The Katega Community Center is a cross-cultural effort to uplift one of Uganda's most remote, impoverished regions by providing holistic solutions to enhance social, economic, and physical wellbeing.
The village of Katega in the Mubende District of Uganda is one of the most rural areas of the nation and resultantly struggles with many aspects of poverty culture - water scarcity, lack of medical provision, lack of health education and poor educational resources.
Pumziko Africa is a Ugandan based nonprofit organization with a mission to bring “Pumziko” (rest of the soul/spirit) to Africans living in poverty, adopting Katega Village into it’s scope of ministry in 2015. They began to work with local community members and leadership to start the Livelihood & Sustainability Project (LSP) - a self-sustaining goat farm that will provide families with entrepreneurial activity outside of the harvest season.
Point One Vision started to work with Pumziko Africa in 2019 for shared Christmas outreaches in other areas of Uganda before joining in on the LSP. In 2023, that project was completed with the arrival of the Point One Vision Uganda SERVE team who also introduced fitness as a tool for building community and improving mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. This moment inspired vision for the future of the Katega Community Center as a central gathering place for the community to experience what it means not just to survive, but to thrive.
As of Fall 2024, the roof has been completed for the multi-purpose space for both the church and functional gym. The fitness equipment has also arrived and the Katega kids are thrilled to have new “toys” to get strong with! We’re currently working on the plans for our next steps…
Future plans for the Katega Community Center also include:
Enhance the school: The village school is little more than wooden poles and a tin sheet as a roof and can serve about 50 total students - a fraction of the local youth population. Our aim is not only to rebuild a safer and larger facility, but to provide financial scholarships for all village children to be able to afford school fees and supplies, as well as to bring in more educators.
Provide medical support: The nearest hospital is inaccessible to most village families who are without adequate modes of transportation, or the financial ability to utilize what is available. Many villagers will die of common illnesses or infections because of this. We aim to bridge this gap to make medical solutions available to Katega village.
Clean water solutions: We aim to establish a hand pump water resource in the area of the Katega Community Center. In 2023 we hired a water solutions consultant that determined the following:
27% of people in this district have protected water sources
Because of the predominantly hilly and rocky outcrops of most residential areas, existing water sources are usually far away from the beneficiaries
On average, women and children walk 4km per day to fetch dirty water for home use
The previous hand pump available in Katega village broke in 1990 and has been beyond repair since, due to rusted steel casings
The land of the Katega Community Center makes possible a deep borehole and hand pump, but not a motorized pump
Build a guest house: As our partnerships continue to increase for the growth of Katega village, we will be in need of a guest home. Unlike Western conveniences, there are no hotels or short term rentals in a village such as this where most people live in mud huts. A guest house would allow short and long term visitors to invest their skills and resources into Katega village.
NEw!
We’ve just launched our Katega Kids Scholarship Program, meaning that you could have a direct and personal impact on the life of a child in Katega village.
Hand Up, Not Hand Out
Our African partnerships are built on the principle of empowering locals to change poverty culture from the inside out. When you partner with us on this project, you positively impact Ugandan cultural leaders to thrive in the good things that they’re already doing.
SERVE Uganda: experience africa!
We’ve been working with Nets4Life and Pumziko Africa since our inception and our mission in Uganda is to equip our African partners with the community, funds, tools and resources to change their culture from the inside out.
In 2023, our SERVE team completed the Livelihood and Sustainability Project which now provides entrepreneurial opportunity to the remote village community of Katega in the Mubende District.
Our vision is to build an entire community center that will serve once of the most remote parts of Africa, not just for its survival, but so that it can thrive in the fullness of joy, too.
We’re looking for people to join a small team to Uganda in the Fall or Winter of 2024. If you have experience in construction and specifically in installing pull-up rigs, send us an email to info@pointonevision.com
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