The Maanyi Parents’ Primary School is a private school in Mityana, Uganda that provides education, counseling, and meals for children up to eighteen years old. Established in 2007 to support needy children whose parents had died from AIDs, MPPS began with an initial enrollment of 62 students. The school now serves 641 students, over 25% of whom are orphans who attend for free. Many of the orphans live at the school full-time. Other students’ families pay a fee according to their means.

MPPS faces many challenges, including insufficient classroom space, families who are unable to pay full tuition, and raised food prices. One of MPPS’s greatest difficulties stemmed from having inadequate toilet facilities, as the school had only a four-person facility to accommodate the whole student and staff population. In 2010, Pastor Senyange Semion, Director of MPPS, submitted a project proposal to Anike Foundation for the construction of a six stance pit latrine. We began funding this project the following March, and in June 2011 construction of the latrine was completed.

Anike Foundation also donated one laptop to MPPS, which will allow the school to work more efficiently, as the closet internet café is eleven miles away. MPPS has grown significantly since its establishment, and in the coming years it hopes to build classroom and residential facilities in order to better serve its students.