Helping children get to school, stay there safely, and learn.
Access starts with practical things
Education is relies on quality teachers and classrooms, but for many children, especially in rural areas, access depends on distance, safety, water, transport, boarding, and whether families can trust that their children will be cared for.
The Foundation supports projects that remove those barriers. Sometimes that means a dormitory. Sometimes it means clean water. Sometimes it means the everyday infrastructure that allows a school community to function.
These are often modest grants, but they can decide whether a child attends school at all.
A safe bed in north-east India
In the mountains of north-east India, near Nongstoin, the Foundation funded the construction and initial running costs of St Benedict Boarding House for Girls.
The boarding house provides accommodation for up to fifty girls aged 11–15. It gives girls from remote areas access to education where they might otherwise be kept at home or sent into agricultural work at an early age.
The school is run by the Benedictine Sisters of St Lioba and opened its doors to the first pupils in February 2024.
A safe place to sleep can be the difference between a girl continuing her education and never entering secondary school at all.
Clean water in Uganda
In Uganda, supporters funded a borehole for a community of Cistercian sisters.
Before the borehole, the sisters and the children in their care had to walk miles through bushland to collect water. That journey carried real risk and consumed hours that should have been spent in school.
Clean water is not a side issue. It is part of the infrastructure that allows children to learn.
Daily life in boarding schools
At Inkamana High School in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the Foundation helped purchase wash lines for the boys’ and girls’ hostels and new wash tubs for the boys’ hostel.
In a rural boarding school, basic hostel infrastructure is part of what makes education possible. Clean clothes, safe boarding and dignified daily routines all help students remain in school and learn well.
What your gift can fund
Give to access
A gift to the Foundation can help children reach school, remain there safely, and receive the education their families want for them