and sister in 1996 from AIDS and the subsequent adoption of their combined four children, one of whom was HIV positive. Kaguri started the project with $5,000 he had saved up for the down payment on a house after seeing the great need within his native community of Nyakagyezi, to help both the children being orphaned by AIDS as well as the elderly population that often cares for them. Though originally fundraising through his own social network of friends and family members, the project grew to include donors from local Rotary Clubs, churches and schools and in 2004 Nyaka received a grant from the Stephen Lewis Foundation for $25,000.

The Nyaka school was completed in October of 2001 and currently serves as a 1-7th grade primary school with around 221 students. The Nyaka Project then went on to build a second school in the neighboring district of Rukingiri, named Kutumba. The Kutumba school was finished in 2007 and serves as a 1-5th grade primary school with 148 students in the hopes to add on a grade each year until they have 7 rooms that can accommodate seven grades. Nyaka takes on about 30 new students each year. Its first graduating class was a group of 22 6th graders, 21 of whom scored a B+ or better on the national tests. In 2009 every student passed with a B+ or higher. That same year Nyaka achieved 2nd Place in academic performance among 143 other schools in the Kanungu District. It was also one of only 4 schools in Uganda selected to partner with the International School of Uganda in Kampala on a program developed by Harvard University to improve the way children learn.

In 2010 the Blue Lupin Foundation donated money to construct the Blue Lupin Community Library. This library serves the entire Nyaka community as a whole, including people outside of the school systems; providing reading rooms, a book collection and online learning tools.

The Desire Farm began development in 2009 and was put in place to supplement the meals for the students and immediate families. The farm is on a 17.2 acre piece of land and when at full production employs 60 local residents. The farm is also used as a vocational training site as well; local farmers, as well as former students that do not attend secondary school can come to get free training on how to seed and work the land efficiently.

One of Nyaka's future goals includes a secondary educational institution as well as making sure that there are similar schools in each of Uganda's districts.

Grandmother Project
The women that take care of the Nyaka students are often Grandmothers who have lost their own children to HIV/AIDS and are now taking care of their grandchildren. These women are often retired, have no steady income and are living in impoverished conditions. As a way to help them Nyaka set up a training program with the Stephen Lewis Foundation in June of 2007. This program focused primarily on educating women so that they can go and teach their own communities in how to cope with their specific living conditions. These skills include: home management skills, child development, and community management.

As a way to create expendable income for the Grandmothers, Nyaka created a Grandmother Basket Program. This program involves the Grandmothers making woven baskets, mats, pots and paper beads for bracelets and necklaces. The women sell the handicrafts to Nyaka and then they are shipped back to the US to be sold through fundraising parties and fair trade shops. This program saw great expansion and success in 2010 with volunteers holding personal parties across the US and Canada.

Nyaka also has a micro-finance program. "The Micro-finance Program was launched in 2006 with the objective of providing access to credit for income-generating activities to the women caring for the orphans of Nyaka and Kutamba. This program continues to aim at improving caretakers' incomes as numerous studies have shown that women tend to prioritize children's nutrition, education, clothing, health, and home improvements ahead of their own personal needs."

The Price Stones
Kaguri wrote a book in 2010 entitled "The Price of Stone: A School for My Village" in which he follows his own story as well as that of the Nyaka Project.

Twesigye Jackson Kaguri
Twesigye "Jackson" Kaguri was born one of five children in a family that understood the importance of education but did not always have the means to achieve it. After much persuasion and a deal with his father that he would only attend school until he flunked an exam, Kaguri was able to go to primary school. His family sold some of their animals as well as selling a bit of land at one point in order to keep Kaguri in school, but the investment in their son turned into an acceptance letter to the national university in Kampala and in 1995 Jackson came to Columbia University as a visiting scholar.

As Kaguri got settled into his life in the United States the Ugandan AIDS epidemic came crashing into his life. Both his brother and sister died of AIDS within a one year period and Kaguri became the parental guardian of their combined four children. After both experiencing and witnessing the havoc that AIDS was reaping on his community Kaguri decided that he needed to do something to help. He put the money he had saved up for a down payment on a house and spent it instead to found the Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project.

Kaguri quit his job at Michigan State University in order to focus more fully on the Nyaka Organization as well as promote his book.