Rubaga Friends
- a non-profit, tax-exempt charity
www.rubagafriends.org
rubagafriends@gmail.com
Rose Andersen, Jajja Manjeri's granddaughter, long-time school director.
In the mid 1980s, Jajja Manjeri, a poor but compassionate lady, already ninety years old, took six orphans into her tiny home. She started a school for them under a Jack Fruit tree. Soon, many more children flocked around her place. In 2000, new school buildings became the Rubaga Community School, which today cares for almost 300 children.
The school lot is approximately 6,000 sq.ft. Buildings and outdoor kitchen area occupy a major part, leaving only a tiny school yard for the many children. Allowing for the impressive Jack Fruit tree, very limited space is available as playground.
Buildings as well as outside areas are over-crowded, and it is next to impossible to squeeze in any of the many children presently at the waiting list.
The new kindergarten building (see Navigation Menu) has eased the problem at the school to some extent, but lack of space is still a serious problem. The school attempts to buy nearby land to enable the needed expansion.
With very limited economic resources the school always faces an uphill struggle in the attempt to cover the children's basic needs and at the same time offer a quality education to prepare them for a productive life after school.
The Jack Fruit tree was left standing next to the new school buildings
THE SCHOOL FROM ITS BEGINNINGS*
The Danish flag and the Ugandan flag with the national symbol, the red-crested crane, at the center
Fruits on the Jack Fruit tree
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THE SCHOOL
For more information and photos from the Rubaga School select from list below:
From the inside of Jajja Manjeri's house showing her together with two of the children in her care; photo taken in the mid 1980s.
As more and more children gathered around her home, it became clear that a regular school building was needed. The first Rubaga Community School was built in the late 1980s. Local papyrus material was used for the structure, which had two classrooms. It was in the middle of the plot of the present school under a Jack Fruit tree. In the photo below the children and members pose in front of the school.
In spite of many changes and rapid expansion of the school during the last quarter-century, the fundamental problems have not gone away.
The Rubaga Community School continues in the spirit of Ms. Manjeri to help parentless children and very poor children who have nowhere else to go. But the school can only take on a fraction of all the children in the region who are desperately looking for help and hope.
Ms. Manjeri shared with others what little she had. She took care of children for the whole of her life. She died in 2001 when she was 104 years old.
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During the period of researching and planning the support program, Rose Andersen was our principal contact with the Rubaga Community School. Rose serves as member of the school board and is the director and daily leader of the school.
The first Rubaga School building from the late 1980s, made from papyrus materials
Jajja Manjeri in the middle of her students, picture taken in 1997
And here is the old lady during a moment of her free time
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* Rose Andersen, the granddaughter of Ms. Manjeri, has supplied historical pictures and information
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Ms. Manjeri together with more of the orphaned children she took under her wings, giving them food, a place to live, and education.
In the late 1990s, the present buildings were erected, sponsored by DANIDA, Governmental
Danish International Development Assistance.
