The Ivy Haywood Education Initiative (IHEI) was inspired by a 9-year-old girl named Kevin. Her family lived in a tiny broken hut on the hill of Naguru, Uganda. Unable to pay the mandatory school fees, Kevin and her siblings rarely attended school. 

 

Visiting Kevin and her family a few days before starting a new school term, I asked if she had school shoes. “Yes!” she said and quickly ran inside the small hut and returned with a pair of very worn shoes which she laid at my feet (photo to right). I knew then that we needed to help this family to educate the children and provide hope for a brighter future. Our first sponsored students were Kevin and her 2 brothers, 11 years old Lawrence, and 7 years old John.

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In September 2012, the IHEI program was initiated at East Kololo Primary School in Kampala, Uganda with 11 sponsored children. This signified the 11 births of Ivy Haywood, our grandmother who immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States of America in the ‘70s. She was great single mother, elementary school teacher, and an amazing inspiration for her children instilling the empowerment of education.

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The IHEI-Uganda mission is to extend this empowerment to as many underprivileged families in Uganda. Through educational sponsorships, disadvantaged students are carefully selected and paired with sponsors in the United States. The sponsors donate towards the required tuition, fees, school uniform and shoes, and scholastic materials to keep our students in school, and provide a daily meal.