PHOTO/ Luigi Giussani School opens in Kampala

Luigi Giussani High School in Kampala, Uganda celebrated its inauguration February 3, 2012: A high school for 400 boys and girls from Kireka, made possible thanks to 32,000 necklaces made of colorful recycled paper by the women of Meeting Point International and sold by over 1,300 volunteers of AVSI Point, a network of supporters, at booths, involving entire companies as well as single colleagues, family and friends. A sign of a friendship that is beyond all borders and which continues to grow.

The over 350 participants in the inauguration, including 150 of the 400 students of the school and many mothers from Meeting Point International, were shielded from the sun by an expansive white tent for the ribbon-cutting, Mass with the Apostolic Nuncio of Kampala, and a lively celebration with singing.

Alberto Piatti the Secretary General of AVSI Foundation highlighted a key factor of the day, saying: "The initiative of the school is not of one person, but of a people. The making and sale of over 35,000 necklaces, 1,500 donors and many events both large and small made the building of this school possible.

"Everything stems from the desire that these children [the sons and daughters of women affected by HIV/AIDS who are served at Meeting Point International (MPI)] can be looked at as I have been looked at." So begins Rose Busingye, President of MPI-Kampala, when asked about Luigi Giussani High School. "I want these kids to discover a relationship that recognizes the value of others, in which another person does not become the slave of your ideas, but where an educator’s task is to accompany you to your destiny. This is not always the case, however, in the schools here in Uganda and, more generally, in Africa, where often the teacher is your boss and you're a slave to what he says. What I learned from Msgr. [Luigi] Giussani is that education means a person who takes your hand and says, ‘Come, let’s walk together, going towards Truth, which is not defined by me, but is an Other." In fact, the mission of the new school reads "with our hands, but with Your strength," recalling the monastic tradition of the Benedictines.

From this insight, a people tied together by friendships set themselves into motion in Kampala as well as in Italy, the Americas, Europe and Asia. The request for support went out all over the world, including through AVSI’s annual campaign in 2009-2010, to meet the need for a secondary school for the children of Kireka, a neighborhood of capital of Uganda and home to a center of Meeting Point International. The request went out from Rose and the hundreds of women affected by HIV/AIDS served by the center themselves, asking for a place to send their children to school and contributing the easily-recognized bright recycled-paper necklaces made with their own hands. These are the same women who left us in awe with their understanding of solidarity back in 2005, when they raised over $1,000 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina through their working breaking stones.

And now, the fruit of these contributions from those all over the world who exchanged their donation for a necklace can be seen in the new beautiful school which will be inaugurated February 3, 2012, at first with an enrollment of 400 students, which will quickly grow to 600 in the coming years.



Read the full article on the AVSI website, here. 
Photos on the next page.