Nyakasura School was established in the Rwenzori Mountains in 1926 by a Scotsman knowns as 'the Commander'. It quickly became popular due to its high standard of European education and many of Uganda's movers & shakers in business and politics were educated there.
In modern times the school has lacked investment and fallen into disrepair. Collapsed ceilings, leaking roofs and many broken windows are commonplace as you wander the grounds. Thanks to a renewed enthusiasm among staff and support from UK friends of Nyakasura a series of refurbishments were completed by OBAAT.
For our first project it was agreed that we would refurbish building 136, the old geography block, referred to by some as 'mother building', as well as a wing of the main building.
The Work
As part of the refurbishment we would be taking on 25 industrial trainees and 2 assistant site manager trainees who would be overseen by our partner provided experts and local staff from the technical institute.
The work was delivered in two phases with two groups from the UK attending for one month each. The UK volunteers were obviously taken by the beauty of the surroundings and that helped us push through what seemed like an impossible task with so much to fix and rebuild. The support, smiles and cheers from the chairman of the board Prof. Rugamayo and the headteacher Frank Manyindo helped jostle the team along.
Among our team were an architect (Lynsey Clark) and a site manager (Rob Davies) who designed and modernised the building in keeping with its surroundings, successfully adapting the oldest classroom block into a modern, bright structure that will serve generations to come. The block was also fitted with water harvesting offering long term savings to the school for resources. Ground around the building were reshaped and a stone wall added to help alleviate water ingress that was causing so many problems on the original block.
Completed October 2011
Before & After
Location
Partners
