Kamwenge Secondary and Vocational School (KSVS)

An opportunity for a different kind of future.

Kamwenge Secondary and Vocational School (KSVS) opened in February 2007 and is located on 20 acres in southwestern Uganda in the District of Kamwenge. Little more than a piece of land and a sketch in 2006, KSVS is now a fully functioning campus with classrooms, housing for teachers, staff and students, STEM Center, Dining Hall and agricultural land. Kamwenge Secondary and Vocational school is a day and boarding Secondary school offering secondary education and vocational studies.

When the school opened, families were reluctant to take their older children away from duties at home to send them to KSVS. Because there were no public secondary schools in the district and through most of the country, most children were able to receive up to a 7th grade education. In fact, most families removed their children from primary school well before they graduated; with only a 7th grade education, children had no future except to return to what they had always known: “digging” crops with hand tools on small plots of land. The cycle of subsistence farming was handed from one generation to the next. Parents saw no need for education.

Rev. John Mulindabigwi and school staff spent untold hours talking with families and community leaders, explaining how a secondary education could benefit children, families, and the entire community of Kamwenge.

Today, many KSVS graduates are attending or have completed University around Uganda, some returning as teachers at KSVS and GSK. Others have gone onto vocational degrees and are starting their own businesses. Most stay in Kamwenge District advancing the community. The KSVS reputation as an excellent Christian school is well known throughout the district of Kamwenge and the entire country of Uganda.

 
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Urban’s Story

Urban grew up in Mbarara, raised by his grandparents and his father. He has 8 brothers and sisters. At age 16, he was hired by a construction crew to build the first classrooms at KSVS. He stayed to study in grades Senior 1-4, then attended the Vocational School at KSVS, studying Bricklaying and Concrete Practical. Urban now is responsible for equipment and repairs on the KSVS campus. He married in 2016 and together he and his wife have one child.