Closing of Cherish Schools for 2020

A Difficult Decision to close Cherish Schools for the remainder of 2020

Due to COVID-19, we had to make the hard decision to shut down Cherish Schools for the remainder of the 2020 school year. The Ugandan school year starts in early February and ends the first week of December. Due to a change in school structure and curriculum, Cherish Schools started the last week of February and then were shut down under President Museveni’s orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Since these times are unprecedented, we don’t know what is in store for the remainder of the year and the donations that typically come in. Just like you, we are trying to figure out what a "new normal" looks like here and we are taking that day by day. Unfortunately, we do not have a built up reserve to operate on and we are unsure what affects coronavirus will have on the economy and our donors for the months to come. We were facing the question of what cuts can we make now to ensure the longevity of the organization. We decided to close school for the remainder of the year since it was already off to a late start and now interrupted. With that decision, we also let go 39 of the staff members - teachers, school cooks, a driver, etc. All of these staff members are being paid for the remainder of the month (or in some cases longer, depending on how many years they have worked for Cherish). This has been an extremely hard decision, but we are continuing to serve these children and their families through the Family Strengthening Department .We hope that in 2021 we can bounce back stronger and better for an amazing school year.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at info@cherishuganda.org

We felt it was best to keep the blog updated, and we will continue to do so if circumstances change and we’re able to reopen.