In the three-district, 48 village area where the Just Like My Child Foundation works, school structures are dilapidated, lacking basic necessities and girls are often not given the opportunity to attend school. The Just Like My Child Foundation is currently sponsoring the building, staffing, and development of its first school: the Children's Academy of the Global Heart, an initiative born of an American child's Bar Mitzvah project. In preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Beau Bessler was told by his Rabbi that for the first 13 years, the world takes care of the boy. At 13, when the boy becomes a man, it's his job to help take care of the world. We are ready to join Beau in taking care of the world!

The village of Kiwanula, where our first school will be built, has nearly 6000 residents and reaches a larger community of over 30,000. The school will be able to educate nearly 2500 children over a five-year period. Children who do attend school right now do not have any school books, pens, or paper, and must sit on the dirt outside during their lessons. The schoolhouse structure will have seven classrooms, and seven qualified teachers will be hired to begin the process of formal education in Kikoiiro.

But the Just Like My Child Foundation is not just simply building a school; we are building an entire education system with full co-investment and cooperation from the community to uplift the community and create a sustainable model that will continue long after we've gone.

We believe that children have the ability to realize their greatest potential in a safe academic environment that integrates proper healthcare and disease prevention. To that end, we've adopted a "healthy to school" model, which includes the following initiatives:

1. School Lunch Programs: Simple school lunches are in many cases the only meal a child eats during the day. And parents who are secure in knowing that their children will eat at school are much more motivated to make sure they attend.
2. Clean Water: Clean water delivery to schools provides children a safe source for drinking water while at school. And clean water for schools, by definition, can mean clean water for the entire community.
3. Solar Panels: The installation of solar panels where electricity is unavailable will help children to easily see their lessons, providing a more nurturing environment for study. The entire community will benefit from solar panels as well, as the school will be a warm and inviting place for all members of the village to learn, even well into the evening.
4. Healthcare Education: In order for children to capitalize on the tools and knowledge to be successful in school and ensure their academic focus, they (and their parents) must first know how to keep themselves safe and healthy. We believe that it's important to weave health education into academic education, and we do so by teaching children and their parents malaria prevention, HIV prevention and treatment, proper sanitation, good nutrition habits and meal preparation, and much more.