Welcome

KMI Website Undergoing Gradual Transition to Better Showcase Our Efforts!

Kassunga Mission Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for the people of the rural village of Kassunga, Uganda.

It supports, strengthens, develops and enables the people of Kassunga one hope, one child, one project, one opportunity at a time.

Education is at the core of all we do as it is the long-term investment that will transform the community for generations to come.

More About KMI

Mission

The mission of Kassunga Mission Initiative (KMI), a non-profit organization, is to improve the quality of life for the people of the rural village of Kassunga in south central Uganda.

Education is at the core as it is the long-term investment that will transform the community for generations to come.  KMI supports St. Teresa Learning Center, which has grown to serve primary grades P1 through P7 as well as three levels in its nursery section.

It is through the students and parents of St. Teresa that KMI reaches beyond the classroom into the community to help with here-and-now needs.  This includes conducting a medical clinic twice a year for the school children and sharing fresh water with villagers from a well on the school campus.

History

Kassunga Mission Initiative (KMI) is an outgrowth of the Kassunga Mission Ministry at the Church of the Epiphany in North Chesterfield, Virginia.  This ministry did an exploratory trip to Kassunga, Uganda in 2016 to assess the needs of newly-formed St. Teresa Learning Center, a primary school that had two classrooms.  The first mission trip to the school took place in 2017.

In 2018, KMI incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a charter to improve the quality of life for the people of Kassunga, Uganda.  The Epiphany ministry then became known as the St. Teresa Ministry (STM).  KMI and STM have partnered to complete an elementary section with eight classrooms and a kindergarten section with five classrooms and to support school operations.

True to its charter, KMI has made efforts to further impact Kassunga village beyond the classroom.  Staff housing and dormitories for boarding students (primarily in upper grades as is the custom in Uganda) have also been constructed. Solar panels provide basic electricity for the site.  Water wells have been dug to support both the school and the village.  Health clinics for students are provided twice a year.

Travel conditions permitting, KMI makes an annual mission trip to Kassunga each summer.

Kassunga

Kassunga is a rural area in south central Uganda.  It is about six miles northwest of the small town of Lukaya.  Masaka is the closest small city, about another 18 miles to the south of Lukaya.  Travel time by vehicle from Masaka to Kassunga is just under an hour; paved roadway up to Lukaya and then dirt roads to Kassunga.

Some parts of the Kassunga area have electricity but many do not.  Houses scattered along the road and trails are made from clay bricks with metal or thatched roofing.  Typically, houses have only a few rooms—usually a sleeping, living and storage area.  Cooking may be done outside.

At a typical house, chickens and goats may be seen in the open in front.  A plot beside the house may be cultivated with bananas, plantains and/or coffee beans.  These are sources of basic sustenance and income for the family.

Outside latrines are in use.  Typically, there is no running water.  Yellow jersey cans holding water is a common sight—either in the hands of children or perched on the sides of bicycles.  Access to water, of questionable quality, comes from creeks and small ponds which may be miles distant.  Fresh water wells are far and few between.

What’s up

Looking Ahead

An impressive view of St. Teresa Learning Center November is the final month of the third and final term of the school year in Uganda.  At St. Teresa Learning Center (STLC), 30 some students in P-7 (Primary grade 7) have just completed taking the national learning exam. They await their results, which will be issued …

Contact

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Tuition Assistance Program

$150 dollars can change a life

For an amount that seems appropriate for a large Christmas gift in our blessed and affluent community, it’s amazing what your donation can do to change this corner of the world in Uganda.

Students at St. Teresa’s Learning Centre walk from miles around. Perhaps we have an idealized version of what a village is from movies, television shows, or those small towns we pass through on our way to Grandma’s in the United States. In Kassunga, the homes of the hundreds of children are scattered in an area within a few miles of the school.

The school is the Centre and the center of their hope for their future. Your fee provides them with the following:

  • uniforms
  • school books and supplies
  • meals to fuel their brains
  • medical supplies, when necessary
  • access to water and electricity
  • small expenses that pop up along the way

By providing that generous $150 donation for the Tuition Assistance Program, you’re sponsoring a future. Please contact us if you have any questions. We want to partner with you to brighten a student’s future.