Action in Africa: Student-Founded Non-Profit Empowers Ugandans

Based in Aspen, Colorado and Bbira, Uganda, Action in Africa Incorporated is a small non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Uganda by educating its youth and inspiring its communities. Action in Africa believes everyone has the right to education, no matter where they live. Through scholarship programs, the organization has put hundreds of children back into the school system, giving them the opportunity to get a well-deserved education. Additionally, Action in Africa collaborates and develops meaningful relationships with locals to bring about lasting change in communities. Action in Africa encourages and supports sustainable programs that are initiated by Ugandans and not dependent on its contribution. The non-profit believes that improving the whole community leads to positive long-term outcomes.

Action in Africa began as a small high school club in 2005. After watching a documentary on child soldiers, a group of Aspen High School students, assisted by their geography teacher, formed a school club to help fight this practice. Four years later, Action in Africa became an NGO with a mission to provide the children of Bbira with proper health care and education and thus nurture the country's next teachers, doctors, and politicians.

After graduating from Aspen High School, the founders of Action in Africa took their cause with them to the college campuses of Chapman, Dartmouth, and Stanford. Over the years, the non-profit has organized various events to raise money and awareness on behalf of Bbira. Through concerts, movie screenings, auctions, and a vow of silence, Action in Africa has raised more than $200,000 and gotten the entire town of Aspen involved. So far, Action in Africa has built or funded a public library (the sixth in Uganda), a girls' dormitory, widows' homes, improvements to St. Johnson's Primary School, and more than 250 school sponsorships. Every year, the organization runs a service trip to Bbira to ensure that the money is being spent efficiently.