Kidiki School

The aim is giving all children of Namwendwa a key to their future through high quality education (boys and especially girls). The achievements are first and foremost the result of the combined philosophy and actions of the direction, teachers, and pupils of Kidiki. Together with them, we worked on:

kidiki secondary school

  • building and providing windows and doors for classrooms, a library, a lab space, archival space, and a teacher’s.
  • official accreditation of the secondary school, allowing to hand out legally recognized degrees!
  • Providing electricity and placement of solar panels, purchase of didactic materials.
  • Building dorm rooms for girls and for boys from the secondary school, including bunk beds and mosquito nets.
  • providing second-hand sporting materials.
  • the project ‘Kidiki online’. A dream in 2013, a reality in 2016! Michael, the school’s principal, teachers and pupils are very excited that they have internet access through the school. Pupils see illustrations in colour, exam questions are computerized, end of year reports are printed on a small printer, the pupils of the final grade receive two hours of computer instruction on a weekly basis.
  • building of a new sanitary block (see pictures).
  • purchase of large printer and administrative software for the secretary.
  • electricity on the entire campus (see pictures).
  • building of a new teachers’ room.
  • concrete floor in all classrooms (see pictures).
  • the construction of an entrance gate (required by the inspection/authorities) and putting the finishing touches to it, laying a cement floor in the new class for S2, the contruction of three complimentary classrooms, purchasing a lot of teaching- and sports materials, extra’s for the math teachers, transport of the equipment for the Science classroom, renovation and new cabinets for the office of the principal Michael (see pictures).
  • michael, director of Kidiki ss, visits belgium (see pictures)
  • we finished the three-classroombloc, the library and the boys dorm, transport of equipment for the laboratory.
  • start of a partnership between kidiki ss and afd-leuven (see pictures)
  • corona thwarted their plans, the students were working on an excellent plan but could not travel to implement their project (see hier).
  • three months salary for the teachers
  • completion of three additional classes in preparation for a-level (see photos).
  • finishing a laboratory class in preparation for a-level (see photos).
  • purchase of all necessary lab equipment (see photos).
  • march 2022. establishment of an alumni union. they become future funders (see photos).
  • summer 2022. 'climate plan for the planet, kidiki part of the solution'. students from afd-leuven are realising an experimental garden on kidiki ss based on agroforestry and building a simple irrigation system. the yield of the garden generates extra income for the school (see photos).
  • organisation of mental health workshops (see photos).
  • first for the region: construction of an 'ecosan toilet' (see photos)
  • the AFD rapport can be found here
  • January 2023. official accreditation a-level.
  • March 2023. Start of the first class in a-level. a dream comes true! (see photos).
  • November 2023: imagine: obtaining promising school results in the fourth year of secundary school (o-level in uganda), but nevertheless being unable to continue studying in the fifth and sixth year (a-level in uganda) because your parents are unable to pay the entire school fee. that is the brutal reality for some students at kidiki ss. but now there is the kidiki ss-jos kuppens-foundation. the foundation provides (1) partial financial compensation after passing the entrance examination, (2) 50% student contribution, 50% foundation contribution, (3) permanent evaluation, en (4) written agreement with student(s) on conditions and amount received.

kidiki primary school

  • finishing of the boys dorm (see pictures)..
  • a new coat of paint in the girls boarding school (see pictures).
  • cementing the floor of the boys boarding school (see pictures).
  • ementing the floor of the class rooms (see pictures).
  • acquiring loads of teaching- and sports materials (see pictures).
  • building a new teacher’s lounge (see pictures).
  • starts of a kindergarten (see pictures).
  • the chickenproject is operating (see pictures).
  • building of a teachers room (see pictures).
  • building of an office for direction and administration (see pictures).
  • building of a new kitchen (see pictures).
  • three months salary for the teachers.
  • 'profuturo' nominated the primary school for the 'profuturo project of 'reducing the educational gap through digital education'. the project started and for 12 months it guides teachers and pupils in digital 'e-education'(see photos).
  • 2023. start construction of 3 new classes for kindergartens (see photos).

development groups

“Together we will change our future.” The achievements are first and foremost the result of the combined philosophy and actions of the members. Together with them, we worked on:

