Empowering Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Uganda
Members of a KCCC "Giving Hope" planning committee in Kampala, Uganda Photo: Tammi Mott/CWS |
American Jewish World Services (AJWS)
Church of Uganda (COU)
The Church World Service Giving Hope program is helping to expand the reach of churches and grassroots organizations in meeting the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) affected by HIV/AIDS in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. The children taking part in the program are living alone after having lost both parents, with HIV or AIDS-infected caregivers, or with elderly or other vulnerable caregivers. The goal of the Giving Hope program is to protect the rights of and provide support for OVC so they can be empowered to manage their own well-being and the stability of their families, and participate in the social and economic development of their communities.
In Kamwokya Township, Kampala, Uganda, CWS is working with AFRUS (Africa/U.S. Women's Partnership)-AIDS coalition member American Jewish World Services and their local implementing partner the Kamwokya Christian Caring Community (KCCC), a Catholic organization. Organized into ten groups called Treasure Life Children's Clubs, some 400 HIV/AIDS-affected orphans and vulnerable children in 80 households are finding educational and livelihood assistance through KCCC.
The youngsters receive physical, mental, and spiritual support through KCCC. Youth and caregivers are involved in functional adult literacy programs. The young people are taking part in vocational training, and KCCC is helping them secure apprenticeships in urban trades such as hair plaiting, auto mechanics, carpentry, masonry, knitting, welding, craft-making, or car-washing.
Caregivers are helped by KCCC to access credit through credit unions, and to develop small businesses, such as selling Matooke (Uganda's staple food), rearing chickens, goats, and cows, and running retail shops and beauty salons.
Community mentors in the program use basic counseling skills to help the children envision a pathway to a productive future and aspire for greater things--such as personal, family, and community development.
In West Buganda, Bunyoro-Kitara, and Kigezi dioceses, some 270 households of orphans and vulnerable children--about 1,370 young people--are taking part in a CWS-supported program of the Church of Uganda. The COU provides the same kind of activities for the young people as are found in other OVC programs, and youngsters participate in income-generating activities such as raising poultry, making tie-dye fabric, growing passion fruit, manufacturing animal feeds, and growing tree seedlings for sale. Participants in the program are encouraged to open household and/or working group savings accounts.
Another facet of the COU work is reducing the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission among youth. Giving Hope grants are supporting creative youth-led HIV/AIDS prevention and peer education efforts, involving some 2,000 youngsters currently.
CWS's Giving Hope program is made possible through individual gifts, the St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation (St. Marys, Georgia) and other U.S.-based churches and foundations supporting CWS’s Africa Initiative and HIV/AIDS work.
Support for Church World Service helps make this program possible.
Updated 4/10/2007
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