The Roof: 2006-2013
Early support for Fr. Julius’ people came through The Cathedral of St. Helena and St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Helena, MT. They worked jointly to raise money for the great needs in Uganda: placing a new roof on Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Kitagobwa Church, a new floor in St. Kizito Church, installing water tanks under the roofs of the churches to collect rain water, and to establish the beginnings of Holy Trinity Secondary School in Kawango Village southwest of Kampala, and Gayaza Vocational Center north of Kampala.
Fresh Water: 2014-2018
Fr. Julius suggested that a nonprofit organization be formed, so The Julius Foundation (TJF) was founded in 2014. Since that time the focus has been on developing Holy Trinity Secondary School (HTS). Fr. Julius believes that education is the way to uplift communities out of poverty. The first priority was to obtain clean water at the school. TJF struck up a partnership with the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) chapter at Carroll College in Helena. The EWB team traveled to Uganda and made an assessment of the water needs. They developed a plan to restore three existing boreholes, and to dig a deep water well. A storage tank and pump were then installed to allow for running water for the first time in Kawango Village.
Education
School Facilities
Fr. Julius says, “If we can turn Holy Trinity School and Gayaza Technical to be centers of excellence, there is no doubt that these learning institutions will inspire and transform our communities by helping people develop knowledge, skills, values and behaviors needed for sustainable development.”
Computer Lab
At the same time, Holy Trinity School was being developed. More classrooms were added, improvements were made to the latrines, kitchen, and dorms. Additional land was purchased near the campus to allow for expansion. The shell of a computer lab was constructed. TJF struck up a partnership with the Rotary Club of Helena and of Kampala to purchase computers and furnish the computer lab. This grant proposal is still underway.
Computer and science courses are part of the compulsory education requirements of the Ugandan government; these subjects are tested in annual national exams. TJF raised funds to build the outer shell of a science lab at HTS. The science lab is now complete but requires additional equipment, and the computer lab structure is finished but does not contain any computer hardware.
Electricity
In order to facilitate computers and science equipment, it was necessary to extend electricity from nearby Nkozi to HTS, 1.5 km away. TJF was able to raise enough funds to hire a local contractor to complete the electricity project. Lights are on for the first time at Holy Trinity School! The next step will be to complete, furnish, and purchase equipment for the science lab. A student sponsorship program was also begun that enables donors in the USA to provide for the tuition of a student in Uganda. Great strides have been made over the years to improve the living conditions of the disadvantaged of these rural areas of Uganda, but the need is still very great! Fr. Julius says, “Our joy is to see people in our service areas equipped and empowered to live with dignity, purpose and hope!”