Circle of Peace International

Circle of Peace School, which has 300 students in nursery through grade 7, is bursting at the seams. An expanded campus and new classrooms are desperately needed. COPI is committed to helping Circle of Peace School acquire the funding to make this a reality.

• Land to expand the current campus.
Land is available next door to the current campus. This property is on a main road and has access to public water and electricity. Without additional space, moving forward with new classrooms will be difficult.

• New classrooms
Currently, there are currently 8 classrooms in use at the school. Two of these are temporary “makeshift" classrooms of impermanent structure. All classrooms are in need of renovation, including new windows, floors, and ceilings. In general, the classrooms are cramped, and the amenities in them including desks, chalkboards, and teaching resources, are outdated and in need of an upgrade.

Option A: Small Building—Recently, COPI received plans for a two-story, permanent building that would house additional classrooms, the administration office, the library, a staff room, and a dorm

The budget for Circle of Peace School is about $24,000/year. The budget is kept low because several members of the Bbaale family donate their services to the school as teachers, administrators, cooks, and maintenance personnel. Families of children attending the school provide what support they can; many students come from very poor families and others are orphans.

COPI has instituted a program of student sponsorships to pay for food, housing, clothing, medical care and education of these orphans.

With COPI's help, a chicken farm has been established and profits from the farm are contributed to the school. A mMaize mill business is about to be launched, which will provide food for the children at the School and additional revenue to support the School on an ongoing basis.

Donated services, tuition, student sponsorships, and farm income barely covers the costs of running the school. Sources of support for the land acquisition and construction project must be raised from outside sources. To this end, COPI has set this project as its highest priority for the next two years. We are instituting a program of small dinner parties where our President, Joanita Senoga, the founder of Circle of Peace School, can speak directly to individuals who may be in a position to assist. COPI's annual appeal will focus on this project, and we are actively searching for foundations whose focus may be in line with our objectives.

Over the past five years COPI has helped the school to construct, latrines, improve cooking facilities, access solar power and solar hot water, construct a dormitory, establish a library, upgrade the playground, dining shed, and classroom furnishings, and much, much more. We have sent 40 Americans to do service learning at Circle of Peace School in Uganda, enlisted 10 U.S. grammar schools to form pen pal programs with Circle of Peace School, enlisted 17 sponsors for orphans at the school, and attracted a dozen volunteers to lend their time and expertise to a variety of organizational tasks. Our board members are dedicated and hard working. We are creating five standing committees to increase the efficiency of the organization. We are a part of HandsOnGreater Richmond, the Partnership on Nonprofit Excellence, Give Richmond, and Connect VA. We utilize a number of online resources such as VolunteerMatch, TechSoup, SalesForce, BoardSource, Blue Avacado, and more.

In only 5 years we have
Installed a solar photovoltaic system at the school that provides electricity.
Sent 40 US citizens to Uganda for service learning projects at the School.
Engaged 10 US grammar schools in pen pal programs with students at Circle of Peace School.
Upgraded the cook stoves at the school.
Established a chicken farm that provides eggs for student meals and revenue to run the school.
Installed water harvesting systems and solar water heating systems at the school.
Built latrines and showers.
Sent school supplies and money to buy office equipment such as a multipurpose printer.
Supplied new desks, school uniforms, a television, mattress covers, team uniforms, two sewing machines, computers.
Painted classrooms, dorms and offices, renovated the playground and fenced the compound.
Renovated the dining shed, set up a library, installed playground equipment installed fire extinguishers, established a new girls dormitory, upgraded the visitor's kitchen, trained and outfitted a security guard, supplied materials to build new desks, and provided funds for graduation.

What is left to accomplish is to acquire land next to the current school compound to build new classrooms. We also need to further fund profit making businesses that will benefit the school so that Circle of Peace School can eventually be self sufficient. We need to find sponsors for 20 more orphans.