It was founded by Mr. Nikolas John Kintu in 2010 when he took it upon himself to educate 8 parentless street children in his spare time. Word spread amongst the local community that a man was willing to educate local children for free. Subsequently, the school grew to 90 pupils, a large number orphaned by the HIV AIDS epidemic, all educated on a piece of borrowed land in small wooden shacks. Fundi
ng for teaching staff has been driven by sales of fruit and vegetables from Mr. Kintu's garden and the occasional donation from parents. Lisa Peters, a member of Cookham Rise Primary School, was introduced to the during a volunteering trip with www.empower-a-child.org. She was inspired by Mr. Kintu and by the quality of the children's school work and decided to set up a pen-pal scheme between the children at Cookham Rise and their contemporaries in Kampala. The pupils at both schools have become firm friends, sharing experiences and knowledge of their differing worlds. Unfortunately, New Brainstorm was threatened with closure by local authorities in January 2015 due to lack of sanitation and dangerous architecture. Lisa and the children of Cookham Rise Primary School decided to start a charitable initiative to save their friend's education and to support Mr. Kintu in his efforts to keep the school alive. During 2015/16 the initiative has raised £10,000 through a variety of fundraising events; from a school play to craft fayres to sponsored silences! We are delighted that www.empower-a-child.org/ has taken us under their wing and are supporting our endeavours to ensure that all fundraising receives charity status and is appropriated directly to . They are also managing the development project on the ground and providing support and advice to Mr. Our fundraising has achieved so much and the children of Cookham Rise Primary School have worked so hard: New Brainstorm has been able to move to a new location, not too far from the original site, which it is currently renting. We have purchased 2 acres of land nearby which is currently being used to cultivate fruit, vegetables and livestock to fund the teaching staff it so desperately needs. Following our visit to the school this October, our 2016/17 focus will be raising funds to purchase the land that the school is currently renting... we are about half way there but there is a long way to go. Once purchased, the school will have guaranteed its existence but will need further support to realise its full potential. Ultimately we are looking to build a new school on the site, one that will service the impoverished community for generations. Through improvements to school facilities, sanitation, teaching staff and the management team we aim to gain official accreditation from the local authorities and with it, the some government funding and a story that might encourage sponsorship of the children. Please contact us if you can help us to support this wonderful school and its wonderful headmaster. If you'd like to, you can donate here: https://my.give.net/brainstorm
