Everlight College: A school chance for Bunga’s deprived
Nov 28, 2004
Many affluent families employ house helps the majority of whom are either orphans or those who dropped out of school for various reasons. Some are very intelligent, but could not continue with education.
By Elvina Nawaguna
Many affluent families employ house helps the majority of whom are either orphans or those who dropped out of school for various reasons. Some are very intelligent, but could not continue with education.
It was against this background that in 2001, Mrs. Specioza Suruma started Everlight College, Bunga, to cater for these wretched of the earth. From a tree shed school with only one building then, the wife to Dr. Ezra Suruma, the director of economic affairs at the Movement Secretariat, hopes to give these children a bright future.
“It was the situation at my home that drove me to open the school,†says Mrs. Suruma, the director and proprietor of Everlight College.
“I discovered that my houseboy was very intelligent, but his intelligence was misguided. He leaned more toward destructive work. I decided to start the school as guidance to children who would otherwise have no chance to go to secondary school.
“I look at these children. Some of them are very brilliant but unless somebody guides them, they cannot be useful to themselves, their families or the nation,†she says with concern.
Mrs. Suruma holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Makerere University and has taught in several schools, including Kibibi Secondary School, Mengo SS, Lincoln International (now International School of Uganda) as well as Rainbow Academy.
Using her meagre resources, she partitioned one of the rooms of the only building then into senior one and two. She then put an advert for teachers and employed nine of them.
She had three pioneer students - her houseboy, a sixteen-year old girl from the neighbourhood and her friend’s niece. Each of the teachers stood before one student and taught with enthusiasm.
“It was very difficult in the beginning because I had to find means of paying the teachers,†she recalls.
But with the help of her husband, the school limped on and soon the enrolment grew to 15, but most studied without paying any fees. It became hard to pay teachers’ salaries when her husband also run out of resources. “At one point, one of the teachers had to go to Bunga Hill to borrow chalk,†Mrs. Suruma recounts.
By the end of the year, Mrs Suruma was so stressed that she decided to close the school and start looking for a job.
“I decided to find a job so that I could pay the teachers,†Mrs. Suruma says.
The following year, 15 students showed up with old teachers and new ones looking for vacancies. The need was big and so the school had to reopen. By the end of the term, they were 40.
Today, Everlight College has grown to three blocks, 12 teachers and 93 students, the pioneers now being in senior five. The school also has a boarding section. The girls’ dormitory is a four-bedroom house, which is part of the Suruma family property. Mrs. Suruma’s Boys’ quarters serve as the boys’ dormitory.
The school has school gardens growing maize, cassava, potatoes, onions, matooke, beans and vegetables. These supplement their diet.
The students are also involved in co-curricular activities like music, dance and drama and sports, occasionally holding competitions with neighbouring schools.
As Mrs. Suruma walks around the school, it is evident that she has a personal relationship with the students as she calls them by name. “My vision is to give the students my heart and to have their hearts, to be able to love each other, to grow together,†she says.
The students are calm, neat and disciplined. “It is the Christian base here that has helped us transform these children,†she says. She says that about 80% of the students are orphaned and some live on their own, hence, have no one to discipline them.
“The motto here is character building. By the end of their term, their character has been transformed and the community can testify to that,†she says.
The school instills in the children discipline, the fear of God, the spirit of voluntarism and the motivation to work hard. Mrs. Suruma’s desire is to produce educatable citizens who can use their creativity to make a living.
Even though the school is Christian-founded, it is open to people from all religious denominations.
There is still a big need for expansion of the school. NGOs and government tend to be bent toward younger children and neglect secondary education.
Mrs. Suruma believes that someone has to pick up those children who have only ended at primary level and give them secondary education, so that they have a better chance in the future.
Vision for Africa currently sponsors about 20 students in the school, while Mrs. Suruma herself sponsors 10. They have enough land to expand but no money.
“My plan is to find funding and people who are like-minded to join me in this noble cause. I can’t do it on my own,†she says.
Mrs. Suruma insists that Everlight College is not a school for house boys and house girls or for the disadvantaged as many people think.
