Supporting Children During a Pandemic
During this time, REACH would like to provide information on how our community can help one another. Many of our sponsors are parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and other role models in the lives of children. We have compiled information from the CDC to provide talking points and ways to support children. As public conversations…
Help REACH for World Health Day
As people across the nation and around the world continue to react to, and come together during, the coronavirus pandemic I’m reaching out to you on behalf of the REACH for Uganda to express our best wishes that you and your loved ones remain in good health. This is a difficult time for everyone, and…
A Message from our Co-Founders
Dear REACH Family, As the threat of COVID-19 continues, our global future has never felt so unpredictable. These are challenging times for us all, and we hope you are in good spirits and health! Currently in Uganda, our schools are closed and students are back home with their families. Students will return to school as…
Paving the Way for Others
Our conclusion of celebrating Women’s History Month by focusing on women making history in Uganda would not be complete without featuring our Co-Founder, Joyce Wanda. She has shared her experience with us, and is certainly one who has paved the way for others to experience transformational education. Happy Women’s History Month to all the women…
Building Economic Independence
REACH for Uganda in partnership with Women’s Microfinance Initiative (WMI) helped to establish a loan hub for women in both Bududa and Namisindwa districts by providing financial contributions, as well as initial leadership support. Both hubs focused on women as the beneficiaries although the whole family gets involved in supporting the businesses, including children and…
Our First Female Engineer!
We’re excited to introduce you to Milly Nakaka, one of our REACH graduates who has excelled. Milly recently graduated from Kyamboko University with a four-year degree in Telecommunication Engineering. She’s the first female engineer in the REACH program, and we’re so proud of her many accomplishments. Like many REACH students, Milly is from a very…
Educational Leaders for Diverse Learning Communities
By: Mary Gibson, Marymount University The Education Department at Marymount University in Arlington, VA, is living its motto to educate leaders for diverse learning communities through our sustained work with the teachers at Arlington Junior School in Uganda. For over ten years, Marymount faculty and education students have been traveling to the primary school to…
Mercy Nandutu: Future Nuclear Engineer
March is Women’s History Month, and this month REACH will be focusing on the rising stars who will certainly be making history for us in the future. Mercy Nandutu has been offered a scholarship at KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, South Korea to study master of science in Nuclear Power Plant Engineering. Originally from Buputo, Mercy received her…
Welcome Executive Director:
Courtney Brooks Kamin
Two weeks ago, I sat down with Board President Dick Burk to accept the position as Executive Director of REACH. Since then, I have joined the Board through a strategic planning session, met current and former staff who have helped me get aquatinted with daily operations, ran into volunteers who give so generously of their…
Donor Spotlight: The Grandfathers’ Club
By Bethany Hu, REACH Operations Manager Most REACH student sponsors are individual families, but one of our most interesting sponsors is a group of poker-playing retirees from Northern Virginia who call themselves the Honorary Grandfathers’ Club. This group originated in Alexandria, Virginia, in the mid-1980s. Their story began when a group of registered nurses who…
Donor Spotlight: Patricia Walochik
By Laura Barrantes, Executive Director Patricia Walochik’s first gift to REACH was in 2002, two years before Arlington Junior School opened. Before moving to Atlanta, where she lives now, Pat and her late husband George were members of Bethel Church, the church John and Joyce Wanda attended when they moved to Arlington. Pat remembers the…
The Need for Light
by Ani Arzoomanian, Tuckahoe Elementary School As a fourth grade teacher at Tuckahoe Elementary School, I was first made aware of REACH for Uganda by way of our mutual affiliation with Matuwa Primary School in Uganda. After learning more about REACH’s righteous intentions – their goal to improve the quality of life in rural Uganda…