Gulu City, Uganda — Acholi Region

The kids make it
all worth it.

Oliver Atim, Founder — Osprey Nest Educational Services

We started with almost nothing. We still operate on almost nothing. But every morning the children arrive — the babies, the toddlers, the kids in their gowns at graduation — and nothing else matters.

Come see what we've built.

See the School Support the work →

🍼

Daycare from 3 monthsOpen 7am – 6pm, Mon–Fri

🎓

K.1 through P.2Full early childhood pathway

❤️

Community anchorRed Cross · Soleterre · WFP

☕

~$3 per dayFull daycare, per child

The School

A day at Osprey Nest looks like this.

Children arrive before sunrise. They eat. They learn. They go to farms, plant trees, splash in the pool, walk a red carpet at fashion shows, and graduate in full academic gowns. This is not a minimum-viable school. This is a school that believes children deserve everything.

"We are overwhelmed with the love that our parents and pupils — including the babies — have for the school. It can only be God and no one else."

1 🍼

Infant & Toddler Daycare

From 3 months old. Professional care in a structured, warm environment. Open 7am to 6pm so parents can work. The youngest children are held, fed, played with, and loved.

2 📖

Early Childhood Education

Kindergarten 1 through Primary 2. Play-based, expert-led, and serious about literacy and numeracy. Holiday reading programs run during school breaks — the learning doesn't stop.

3 🌱

Outdoor & Experiential Learning

Farm visits. Tree planting. A child learning to milk a cow — in their school uniform. The land of Acholi is the classroom, and knowledge of it is irreplaceable.

4 🍽️

Meals Every Day

A warm, balanced meal during the school day — rice, vegetables, protein. For some children in Gulu City, this is the meal that matters most. It is not optional. It is the point.

5 🎭

Arts, Performance & Celebration

Fashion shows on a red carpet. Birthday parties. Dance performances. Graduation ceremonies with gowns and mortarboards and families watching. Joy is not a reward here — it is the curriculum.

6 🌊

Play & Physical Development

The school pool. Open grass. Room to run. Children who play well learn well — and children who feel safe enough to splash and laugh are children who come back tomorrow.

🎓 Annual graduations

🐄 Farm education

🌳 Tree planting

📚 Holiday reading

🎂 Birthday celebrations

👗 Fashion shows

🏥 Hospital charity drives

🏠 Orphanage visits

🎨 Arts & music

The Ecosystem

Osprey Nest is more than a school. It's a community anchor.

The school and its sister organization Santa Foundation — both led by Oliver Atim — operate as one ecosystem. The school is a gathering point, a distribution hub, a partner to organizations working across Gulu. This is what that looks like.

🏥

Annual Charity Drive — St. Mary's Hospital Lacor

Every year, Santa Foundation runs a charity drive supporting malnourished and vulnerable children at Gulu's main hospital. The school is the primary donation drop-off point.

🏠

Orphanage Visitation — St. Jude Children's Home

Annual visits with activities, face painting, cake, and donated clothing. All November-born children invited. The school as a bridge between its community and its most vulnerable members.

🌳

Environmental Initiatives

Tree-planting events with Red Cross, WFP, and Soleterre personnel on the school grounds. The campus as a site of ecological as well as educational work.

👗

Clothing & Materials Distribution

Clothes, bedding, and hygiene supplies distributed to vulnerable children — including children with disabilities. Inclusion is not a policy here. It is practice.

Active Partners

Who works alongside Osprey Nest.

These organizations are not donors or sponsors. They are active on the ground, at the school, in Gulu. Their presence is documented evidence that Osprey Nest is already part of a functioning network.

Documented Partnerships

🔴 Uganda Red Cross 🌍 Soleterre (Italy) 🟡 World Food Programme 🤝 Santa Foundation 🇸🇪 The Human Touch Oversight

"It's not easy to give as an individual — your giving might seem insignificant. But when you put it in a pool, it is worth it. Little by little makes a bundle, and we are stronger together."

Oliver Atim — Osprey Nest, on community giving

The Context

Now consider what they've built this against.

The Acholi sub-region spent two decades under the LRA conflict. By the 2000s, the vast majority of its population lived in displacement camps. The children at Osprey Nest today are the children of people who grew up in those camps. What follows is not an appeal. It is the measure of what this school actually means.

"The power to transform lives lies right here among us. We are the change our community needs."

Oliver Atim — Santa Foundation

20.5%

Below the poverty line

Acholi sub-region monetary poverty rate — UBOS National Household Survey 2023/24

4th

Highest poverty in Uganda

Behind only Karamoja (74%), Bukedi, and Teso among all sub-regions

~49%

Food insecurity

Estimated proportion of the Acholi population facing food insecurity

One full day of childcare

What Shs 12,000 — the school's daycare fee — converts to in USD. The price of a coffee in Stockholm.

This is not a school waiting to be saved. This is a school that is already saving — children, families, and a community's relationship to its own future. The question for a potential supporter is not whether it deserves to exist. The question is whether you want to be part of what it becomes.

Become Part of It

This is an invitation, not an appeal.

Osprey Nest is not asking to be rescued. It is asking whether you want to join something that is already working. What you see below is what specific amounts actually do — priced honestly, with no institutional overhead between your contribution and the children it reaches.

☕

One full day of daycare

A child cared for, fed, and learning — 7am to 6pm

≈ Shs 12,000

📖

Holiday reading program — one child

Expert literacy sessions, 3× per week

≈ Shs 30,000

🍽️

A child's lunches — one month

Daily warm meal during the school day

~$15

estimated

🎓

Full scholarship — one term

Tuition and materials. Sibling discounts available.

~$30

estimated

🏗️

Infrastructure & renovation

Classrooms, equipment, facilities

Ask

contact directly

All contributions go directly to the school through Oliver Atim. There is no institutional layer, no overhead, no intermediary between your support and the children it reaches.

Talk to Oliver.
Join the work.

Contact Oliver Atim directly via WhatsApp. She will tell you exactly what is needed, what is possible, and how your support reaches the school.

WhatsApp / MTN Mobile Money

+256 774 595 087

Oliver Atim — Founder, Santa Foundation
Osprey Nest Educational Services, Gulu City

ospreynestdaycare@gmail.com

For written correspondence and institutional inquiries

Bank Transfer — Uganda

DFCU Bank, Gulu Branch

Account: Santa Foundation · A/C 01090017641630

Open WhatsApp → +256 774 595 087

Coordination supported by The Human Touch Oversight, Stockholm. Direct peer-to-peer support. No intermediary fees.

The kids make itall worth it.