The Project

In June 2009 a team of traders and management from Rushmere will travel to the centre of the African continent, Uganda, to build a primary school in the rural community of Kibaale.

A first of its kind for Rushmere Shopping Centre, a team of traders from some of the High Street's best-known retailers, along with management, will fly out to Uganda from the 7 June - 14 June 2009 to participate in the construction of a Primary School in Kibaale, Uganda.

This week long building blitz will put to good use a range of skills from the volunteers, not only in terms of construction and heavy labour, but in terms of retail and other associated activity that the local community will benefit from. This blitz will culminate in the volunteers' attendance at the topping out event.

This project is designed to be self-sustainable, therefore we hope there will be the opportunity for volunteers to return to the community and see first hand how the processes that are in place have progressed.

Two lasting project we are currently exploring are:

The School Twinning Project:

Once the initial infrastructure has been built and as part of the continuing relationship and once adequate facilities have been installed a school "twinning" project will be established. This will allow schools in Uganda and Northern Ireland to use advances in social and digital media technologies to connect directly with one another to educate them on their respective communities.

Teacher Partnering Scheme:

This would involve partnering a teacher from a School in Northern Ireland with a teacher in Rushmere School Uganda; these "link teachers" would become involved with the African school over a period of time.