The daily routine in the MALAIKA Smile family is like the family itself, colorful, loud, exciteing, familial, musical and individual.

For getting a better impression you can find more information here:

For us, as association in Germany and Uganda it is important that the children have a structured daily life and live by it. Especially on weekdays the structure is given by going to school. While most of our children are going to boarding school some of the little ones are living at home. Our cook and our supervisors care for a good family life with common time for eating, times for doing schoolwork, free time and homework.

We made weekdays and weekend routines to structure the daily life of the children and put them on the walls so it is visible for them.

Weekdays routine

During the week school and preparation for it as well as school work is most important. The homework and the washing of school uniform and shoes are the daily routine. Next to all those tasks it is very important to us that the family life of the MALAIKA Smile family finds its own place in the daily routine.

Weekend Routine

When the children come home from boarding school every second weekend there is enough time for the family life and the individual encouragement of the children especially with dancing lessons by our teachers – the highlight of the week for most of the children. The children also have the possibility to strengthen their manual, musical and creative skills. On Sundays the children are going to church with Alex and in the afternoon everyone comes together to the Sunday gathering of the whole family to talk about issues that are current or subjects that are important to everyone.

Besides that there are rotating plans for the homework of the children. We want to assure that every child gets to know the different tasks in the household and practice it. We therefore mad teams of two, one older and one younger child, so they can learn from each other. The children are cleaning, doing the dishes, washing, firing charcoal and helping with the cooking.

On different workshops during the weekend or vacation all children in our program - the ones from boarding school, the ones living at the house and the ones from the community - come together. They learn new things or get a new view of things they already know, they experience life together and just have fun.

The school

We want to give you a better insight on the school life of the children by telling you more about the schoolsystem in Uganda and the schools in general – how the children see them and how we “Germans” do.

The children are going to school when they are six years old – officially compulsory schooling exists since 1997 in Uganda and every child has the right for seven years of schooling (primary school). There are two different times of school types: Primary and Secondary school. There are public as well as private schools in Uganda. Our children are going to private boarding schools and normal schools, which cost school fees. Public schools normally have a class size of up to 200 pupils, badly trained teachers and low encouragement. Those public schools do not provide a standard that is giving the children an secure and better future – according to the field report of the German Embassy as well as our impression.

There are a lot of schools in Uganda and it is not always easy to find the fitting school, especially if they should be within the neighborhood. Right now we have good schools for the children. Due to the longer way and the regulations of the government for NGOs most of the children are staying at boarding schools. In Agreement with the schools the children are coming home every second weekend. The younger children are still living at our Malaika Smile home and going to schools close to our home.

Only with good schools and education “our children” have the chance for a better future in their country. Going to school is a big privilege for the children in Uganda. The children in Uganda are hungry for school and education. Lots of children in this country are not going to school or rather are not able to visit a school, mostly because of financial reasons.

Primary School

The Primary School is the basic school (“Grundschule”) in Uganda and includes 7 class levels (P1 to P7). It serves the basic education of the children: Since English is the official language in Uganda, the children on the one hand have English as a subject and on the other hand it is the official language at school and in class. Besides that the children have math and religious studies as subjects. The graduation at the Primary School (PLE) enables the students the attendance of Secondary School.

Secondary School

Students visit the Secondary School from S1 to S6. This continuative school includes subjects like natural science, history, literature and others. With the graduation from S6 (UACE) the student can either visit a vocational school or go to university, if one can pay the fees. Because a lot of parents cannot pay the school fees only about 15% of the teenagers in Uganda are visiting Secondary School.