Organisation Profile

The idea of starting a community development initiative at Ssebbi was intiated way back in 1987 by the late Ms. Florence Nagawa (RIP), a nurse by profession. Ms. Florence Nagawa had a vision of improving the quality of life of the community through provision of social services. She used to offer basic health services in the community of Ssebbi – Lugeye. Some of the services she offered included counselling, treatment of malaria, cough, and wounds. She also used to teach younger children how to make mats and baskets plus creation of communal gardens.

We started by offering services in tree shades though this has changed; we now have some structures from where to teach the children and gather as community. Springs Alive Community School (SPACS) has grown from being nursery school up to Primary Four level to all the seven classes for the primary school setting. There is repeated improvement in the performance of the pupils; so far we have had three years Primary Leaving Examination candidates. At SPACS we also have activities with women and are in the process of developing a vocation school. We have managed to make connections abroad, which we couldn’t do at the time of starting the organisation. We are being supported by Multitech Business School with office, electricity and free internet services. We have thus developed an online network of volunteers that support us.

We have succeeded in our first objective of establishing a community center that also serves as a school for over 150 children local children who have been mainly affected by the recent civil wars and HIV/AIDS. The school has succeeded in remaining operational since 2006 with the support of the local community, several partnerships and volunteer teachers.  We started by teaching from outside in the shade of the trees. There were no class rooms. After SPACS was registered under a UK programme of global schools, we began to meet people and schools who wanted to help us grow. Since then we have done the following:
1.    Connected with the pupils of Roath Park Primary school in Wales (2008) who raised enough money for SPACS to build a classroom structure and other school supplies;
2.    Raised money from St. George’s church (2009) with the help of the Whitkirk Primary school in Leeds – UK to build another classroom.
3.    Connected with Dr. Kathie Nunley of who is assisting us in fundraising efforts. She wants to help us secure teachers’ pay because many of our students cannot afford to pay the school fees.
4.    Visited Europe and received much needed exposure that will help increase our international connections.
5.    We’ve set up a Springs Alive Peace and conflict studies division.
Our achievements in the last decade have been amazing, and we have to give credit to all our friends and contacts all over the world that have opened their hearts to our cause and helped us grow.

One of the most pressing challenges has been failure to raise funds to do several of the activities we plan for.

In all this, we are grateful to Roath Primary School (Wales, UK); St. George’s Church (Leeds, UK); Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA; Whitkirk Primary school; Brains.org; Grant Crankshaw; Kathy Shields Dawson; Aalborg