17/07/2026
Help us train the volunteers who will teach Nakisajja's children to read
Nakisajja is full of people who want their children to read well, and we have found five of them who are ready to make it happen. We identified the volunteers from within the community itself, assessed each one to be sure they were suited to the work, and they agreed to take it on.
These volunteers will run our literacy camps at Nakisajja Primary School. They were not brought in from elsewhere; they live in these villages, they know these children by name, and they understand this community in a way no outsider ever could.
A literacy camp begins where every sound teaching decision begins, with an honest picture of what each learner can already do.
Using an oral reading assessment called EGRA, the volunteer works with each child individually to establish their reading level, whether they can follow a short paragraph, manage a few words, or recognise only a handful of letters.
We then set class and age aside altogether and group the children by their actual reading ability, since a P5 learner who cannot read is not a P5 reader, whatever the register says.
After the assessment and grouping are done, these volunteers start meeting and carrying out the activities with the groups.
Much of the learning takes place outdoors after school and on the weekends. The children gather on the ground, which doubles as the writing surface, with boards reserved for rainy days.
We move them away from the classroom on purpose, since that is the very space where they first fell behind and lost interest in learning. Out in the open, through songs, games, and plenty of practice, a child who has never once raised a hand in class sounds out a first word, then reads it aloud, then works up to creating syllables, words, sentences, and full stories that they can retell in their own words.
Every two weeks, the volunteer reassesses the whole group. Learners who have progressed move up to the next level, those who have mastered reading up to full stories graduate out, and new children from the community step in to take their places. In this way, the camp keeps producing new readers right through the term.
This is the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, a methodology recognised across Africa and Asia for doing the one thing conventional schooling so often fails to do. It meets learners at the level they have genuinely reached, rather than the level the curriculum assumes they should have reached, and it builds their foundational literacy from there.
Even though we have identified new volunteers willing to be part of this community-changing work, good intentions alone will not teach a child to read, which is where the training comes in.
Two experienced TaRL trainers, both of whom have spent years in Uganda's rural communities, will spend three full days with our volunteers.
These trainers will take our volunteers through the phonics sequence that moves a learner from letter sounds to fluent storytelling, the EGRA assessment itself, and the practical skill of reaching every kind of learner, including the child who is too shy to speak up, the child with a learning disability, and the child who has been told far too often that they are simply not clever.
The training will cost UGX 2,177,000, roughly USD 589. This covers the trainers' transport and accommodation, the volunteers' transport to the venue and back, meals for everyone across the three days, the venue itself, and the printed manuals and assessment tools.
It is a lean and honest budget, and every shilling of it puts these trained volunteers under the trees at Nakisajja, ready to begin teaching.
How to contribute
By MTN Mobile Money, use our MoMoPay code 32607875, followed by the amount you wish to give.
By bank, we are with Centenary Bank, Lyantonde Branch, under the account name Equal Learn Initiative Uganda Limited and account number 3100125309.
From outside Uganda, the simplest and most affordable option is Wise, at wise.com or on the Wise app. You convert your own currency to Ugandan shillings and send to Equal Learn Initiative Uganda Limited, account 3100125309, with the bank listed as Centenary Rural Development Bank, Uganda. The transfer arrives within a day or two, and Wise can even schedule a monthly gift for you if you would prefer to give regularly.
Those who would rather use their own bank can wire to the same account with the SWIFT code CERBUGKA###, though the charges tend to be higher than if you use wise.com.
Every contribution moves this work forward, and even sharing this post with others makes a genuine difference.
For any enquiries, write to us here or send an email to [email protected].
