Farmington Hills Couple's School in Africa Grows

Paul and Nancy Berrigan's journey from Farmington Hills to Chelekura, Uganda began in 2005, when a missionary priest visited St. Fabian Catholic Church, where the couple has belonged for 20 years. 

"He just kind of touched us," Paul Berrigan told members of the Farmington Rotary Club at a recent meeting. 

The priest talked about how much further dollars go in Uganda, because the people there have so little. The Berrigans came up with the idea of building a small school, and their dream became a reality in 2007. And it has grown each year since then, to the point where the couple is now reaching out to ask others for assistance. 

They named the John Paul Secondary School after their fathers, and welcomed 14 ninth grade students that first year. They had nine classrooms, 10 teachers, but no electricity and no water. The students had a rudimentary science center.

"If they didn't have equipment, they would draw experiments on the wall," Paul Berrigan said.

In each subsequent year, enrollment grew, with students walking more than 500 kilometers to get there. The Berrigans built temporary housing for the girls; they also built a church and a social hall. A dorm that houses 64 students went up in 2009. 

The school has always provided school lunches and now offers boarding students three meals a day. 

"Now that the school is growing, we are needing help," Nancy Berrigan said. 

John Paul Secondary School does charge tuition of $100 a year, $200 a year for boarding students, but it's difficult to collect fees consistently. Students attend until they run out of money, then go to work until they can afford to come back. In 10th grade, Paul Berrigan said, ages range from 15 to 23. 

Still, the Berrigans have decided, "We want our school to be the premiere facility in the area," Paul Berrigan said. They have established a bonus program for teachers, providing them with bicycles so they can get to work. 

"Last year, Nancy and I funded, up front, the salaries of the teachers for the year," he added. "If the teachers came back, we gave them 20 percent of their salary as a bonus. It's not a tenure program, it's a program to attract and keep good teachers." 

Last year, the school broke ground on a new science center that will be completed this year. Critical needs now include science equipment and supplies, a boys dormitory, fire extinguishers, a well or water collection unit, solar panels and equipment for a computer lab. 

The Berrigans are looking into partnerships with scholarship organizations to ensure that students can go on to higher education and the possibilty of a good job. 

Anyone interested in helping can contact the Berrigans at birdwatcher@earthlink.net; to learn more about the school, visit johnpaulschool.com or their Facebook page.