Uganda

UGANDA

Friends of the Ugandan Child
Ottawa-based Friends of the Ugandan Child is the newest project under the umbrella of the Canada Africa Community Health Alliance (CACHA). We are working in partnership with Care for Your Life, a community-based organization in Kamengo, a village located southwest of Kampala, to improve the quality of life for people in a manner that builds sustainability and encourages self-reliance. We are also committed to developing long-term solutions to a variety of health concerns with particular emphasis on child development and prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission.

The project uses recreational and training as a means to enable Kamengo youth to disseminate healthcare and HIV/AIDS information. We work with local leaders and youth to ensure effective, locally owned development programs that are sustainable, transparent, and accountable. Our key objective is to strengthen the capacity of orphans and vulnerable children to manage the challenges they face and to improve their economic status. We provide training in life skills, HIV/AIDS, coping skills, and values through events such as seminars and counseling services via peer educators/counselors. We also provide vocational skills through the matching orphans and vulnerable children to artisans and sponsorship to training institutions.

The project also aims to strengthen the capacity of families and communities in Kamengo to provide care, psychosocial support, and education on HIV/AIDS information and services to communities. Kamengo, like many other rural areas of Uganda, is in urgent need of strengthened health services particularly for the dissemination of HIV/AIDS education, medical treatment, and psychosocial support.
 

Our specific objectives are to:
• Increase capacity of Care For Your Life members to provide psychosocial support through home care visits.
• Increase the proportion of adults who know their HIV status.
• Increase the proportion of community members who test for HIV as a couple.
• Increase proportion of pregnant mothers who know about PMTCT services.
• Increase community awareness regarding HIV/AIDS and the effects of stigma and discrimination on the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Increase proportion of orphans and vulnerable children in Kamengo community who receive education and psychosocial support through the Kamengo Education Fund.

Other Projects
The basic needs in Kamengo are great and are on-going. The community water source is approximately 3 miles down the valley and the nearest hospital, run by the Catholic Church, is short of everything from beds and mattresses to linens and medication. To date, Friends of the Ugandan Child has assisted Care For Your Life by providing seed money for a piggery, a chicken project, and the planting of maize and cabbages. Both groups continue working together to provide school fees for many local orphans and vulnerable children.

The construction of a local community center with a resource room and recreational court has also been completed and used by Care For Your Life. Recently, we sent a shipping container full of much needed basic items including computers, wheelchairs, books, clothes, and shoes to the region. Additionally, volunteers have also provided computer-training classes to members of the community.

We are continuing to raise money for school fees and to improve education in the village - one of our many goals is to provide a solar-powered Internet connection to the resource center. We are also looking to raise funds to set up a permanent soup kitchen that would provide one basic meal per day for those in greatest need.

We continue to raise funds to assist in other sustainable development projects with focus on agriculture. Much has been accomplished but the need is great and the work is ongoing. We are currently preparing to send the first CACHA medical mission to Kamengo in the spring of 2009. With continued support, this project can and will create a lasting positive impact on the community of Kamengo for years to come.