A classroom at Mercy School is not waiting for a ribbon. Carpenters carry iron sheets into a timber frame. A man in blue overalls sets a ladder against poles. The next week, desks are on packed earth and a teacher in the white polo is already leaning over a boy’s page.
Favourite subject, the chalkboard says. Exercise books are open. Mercy Schools shirts are on the children’s backs. The floor is still the compound. The lesson is already the neighbourhood they will inherit.
On the porch under the One Together mural a whole class still fits in a circle, sandals in a pile. At lunch the same timber room becomes a dining hall — plates of posho and stew, a grin over a bottle of soda. On a bright morning the whole school stands in orange in that courtyard — visiting friends at the back, a sign that says education is the greatest treasure.
This is why the five acres in Zigoti Town Council, Mityana, matter. Makindye is teaching. Mityana is the bigger roof. Both are Mercy School.
From the field
The photographs and films of this story.
Education
Desks on packed earth
The room is finished enough to learn in: timber walls, a chalkboard, exercise books, a teacher in the white polo leaning over a boy’s page. Mercy School, as it looks this term.
Education
Favourite subject, on the board
Mercy Schools shirts, open books, a teacher at a chalkboard that says favourite subject. The floor is still earth. The lesson is already happening.
Education
A teacher over two pages
Two boys in pink polos, a teacher in the Mercy Schools shirt, exercise books filling. This is what school fees buy: a person who will stand at the desk until the sum is right.
Education
The whole class on the floor
Orange uniforms, number chairs, a wall of handwritten charts. Some lessons happen at desks. Some happen sitting close enough to hear the smallest child.
Education
The map on a back, in class
A staff member in the official Africa-map shirt stands with a pupil and a mother in a classroom of alphabet charts. Education here is a household, not a department.
Education
A circle on the porch
Pupils sit in a ring on the Mercy School steps — orange shirts, sandals in a pile, the One Together mural behind them. Assembly here is a porch and a listening seat.
Education
The same porch, another talk
A teacher on a stool, children on the tiles, shoes off. Mercy School is small enough that a whole class still fits on the steps.
Beds, houses & rent
Timber going up
Carpenters carry iron sheets into a classroom of timber and block. Shelter and school are the same mercy this month: a roof a child can sit under.
Beds, houses & rent
The frame before the walls
A man in blue overalls sets a timber ladder against the skeleton of a new room. Building is slow. Children are already waiting to sit inside it.
Education
Lunch in the timber classroom
Mercy School children in orange sit at low desks with plates and soda. Fees keep a child at a desk. A meal keeps them there through the afternoon.
Education
The same table, another day
Plates of posho and stew, bottles of soda, grins. School feeding is not a campaign. It is Tuesday.
Education
The whole school, in orange
Mercy School Makindye on a bright morning: orange dresses, visiting friends, the One Together mural, a sign that says education is the greatest treasure. This is the campus the fees pay for — and the reason five acres wait in Mityana.
Education
Fractions, a visiting hand
A visiting friend writes in an exercise book while two Mercy School girls in orange watch. Naming Fractions is on the wall. Sponsorship here can look like a lesson, not only a transfer.