She is just giving chance to people who would have otherwise not had a secondary education a chance to have one.
Many affluent families employ house helps the majority of whom are either orphans or those who dropped out of school for various reasons. Some are very intelligent, but could not continue with education.
It was against this background that in 2001, Mrs. Specioza Suruma started Everlight College, Bunga, to cater for these wretched of the earth. From a tree shed school with only one building then, the wife to Dr. Ezra Suruma, the director of economic affairs at the Movement Secretariat, hopes to give these children a bright future.
“It was the situation at my home that drove me to open the school,†says Mrs. Suruma, the director and proprietor of Everlight College.
“I discovered that my houseboy was very intelligent, but his intelligence was misguided. He leaned more toward destructive work. I decided to start the school as guidance to children who would otherwise have no chance to go to secondary school.
“I look at these children. Some of them are very brilliant but unless somebody guides them, they cannot be useful to themselves, their families or the nation,†she says with concern.
Mrs. Suruma holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Makerere University and has taught in several schools, including Kibibi Secondary School, Mengo SS, Lincoln International (now International School of Uganda) as well as Rainbow Academy.
Using her meagre resources, she partitioned one of the rooms of the only building then into senior one and two. She then put an advert for teachers and employed nine of them.
She had three pioneer students - her houseboy, a sixteen-year old girl from the neighbourhood and her friend’s niece. Each of the teachers stood before one student and taught with enthusiasm.
“It was very difficult in the beginning because I had to find means of paying the teachers,†she recalls.
But with the help of her husband, the school limped on and soon the enrolment grew to 15, but most studied without paying any fees. It became hard to pay teachers’ salaries when her husband also run out of resources. “At one point, one of the teachers had to go to Bunga Hill to borrow chalk,†Mrs. Suruma recounts.
By the end of the year, Mrs Suruma was so stressed that she decided to close the school and start looking for a job.
“I decided to find a job so that I could pay the teachers,†Mrs. Suruma says.
The following year, 15 students showed up with old teachers and new ones looking for vacancies. The need was big and so the school had to reopen. By the end of the term, they were 40.
Today, Everlight College has grown to three blocks, 12 teachers and 93 students, the pioneers now being in senior five. The school also has a boarding section. The girls’ dormitory is a four-bedroom house, which is part of the Suruma family property. Mrs. Suruma’s Boys’ quarters serve as the boys’ dormitory.
The school has school gardens growing maize, cassava, potatoes, onions, matooke, beans and vegetables. These supplement their diet.
The students are also involved in co-curricular activities like music, dance and drama and sports, occasionally holding competitions with neighbouring schools.
As Mrs. Suruma walks around the school, it is evident that she has a personal relationship with the students as she calls them by name. “My vision is to give the students my heart and to have their hearts, to be able to love each other, to grow together,†she says.
The students are calm, neat and disciplined. “It is the Christian base here that has helped us transform these children,†she says. She says that about 80% of the students are orphaned and some live on their own, hence, have no one to discipline them.
“The motto here is character building. By the end of their term, their character has been transformed and the community can testify to that,†she says.
The school instills in the children discipline, the fear of God, the spirit of voluntarism and the motivation to work hard. Mrs. Suruma’s desire is to produce educatable citizens who can use their creativity to make a living.
Even though the school is Christian-founded, it is open to people from all religious denominations.
There is still a big need for expansion of the school. NGOs and government tend to be bent toward younger children and neglect secondary education.
Mrs. Suruma believes that someone has to pick up those children who have only ended at primary level and give them secondary education, so that they have a better chance in the future.
Vision for Africa currently sponsors about 20 students in the school, while Mrs. Suruma herself sponsors 10. They have enough land to expand but no money.
“My plan is to find funding and people who are like-minded to join me in this noble cause. I can’t do it on my own,†she says.
Mrs. Suruma insists that Everlight College is not a school for house boys and house girls or for the disadvantaged as many people think.
She is just giving chance to people who would have otherwise not had a secondary education a chance to have one.