The Nile Explorer Bus: A Different Perspective

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to see and touch a computer for the first time? Did your heart skip a beat when you tried out new technology for the first time? Were you excited to learn and grasp something new, something you knew you had never experienced before? Did your senses tingle?

If your answer was yes, then you know what the students in the underserved schools that the bus visited felt. You can almost see them beaming at the spectacular sight of the enormous, colourful bus arriving in their community, specifically at their school.

You see, an unbelievable but real fact by UNICEF revealed that in Uganda alone, around 1 in 10 schoolchildren did not report back to school in January 2022 after schools were closed for two years. This was attributed to many factors, including the age of pupils, poor academic performance, employment, teacher-pupil relationships, peer pressure and other school-related factors such as no lunch provision and poor structures.

Not all hope is lost, though. The Nile Explorer Bus’ primary objective is to reduce the rate of school dropouts in the country. To this end, the bus travels to underserved schools and communities all over the country to spark excitement for learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but also add a cherry on top of accurate health information and wrap it in a bow of life skills for the students to navigate the ‘real’ world.

Mariam Nafuma, a senior two student of Mbogo Progressive School, Mukono, narrated how her encounter with the bus gave her an opportunity to acquaint herself with technology that, in reality, she has no easy access to.

“I loved the computer sessions so much, though sometimes it is not possible for me to get,” she said, “but I hope when I go back to school, according to what I have studied, I’m going to teach them the uses of the internet and how best we can use it in our homes.”

Not only did she learn something new, but Mariam also gained the confidence to carry forward her newly found knowledge of computers and the internet and share it with her peers.

The Nile Explorer Bus does not only stop at training the technology aspect of things; it goes deeper into the STEM components and introduces the students to practical sessions in which they would have to apply engineering and math knowledge.

“The Nile Explorer developed projects that can improve our thinking capacity. Although we learnt much about computers like how to operate and save documents, they also introduced other equipments which were very important to our lives – to study, learn their names, and their uses – like the wiring of an electric circuit,” said Ivan Kateregga, an enthusiastic student of Bunnya Secondary School, Mayuge.

“I learnt how to launch a rocket, use a computer, and build a tower. I learnt how to prevent HIV/AIDS by practising safe sex. We learnt about being confident, being audible enough, and talking in public spaces,” said Shamps Sebukulu, a student of Mbogo Progressive, in an almost conclusive manner.

Want to see our witty beneficiaries tell their own story? Click here to watch the video.