What We Do: The Sister School Program

The Kennedy-King School (P.S. 219)/ Ugandan Muslim Education Association Primary School Kalisizo

Last year we were pleased to welcome the Kennedy-King Elemmentary School (P.S 219) located in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York to Positive Planet's Sister School Program. P.S. Kennedy-King is a school of over 1000 inner-city students. Its sister school is the UMEA Primary School in the town of Kaliszo in the Rakai District of Uganda.

In Uganda, all free, government supported primary schools are administered by the three major religious organizations in Uganda; the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church of Uganda, and the Ugandan Muslim Education Association. In keeping with Uganda's tradition of religious tolerance most of the schools include children from each of the religions. UMEA Kalisizo, is the first Muslim administered school in our program. Like all of our sister schools it has a dedicated staff of teachers and a committed community of parents who in spite of great obstacles are dedicated to providing their children a quality education.

In its first year as a Positive Planet sister school Kennedy-King surpassed all expectations. After learning about the geography and culture of Uganda, the students at Kennedy-King raised over $1,200 to support the renovation of classrooms at UMEA. Their efforts were rewarded with a $1,300 matching grant and work at UMEA is moving forward.