Positive Change in Uganda thanks to Haileybury Youth Trust

By Angus Head, Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)

There are a number of exciting developments to report with Haileybury Youth Trust (HYT) both in terms of ongoing work in Uganda and how the School is deepening links, raising awareness and fundraising.

Last month HYT completed the One Million Litres project to install 50 rainwater harvesting tanks in 50 schools in Africa’s largest refugee settlement, Bidi Bidi. As a result of the project, 65,000 South Sudanese and Ugandan children will benefit from access to clean water for washing, drinking and cooking. Additionally, 44 young women and men also received training in construction and earned qualifications which will enable them to find work. From a sustainability perspective, in constructing the 50 tanks, 238 tons of CO2 or 32.5 mature trees were saved.

Just as the One Million Litres project comes to its conclusion HYT in partnership with The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) is currently building 500 sanitation facilities to benefit 3000 refugees in Bidi Bidi.

The project has targeted 500 vulnerable (predominantly female headed) households in the settlement, with work having started in January 2024 and aiming to be completed by September. By the middle of May 150 latrines had been finished with more than 50 others under construction. HYT’s mission to transform lives as well provide much needed facilities is also evident here with 36 refugees and 19 Ugandans, of whom nine are females, developing skills and experience working on the project.

Back in the UK fundraising for HYT at Haileybury has been very successful. From the Jazz and Pop Gala in November to House events including the Bartle Frere and Allenby ‘marathon’, and the Lower School Aquathlon, which takes place in early June, the School is projected to have raised £40,000 for HYT this year. Educating the pupils is just as important as raising funds and as such the Lower School pupils are working in groups on projects based on the work of HYT in Uganda, to be exhibited on the day of the Aquathlon.

Collaborations between school activity groups and the charity have also been developing this year. Most notably the Senior Engineering Society has been in close communication with the HYT team and has recently purchased an Interlocking Stabilised Soil Brick (ISSB) machine. The machine will enable Haileyburians to learn more closely about the science behind the sustainable construction technique, and to demonstrate how the bricks are made.

This July, 17 pupils will be travelling to Uganda to visit the country and to meet the people directly affected by the work of HYT. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the pupils to spend time in one of the poorest countries in Africa. The group will travel extensively throughout Uganda starting in Jinja, moving north to Bidi Bidi and then on to Murchison Falls before heading home. And finally, two current Upper Sixth pupils will be volunteering for three months with HYT in January 2025 as part of their gap year. This, and the school trip, are the first of their kind since the pandemic.