Staff member plans expansion of self-founded Uganda school

Joanita Senoga started the Circle of Peace School in 1994 and hopes the new chicken farm will be one way to provide funding to rebuild the school, she said. Junior David Davenport helped build the Ugandan chicken farm in summer 2011, and it is named after him.

Senoga, night associate in Boatwright Memorial Library, grew up in a household where her parents stressed the power of an education, she said. Senoga received an education degree in 1992 from Kibuli Teachers Training College in Kampala, Uganda. She then began teaching young children and discovered her passion soon after, she said.

"Education is not free in Africa," Senoga said. She said she remembered students having been asked to leave her classroom if they had been unable to pay the fees.

This made Senoga realize she had to create an outlet for students who were eager to learn, but could not afford the education, she said.

"It was the desire and determination to make sure the kids had opportunities that drove me to found the school," Senoga said.

The school has 260 students, and 36 of them live at the school sleeping on bunk beds. Many of these children are orphans, she said. Her current goal for the school is to raise $250,000 to rebuild and expand it.

Senoga and members of Givology Spiders, a Richmond student organization supporting education in the developing world, have been hosting annual dinners at the Country Club of Virginia to raise money, Senoga said. There has also been a silent auction in the past, and Senoga plans to incorporate a live auction at this year's dinner in November. Past attendees have been predominantly community members, so she hopes more university students can attend this year, she said.

David Davenport, former Givology president, has been operating a chicken farm to support the Circle of Peace School since August 2011, he said in a speech on Saturday. Davenport proposed a project to the Davis Projects for Peace, founded by philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, and won a $10,000 grant.

Davenport worked with Senoga's brother, Abraham, who had more than 10 years of experience with chicken farming, Davenport said.

Davenport, Abraham, a few Ugandan students and other workers bought 550 chicks and built a brick chicken coop. The chicken eggs will be sold to Ugandan locals and will also be a food source for school children, Davenport said.

No one has profited from egg selling yet because the chickens just began laying eggs two weeks ago, and they are still too small to sell, Davenport said.

Givology will work with the campus bookstore to sell school supply packages for $5 that will be given to students in the Circle of Peace School starting March 23, Senoga said. In April, the club will host a letter-writing party for university students wanting to be pen pals with Ugandan students, she said.

Senoga has traveled to many local schools to educate students about the Circle of Peace School and hopes students realize how fortunate they are to have free, quality education, she said.

To learn more about the school please check out their website at http://www.circleofpeaceschool.org/Home.html.

Contact staff writer Laila Hart at laila.hart@richmond.edu