A Good Nights Sleep in Uganda

How important is a good nights sleep for learning? According to research from all over the world, sleep increases a child’s ability to create short term memory and more importantly move it into permanent storage. Sleep boosts creative thinking and improves problem solving.

Therefore it is no surprise that HUGS has used donor funds to build dormitories, purchase beds, mattresses and importantly mosquito nets. In Uganda, a school with a dormitory means children don’t have to to walk long distances and arrive tired and girls can avoid being hassled or worse assaulted whilst they innocently make their way to receive an education.

Above is a photo of the dormitory at Little Shepherd School, Rutunguru.  It was constructed particularly for girls, allowing 120 to sleep in peace. It has solar lighting, so that students can read into the evening. Since it opened 4 years ago, academic performance at the school has improved.  It's been a day for 'spring cleaning' and washed mattresses and bedding are drying in the sun.

This is the largest dormitory which HUGS has funded at the Asili Girls school, Lira. Here, 200 secondary students can sleep safely. They have communal washrooms, laundry and bathrooms making a self contained living community. The head, Sr Veronika is so proud of the girls focus on education as they enter the school, and know that these facilities help them avoid external distractions and hardships.

And here is St Francis de Sales, where our latest dormitory has been built. It is designed with wheelchair users in mind and has a sick bay. This building is ‘home’ to 40 children with special educational needs. Recently HUGS supporters have bought new beds, mattresses, and mosquito nets, as most of the children come from families too poor to provide them with these essentials. 



These are the foundations for a second dormitory at Dokolo Girls School. Currently 50 girl students sleep on the floor of a classroom. They have poor access to water, washing facilities and privacy. To complete this building is one of the HUGS priorities for this year (at a cost of £13,000).  We are looking for a corporate sponsor to help us realise the school dreams of having a bed for every one of their students. Can you help?


A school in Uganda is a place of safety. A place where teachers and staff are responsible not only for the education of children, but also their nutrition, their health and their well-being. A good night sleep is an essential ingredient to this welfare. Thank you to all our supporters who have helped tuck these young people into a warm, clean and safe bed