  • doubling the micro-investments of the group to benefit one or more members of the group (buying seeds, paying school fees of members or their children, medication, ...).
  • but also working towards bigger projects: a piglet for each member, creating a banana plantation, ...
  • development of a business plan for a business project on renting out materials for festivities. The members realize that solely focusing on agriculture is not sufficient. More diversification is need to escape poverty.
  • the ‘party project’ is very successful: two groups have tents, chairs, and cooking pots and rent it out and this generates extra income.
  • organization of numerous workshops, among others on gender equality.
  • creating festive outfits to rent out in the context of the ‘festivities project’.
  • first installment in order to purchase a storage place for the tents, chairs, casseroles, ...
  • restoration of the wheelchair of Ronald.
  • identity documents for the members who are not yet officially registered.
  • purchase of fodder for the ‘pig project’.
  • start of a sewing class together with tobona. they are still missing ‘their veria’ very hard.
  • install of kitchen gardens and small pig-project (see pictures)
  • restauration of the wheelchair of noël. he can now finish his secundary education.
  • purchase of a piece of land to start building a storage place for the tents, chairs and casseroles (see pictures).
  • start up chicken/goat projects on a small scale (see pictures).
  • continue to build the storage space (see pictures).
  • all members attend workshops on simple irrigation systems, agroforestry and the ecosan toilet at kidiki ss (see photos).
  • expansion of the number of small vegetable gardens (see photos).
  • they organise numerous workshops themselves, including 'on my farm I am a farmer but also a good business woman/man' (see photos).
  • 2023: Rental of 4 rooms in the new house of the group ‘kidiki tweyambe’.

vocational training centre

The aims are to achieve sustainable agriculture, food security, a higher family income, less manual labor and better hygiene through education. The achievements are first and foremost the result of the combined philosophy and actions of the members of the cooperation. Together with them, we worked on:

  • joint purchase of 100 of agricultural land.
  • joint purchase of a farming tractor.
  • supporting the further development of the Vocational Training Center.
    • connecting to the water supply and building a water reservoir.
    • building of ‘practical units’ for cows, goats, pigs, and chickens.
    • providing cement floors, and plastering and painting of walls for classrooms.
    • startup of classes.
    • purchase of handbooks and didactical materials.
  • organization of numerous workshops, among others on gender equality.
  • stephen builds, in cooperation with the ugandan government, a dam and joining irrigation project on the compund of the vocational training centre (see pictures).
  • preparing a new action plan for the vtc by stephen and start of renewing the infrastructure.
  • stephen obtains official accreditation for its vocational training center! (see pictures).
    • he renews the infrastructure (see pictures).
    • he buys six cows, plants corn and soy beans (see pictures).
    • he reorganizes the irrigation system.
    • he starts a "fishing project" in the water of the dam.
    • stephen plans to start up a small dairy company.
  • the vocational training centre operates entirely independently.

In general

Collaborations with....

  • the members of Okwagaanana in Namwendwa.
  • north-south flemish brabant
  • Karel de Grote Hogeschool, faculty of chemistry in hoboken (antwerp, belgium)
  • WereldWiskundeFonds in the netherlands
  • Esdoorn Elementary School in ombeek
  • ‘Streetfriends’ in Zemst-Laar
  • municipality of Zemst
  • municipality of Kampenhout.
  • Femma, Xenia, KWB, MAF Machelen
  • parish team machelen
  • additional fundings by HaCeCo-T and Salembier BVBA
  • numerous individual sponsors in Belgium, big and small, they support us in thought and action.
  • our granddaughters Kika and Livia, and Esmée, daughter of Elke and François, who give us their birth present.
  • companies who sponsor our actions, such as Telenet, Informeel Bvbam, HaCeCo-T, Texas instruments, Salembier BVBA, Colruyt.
  • from The Netherlands, members of PUM and in particular Mr. Paulus Hettinga provide advice for the Dairy Famers Cooperation.
  • the town of Machelen financially supports the Vocational Training Center.
  • the Vilvoorde Council if International Development supports the project.
  • Wereldwinkel Vilvoorde: ondersteunt het project.
  • sports clubs such as the Machelen Soccer club who donate soccer balls, volleyballs, shirts, …
  • granddaughter lena: half of the savings from her spring party go to kidiki.
  • little sanne donates a large part of her birth’s presents .
  • esdoornschool in hombeek and holy heart of maria in berlaas set up actions to raise funding.
  • the secondary school: h.hart van maria in berlaar
  • the secondary school: bimsem in mechelen
  • the alumni of kidiki ss
  • peter and eva and vinnie and kika
  • odisee hogeschool brussel
  • academics for development leuven

More information (in Dutch)

“A miracle solution does not exist, but small steps can and will change things a lot” (Stephen, Namwendwa, 2011)