Hope for Youth - Uganda

Introduction:

Hope for Youth-Uganda (HFYU) is a non-profit organisation registered in Uganda, #. S.5914/5415. Founded in Nov 2007, HFYU provides in and out of school educational programs for vulnerable children and youth whose families are devastated by poverty and HIV-AIDS. HFYU also provides support services to community members especially to mothers/guardians responsible for taking care of the children.

HFYU is a Christian organization and follows the principles of Christianity, but open to all needy children in the community without any discrimination whatsoever.

Our vision is to improve the quality of life for children and youth in our communities through education and health; while planting the seed of hope in these young people.

Situation Analysis of our area of operation: Our project area has a population of over 5000 Children and Youth who are largely vulnerable, destitute and socially underprivileged. Most of them lost their parents to AIDS and other unfortunate causes. Families in these communities, some of them child-headed, live below poverty line and only a few children can access education and health facilities. Majority are malnourished; often suffering from Malaria, with many sleeping on dirty floors and braves the mosquitoes and other parasites. Communities suffer scarcity of water, children fetch water for domestic use from distant unsafe wells, and do household chores including gardening, fetching firewood and care for their siblings.

HFYU strives to address these problems through education, health services, mobilizing, conducting and coordinating awareness campaigns in communities, as well as introducing development projects, for well being of children and youth in their communities.

Project Programs

HFYU basically has five (5) thematic interventional areas with an overarching arm to improved Social well-being and poverty reduction. These include: -

(a) Children / Youth Education Program: This intervention seeks to help children complete their education and to provide vocational training so that youth can find employment, generate an income that provides for themselves and their families a sustainable livelihood.

HFYU runs a small infants? day school for children, providing free education to over 300 children from nursery to primary/level 6, growing by one class each year with a future plan for vocational studies after primary 7. The children?s parents/guardians (mostly grandmothers) are too poor to pay for meals and other scholastic materials required at government aided schools under Universal Primary Education program.

Our school is open to all needy children in the community regardless of gender, race, and religion.

We provide the children with a cup of porridge every day. Maize/corn is always got from our farm which also has beans, sweet potatoes and fruits being grown. We also oversee the provision of vitamins and other enrichments as well as immunization to children in and out of schools.

(b) Youths Program: This program is designed to provide educational and emotional support for young people. The program uses sport, music and performances to create a forum for young people to tell stories, share experiences and create performances about community pressing issues like girl-child education, malaria control, hygiene, environmental conservations, HIV/AIDS, family planning etc.

This program also acts as a mobilizing tool for identification of local volunteers and a delivery mechanism for Awareness campaigns and prevention strategies. Competitions among community villages and schools, offer the opportunity to engage youth in activities that build their knowledge and skills to protect themselves from crime and HIV/STD infections.

The Sports program is designed to help children develop physical skills, appreciate exercise, make friends, enhance a sense of belonging as social beings, have fun away from misery, learn to share and play as members of a team, and improve on their self-esteem. It is also aimed at addressing economic development by providing a cheap method of improving employability, especially among the youth by teaching core skills essential for local work place such as teamwork, leadership, discipline and the values of collective effort ? having it in mind that the attitudes and behaviours taught to children through sports carry over to adult life in the wider community.

(c) Community Outreach: This is an outreach program done under the grassroots education campaign. It is aimed at working in partnership with the mothers/guardians who look after the children. We reach out to them regularly for sensitization on Hygiene, while enforcing our school practices into the households where children live, like drinking boiled water, hand washing, nutritious feeding, food security and general basic care for children. This is always a fun filled day of getting to know the children?s homes and interacting with the community, thus providing an arena to better meet their needs.

We have successfully organized several community training workshops including; Family Planning (FP), HIV/AIDS Testing and Counseling, Malaria control and distribution of mosquito nets, Hygiene for Life and Environment conservation.

(d) Access to clean and safe water: Water is a major problem. The well is a long distance from the school and the water itself is not good for human consumption. Through our friends from Canada under CanAssist African Relief Trust (CAART), HFYU has been able to get a 5000ltrs water harvesting tank for the school and a Borehole to serve both the school and the surrounding community.

(e) Self-Sustenance Projects. HFYU has the desire and determination to become an independent ongoing, viable and self reliant organisation. We wish to expand on our already existing small farm of food crops and piggery to act as a source of food and revenue for the school project, as well as help to train the community on the best farming practices for better yields.

We have a piggery of over 30 pigs, planted an Acre of Orange orchard and we continuously plant other food crops like sweet potatoes, cassava and maize which we use to feed the children at school. We have also started to plant vegetables like cabbages, onions, tomatoes, eggplants and other fruits like Pawpaw and Avocadoes.

By creating and consolidating this project, we shall be able to produce high output without using many resources and raise funds from the sale of these produce. We shall then be able to pay teachers salaries, buy scholastic materials; while feeding the children. We also hope to propagate and distribute improved seeds and piglets to mothers/guardians of our children and other community members on rotational basis. We hope this will increase food security and income generation in communities, while at the same time, help children to feed well at home.

HFYU has enjoyed significant growth since our inception, working in partnership with local community members, popular opinion leaders, local and international NGOs + District authorities. We have mentored youth with creativity and social workshops, promoting cross cultural friendship and the spirit of togetherness among them. Built 7 semi-permanent classrooms for kids with an enrollment of over 300 kids.