Wendy Angst has been known simply as “Mama Wendy” by the scholars at St. Bakhita’s Vocational Training Center since she took her first trip to northern Uganda’s Agago district in 2020.
Angst, a teaching professor of Management & Organization, is the director of the Powerful Means Initiative (PMI), an immersive undergraduate experiential learning program committed to supporting St. Bakhita students by helping them build better futures. The school was founded in 2007 to provide educational and vocational opportunities to women captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Educational opportunities for St. Bakhita’s students are complicated by the fact that many of them are already mothers and lack a safe and educational daycare solution. In spring 2024, St. Bakhita’s opened the doors of its newest addition, the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), made possible by a generous gift made to Notre Dame.
The project was enriched by its collaborative nature as students, faculty, alumni and donors have been involved at every stage of the project’s development — working with St. Bakhita’s leadership and community to design the space, its curriculum and business model. The sunlit childcare center was co-designed by Notre Dame School of Architecture students and faculty and local stakeholders, while the self-sustaining business model was co-designed by Mendoza students with the Center’s leadership.
“Most young women who have children in Uganda are forgotten,” said Angst. “There is no structure in place for them to go back to school. Having an intentional space for them to educate themselves and their little ones and gain the skills needed to support their families is what we envision for the ECDC,” said Angst.
Orginally posted on Bizmagazine.nd.edu.