Child of hope - Uganda

CRY is delighted to be partnering with the work of Child Of Hope in Uganda. They aim to support marginalised children, to help them thrive and develop the skills and self-reliance needed for an independent future.

The projects CRY supports are three schools in the heart of the Namatala slum district, Mbale, in Eastern Uganda.

The objectives are:

• Improving the well-being of children and their overall growth and development

• Support and guide children and their families to create hopeful & positive futures for themselves

The direct beneficiaries of these projects are 606 children, 25 orphaned or abandoned children living in foster families. The main target group comprises children, orphans and internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing famine or violence. The children come from several tribes and speak around 10 different languages: all learn English and lessons and communications are in English.

Child of Hope in Uganda takes only one child per family to reach as many families as possible and in searching out the poorest/neediest, (whatever their religion or background) our welfare staff work with elders and visit many families in the slum to assess their circumstances. Families, typically headed by mothers, face discrimination and live hand-to-mouth depending on odd casual labour and scavenging unable to find regular work to pay for food, medicines or schooling. Lack of money, ignorance and poor sanitation/hygiene are significant barriers to the well-being needed to learn.

The indirect beneficiaries of the project will be the mothers/other family caregivers and other children in the family who will benefit from our health and welfare support programmes including also IGA. With an average family size of 5/6 and 600 families, these will number an average 3,000-3,600 individuals. Their family general health awareness information, advice and medical help include malaria, HIV/Aids, road safety, and domestic accidents/burns. Their welfare programmes include family planning, parenting, child abuse and prayer and community meetings. We aim to enrol and support 40 mothers a year in our IGA work by offering business training, a small start-up grant, membership of a group of 10 for mutual peer support with ongoing practical advice from staff, and access to our Agriculture programme for food production.

You can donate to this project and help make a difference in Uganda.