News

In their annual update Sister Justine, Head Teacher of Coloma Primary School, and Sister Mona look back on a remarkable year. In 2025 the school has 437 pupils; the top class (P7) sat the state exam on 3 and 4 November. Of the 2024 candidates, 60% achieved Grade One and 37% Grade Two.

For the first time Coloma took part in the National Music, Dance and Drama Festival: after winning first place in Mbarara City the school finished 37th of 89 schools in the national finals. The debating team won a district trophy and a Laudato Si club now looks after the trees planted around the school.

The staff house is finished, the dining hall is being extended and the grevillea plantation is doing well. The sisters thank all sponsors and donors: without them many children would never have been able to study at Coloma.

Everything about the sponsorship programme in one brochure (in Dutch): how it works, what it costs, what you hear back as a sponsor, and the story of Angel, one of the nine orphans who started in 2015 and is now in secondary education.

So far 103 children have taken part in the programme, 61 of whom have completed their education. Since 2025 the programme has also been open to other children from very poor backgrounds.

In 2024 the number of children rose to 440 for the first time, with a double stream in P7 of 77 children. Based on the exam results Coloma became the second-best school in Mbarara City, which has 110 primary schools.

A new house for female staff is almost finished, a rabbit house, a pig house and a hen house were built along with a woodland plot of grevillea trees, and the P6 class built a rainwater tank from empty plastic bottles. Sister Mona thanks all sponsors and donors for their support in 2024.