In May 2025, we gathered at Lake Annecy in France with a clear objective: to turn movement into something that lasts. Over one weekend, runners, walkers and supporters raised £155,629 through our ninth Adventure For A Cause. Today, that effort stands in physical form. Nyagakenke Village Primary School is complete.
The classrooms that now stand in southwestern Uganda were funded through that collective effort. Every donation made that weekend is now visible in brick, solar panels and clean water systems. What began as a community challenge has become permanent infrastructure serving children on the edge of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Delivered in close partnership with The Gorilla Organization, who have worked in the region for more than three decades supporting community-led conservation, the project includes three completed school buildings housing seven newly constructed classrooms and dedicated teachers’ offices. The campus now operates with installed solar power, rainwater harvesting systems for sustainable water access, and three sanitation facilities — two of them newly built. Proper desks and structured learning spaces have replaced mud-walled rooms and dirt floors.
Nyagakenke Village Primary School, a government-run school serving 449 pupils — 236 girls and 213 boys — supported by six full-time teachers, needed structural change. That change has now been delivered.
Two weeks ago, we stood on the school grounds for the official handover ceremony. Seeing the completed buildings filled with pupils brought the journey full circle. Leo and Casey Gripari were there alongside Jillian Miller, meeting teachers, families and local leaders who will shape the next chapter of the school’s story. The energy on the day was not about celebration alone; it was about shared ownership. The community now carries forward what was built together.
The connection between effort and outcome is direct. Solar panels installed on classroom roofs, rainwater harvesting tanks and sanitation facilities serving hundreds of pupils each day exist because a community chose to move with purpose.
The school’s location makes this impact even more significant. Just 200 metres from Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, the wellbeing of this community is closely tied to conservation outcomes. Through ongoing collaboration with The Gorilla Organization and the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, pupils engage in environmental education that connects classroom learning to wildlife protection. Education strengthens opportunity; opportunity reduces pressure on the forest. This project supports both.
Completion does not close the story that began last year. It confirms that when a community commits to a goal, distance becomes secondary.
The school is complete, the responsibility continues.
