A propos de nous

A word about OmWana

OmWana is an association based in France, created in 2022 by Harmonie, an ethologist working in different countries of Africa since 2017.
The association benefits the kids of the Kaseeta region, Hoima district (Uganda, East Africa), to make sure their receive the opportunity of an education, by financing their annual school fees.

The association works on donations and sponsorship basis, via this website. The entire donations is going to the students to cover their registration fees. It also covers logistics costs, which includes the transportation of the liaison officer on site to meet families and schools.

The donations are indeed transferred directly to a liaison officer, Solomon, our contact on site. Native from Kaseeta, he manages the payments directly with the schools, with supporting invoices.
Students can be followed, via the receipt of photos and transcripts throughout their schooling.

Although many children have access to education, most of them stop after primary school. Secondary school fees are indeed higher and children are often requisitioned to help in the fields after a certain age, in order to meet the needs of the family.

Numbers

The tuition fees represents an important cost comparing to the average salary.

For example, in Uganda:

- one year of tuition fees in primary school costs 120€

- one year of tuition fees in secondary school, boarding school included costs 370€

- Average annual salary is around 740€

-Average number of children per family is 5 children

Ugandan school system

According to official reports:

-The school system is divided into three parts:

-Primary education: 7 years

-Secondary education: 6 years (2 cycles of 4 years & 2 years)

-Post-secondary education: 3 to 5 years

-The legal age of entry to school is 6 years old

-Classes include between 70 & 150 students.

-The teacher-student ratio is 1:40

-1 student in 10 will go to secondary school and 35% of these to post-secondary school

-Gender inequality: 1 on 4 girls go to school

Children

OmWana primarily targets students whose parents are deceased or in difficulty (eg unemployed) and students raised by single mothers.

Because three out of four girls do not have access to school in Uganda, little girls are also a priority.

The ideal objective is to provide for the entire education of a student in order to give him/her the best chance of success, at least until the baccalaureate.

Donations

Three formulas are available:

free donation (minimum €1)
the monthly donation (minimum €5. A base of €10 being the best option, i.e. the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes or a cinema ticket)
patronage of a particular student throughout his or her schooling by direct payment of annual fees or by monthly payment.

Material donations (pen, notebook, and other school supplies as well as socks, shoes, clothes, etc.) are accepted and collections are regularly organized in different locations in France.

Sending parcels directly to the address of the association is also possible. Contact us to organize it.

A word from the founder of the project

"While leading wildlife conservation workshops in about ten schools in Kaseeta province in Uganda in 2019, I met a very talented young schoolboy, Moses. He was at the time one of the best students in his school and had proven it to me by participating in three of our workshops in a row and by showing great participation and liveliness.

A few months later, during the graduation ceremony, I learned that his father had died and that, unable to continue to support the school fees of all her children, his mother wanted to withdraw him from school to send him to the fields.

Faced with this twist of fate, I decided to help Moses for the rest of his schooling. I financed his last year of primary school and to my great surprise the costs only amounted to 120€, which for us Europeans citizens does not represent much over a year, but represents a substantial sum for an Ugandan family. This year, with the help of an Ugandan friend who managed the logistics between Moses' family and his school (Solomon), I could finance his secondary and boarding school fees in town. I regularly receive news from him and I am very glad to see that he is obtaining very good results.

Over time, I have been contacted by many other children who were having difficulty paying their school fees, and the Covid-19 crisis worsens the situation. Unfortunately, at my level, I could not help more than one child and so I decided in June 2022 to create the OmWana association to help as many people as possible. I do believe that together we could do great things for them."