10th Anniversary Celebration at SJA Mawuuki!
St. Joan of Arc Mawuuki formally celebrated its 10th anniversary on November 16, 2019! Arc of Hope Board member, Andy Oleszczuk, travelled to Uganda to represent St. Joan of Arc Evanston at the festivities. The celebration started across the road from the school with Bishop Joseph Antony Zziwa blessing and opening St. Athanasius Sub-Parish Church, funded by Kansas City donors, evidence of the skill and determination of Father Simon Peter to bring faith and education to the remote Mawuuki community.
Fr. Simon Peter, who was a priest in residence at SJA Evanston from 1998-1999 and has returned annually since 2000, gives credit to the students of St. Joan of Arc Elementary School in Evanston, USA for believing in his vision to build a school in the Ugandan bush. During Lent 2006, the students organized a penny carnival and collected nickels and dimes to put down seed money to help Father realize his dream!
It has been a decade of transforming lives through education!
An empty field, crowded classrooms, and a dream have become a thriving school with engaged and successful students and a campus that includes classrooms, dorms, a kitchen, an activities center, playing fields, vegetable & fruit gardens to feed the students and an infrastructure to support this growing academic community.