Wordfence Helps Enable Education in Uganda

I want to share something very exciting and truly wonderful with you all today. Wordfence just completed a project where we partnered with Far Away Friends, a Denver-based non-profit working in partnership with local leaders in Uganda, to bring light and electricity to a school campus in a remote area of Uganda called Namasale. 

I’d like you to watch the video below, because it gives you a real sense of the transformation that has happened in Namasale thanks to this project and thanks to your help. Then scroll down for the full story. 

As you already know, our business is security. Wordfence, allows you to run your business on WordPress, with the knowledge that your customers and your investment are safe and secure.

We believe that security extends beyond the internet. No matter where you are, everyone has the right to feel secure, and to be secure. We believe that access to education is the most fundamental way to enable security for individuals, families, and communities. 

When we learned about Far Away Friends, whose mission is to improve the lives of children in rural Uganda by providing access to education, we knew we wanted to get involved. Given that our expertise is in cybersecurity, and not in education in developing countries, we knew that our first step would be to listen and to learn. 

Far Away Friends was established to aid the children of Uganda, whose history is that of decades-long civil war, combined with an HIV crisis. We feel that the mission of Far Away Friends, to educate Ugandan children in partnership with local leaders, is one that is extremely impactful and important. 

Far Away Friends is based in the Amolatar District, which is one of the most geographically isolated regions of Uganda, until a ferry was built in 2013. Because of its rural location, children in this region have been historically deprived of access to quality education. In 2016, Far Away Friends opened Global Leaders Primary (GLP) in Namasale, a town in Amolatar district, to provide primary education to children in the area. 

Since 2018, 100% of the students at GLP have graduated and passed their Primary Leaving Exams in the top two highest divisions. GLP has graduated 90 students, has 250 current students, and already expects 600 new students over the next few years.

Far Away Friends has achieved much with limited resources, and we wanted to know how we could help. The founders, Jayme and Collines, explained to us that GLP only had two classrooms with access to electricity, and the access they had was limited. We considered how much more they could achieve with access to electricity for classrooms, dormitories, a computer lab and a clinic.

We decided to dedicate ourselves to providing GLP with fully functioning and sustainable electricity throughout the school. With Wordfence investing in a solar installation at GLP, it would significantly accelerate the positive change that Far Away Friends is creating. 

It was important to us that we contribute to the local Ugandan economy by hiring local suppliers. We evaluated several suppliers and selected GreenMax, an electrical contractor based in Lira, Uganda. 

GreenMax made several trips to and from Namasale to quote the project scope and to ensure the required materials were on-site. After weeks of work, Greenmax installed 5 solar systems in Ingrid Hall (girls’ dormitory), Dylan Hall (boys’ dormitory), the classrooms and computer lab block, the clinic and office block, and the teachers’ quarters.

After the work was done, TechNugget, a Solar Systems Monitoring & Evaluation company, came to review the work and provided us with a stellar report, confirming that GreenMax had done a great job. 

With these added solar systems, children are now able to get ready for school in well-lit dormitories, walk to school on a safe and well-lit path thanks to the security lights, and be educated in a classroom with bright lights and electrical outlets for equipment like computers. The teachers are also now able to expand their lesson plans with the use of computers and lights, no matter what time of the day school is in session.

If you’re interested in seeing the work done, please watch the video above. We hired Malaika, a local Uganda-based film crew, who captured this incredible footage of Namasale and of GLP and its students and teachers, and we are very proud of the outcome. 

Our goal in collaborating with Far Away Friends and our Uganda partners is to continue and to help accelerate the work that Far Away Friends began, and to create an effective learning environment for the next generation in Uganda. The completion of this solar and electrical project is a big step in that direction. 

You should feel proud too because your support of Wordfence is what enabled this project, so we thank you for being part of this incredible outcome and for your contribution.

Technical Data 

For those of you who are technically minded, we’re including the specifications of the solar installation at GLP. This includes the capacity of items like batteries, inverters, solar panels and quantities. The linked PDF also includes selected photos of the installation. 

Click here to view a PDF that contains the specifications of the GLP solar installation. 

If you’re interested in learning more about Far Away Friends and how you can help support them, visit: https://www.farawayfriends.org/.

If you’re interested in learning more about Wordfence, visit: www.wordfence.com

Thanks,

Mark Maunder