St Noa School is located in Kitangira Village, sub-parish of Matale Catholic Parish, in the Diocese of Masaka, Uganda. It is in the southern region of the country, in the District of Kyotera. Four villages are clustered together to form what is called Kitangira sub-parish; this sub-parish serves the spiritual and other needs of the people in these villages.
It is this village which produced Fr. Gerry Kaggwa, the present pastor of the Church of The Visitation in Topping (Middlesex County) and the Church of Francis de Sales (Mathews County). The idea for this school project came about after hearing Fr. Gerry share his experiences and challenges off growing up in this village. It is common for children to have to walk long distances in order to get an education; many walking 4 to 5 miles one way. Many. Children remain home or even drop out of school for this reason.
Fr. Gerry’s father, the late Mr. Leonard Magembe Ssalongo, who was the catechist at this location for 35 years, initiated the idea of having a school which would use the church facility as classrooms during the week so these young children could start their school closer to their homes and saving them from walking long distances through dangerous areas. Fr. Gerry was one of the first students in this improvised school and remembers how it helped him. The idea of building a school around the parish did not materialize until forty years after Mr. Magembe Ssalongo’s dream was first discussed.
Thanks to the efforts of Fr. Josephat, Fr. Gerry’s brother, a new church was built allowing the old church building to be used as the school. The demand for this new school grew, as did the number of students. Children stay in school from 8:00 –4:00 with some are as young as four years old. The school also feeds the children. In some cases, this is their only meal of the day. In 2017, the sub-parish embarked on construction of a new, dedicated school building. Construction of the first 4 classroom, restrooms, and a kitchen started in February 2018. In 2018, another campaign was launched to construct four additional classrooms, install a security fence around the school, and install playing equipment, and build one home to serve as teachers’ quarters. These were completed at the end February 2019 and are now if full use.
It is now six years since the Church of the Visitation and the Church of Francis de Sales began the journey of providing accessible education to the children of Fr. Gerry’s home village in Uganda. Fr. Gerry, his family, and all the children and their families thank all who helped make this happen!