www.safyuganda.org
Safe Alternatives For Youth (SAFY) is a small, independent, not-for-profit organisation based in Kitamanyangamba slum, Kampala, Uganda. They support some of the world's most disadvantaged young people, helping them to achieve their potential in a safe, healthy environment.
SAFY was established in 2002, in response to the continued vulnerability of young people in Uganda to HIV/AIDS, and to the lack of appropriate youth health services.
SAFY supports young people aged between 10 and 24. They engage them in all aspects of our response to HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. They offer effective programs that empower young people to protect themselves and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.
They provide education, information and support. They also offer a range of sports and activities, giving young people opportunities to have fun in a safe environment, keep out of trouble, and grow and develop healthily.
SAFY enables deprived young people in Uganda to fight HIV/AIDS and fulfil their potential.
They support young people aged between 10 and 24 who are living in Kitamanyangamba slum and neighbouring communities in Kampala. Their activities provide practical, lasting solutions for deprived young people.
www.thechildisinnocent.org
The Child is Innocent, founded in 2004, is a unique organization working in Northern Uganda.
Northern Uganda is a region that has been afflicted with poverty, disease, and war for over 20 years. There are many hundreds of thousands of children forced to live in displacement camps by the conflict. In these places their basic human needs are barely met. The children also face abduction by rebel soldiers. These soldiers are often children themselves. Once kidnapped, they will serve in a largely children’s army. To escape this, many commute on foot great distances each night seeking sanctuary in towns. Many of these children’s parents have perished through violence, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and other infectious diseases.
The Child is Innocent Foundation is dedicated to providing such children with an opportunity not only to improve their own situation but also to acquire the means to change this for others like themselves. They provide leadership development for children. By giving able and deserving children a first-rate education and equipping them with the skills to become community leaders, they aim to change not only their lives but also the lives of those born after them.
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www.GrandmothersBeyond.com
Grandmothers Beyond Borders is a group that seeks to create a relationship between volunteers in the United States and grandmothers (jjajjas) in Uganda. This organization, though only in its second year, has already began to make a huge difference to the lives of many jjajjas and the grandchildren that they raise. The main aim of GBB is to improve the grandmothers’ standard of living, and in turn enable them to send their grandchildren to school. GBB hopes to alleviate the poverty of these jjajjas and their grandchildren. Currently, GBB is reaching out to four villages through the parishes of Naggalama, Kasawo, Kabimbiri, and Kangulumira.
In April 2008, several volunteers came from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where GBB has its base, to revisit the families in these villages. One volunteer paired up with Ritah to bring a new opportunity to the grandparents in Nagalama… the jjajjas were going to learn about art.
In just three short visits and some instruction, the jjajjas learned how to create intriguing colour combinations through the use of texture and paint. They listened intently, and when given the go-ahead, they eagerly dove into the supplies, focusing on whatever tasks were at hand. It’s true that age brings wisdom, for these jjajjas were all fast learners. The culture of Uganda is rich with art, and the jjajjas have years of experience in creating traditional art, like baskets and mats. These talents are now natural to them, and so they easily adapted to creating contemporary projects, like textile design beadwork, and painting. Upon seeing their finished products, they smiled and laughed, pleased to find out they could create these wonderful works of art.
Grandmothers Beyond Borders is a project inspired by one woman’s story, the story of Mary Namutebbe, who represents thousands of grandmothers left alone to take care of their grandchildren (as many as 6 to 12 children) after the children’s parents died of AIDS.
In short, the KSPH is a wonderful organization that provides opportunities for physically (some mentally) disabled children and teenagers in Uganda. Their mission is to "...educate, rehabilitate, and equip physically handicapped children for self-reliance and development." The school is a primary educating boarding school with over 100 students. The school follows the national standard for education, including sports, music, dance, and drama.
The vocational students at the KSPH create exceptionally beautiful handmade cloth and ceramic beads.
www.mildmay.org.uk
Over the years, Mildmay Paediatric Care Centre (MPCC) has been at the forefront of the care for children living with and directly affected by HIV/AIDS spread over eleven districts in Uganda including five islands on Lake Victoria and also in the Internally Displaced People’s Camps (IDCPs) in Gulu.
Children living with HIV and AIDS are some of the most distressed and vulnerable children in the world. The stigma and prejudice associated with this disease means that they do not have a voice, making them the silent sufferers, alone in their pain and loss.
MPCC was invited by the government of Uganda to build up and HIV/AIDS Centre in the country. MPCC is a unique Christian based initiative that opened in November 2000 with the aim of creating a friendly and loving environment in which to offer intensive nutritional, medical, emotional and spiritual rehabilitation and, at times, terminal care to children living with and directly affected by HIV/AIDS.
Today, MPSS provides a comprehensive range of services for these suffering children. These services include Day Care, Hospital Care, Community Outreach Programs and Training courses. The continued donations and funding MPCC can ensure the improvement of lives of the children. Mildmay is an international HIV+AIDS charity, specialising in care, training and service development within this field.
Their vision is of a world in which everyone with HIV can have life in all its fullness.
Their mission is to improve their quality of life by building in-country capacity to fight HIV+AIDS.
www.sos-childrensvillages.org
SOS Children’s Villages focuses on the care and support of children who have lost, or are at risk of losing the care of their biological family. Where children has lost this care, SOS provide family-based care within their SOS Children’s Villages, ensuring their access to care, education, nutrition, health care and protection and helping them reach their full potential.
The SOS family strengthening programmes aim to prevent children from losing the care of their families. SOS empower families to strengthen their capacity to provide for and protect their children, while simultaneously strengthening community safety nets for vulnerable children and their families.
SOS Medical facilities also contribute towards achieving the health-related goals. In addition to maternal care, some facilities provide anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS patients, and voluntary counseling and testing services.
SOS Children's Villages is an international non-governmental social development organisation that has been active in the field of children's rights and committed to children's needs and concerns since 1949. In 132 countries and territories our activities focus on children without parental care and children of families in difficult circumstances.
SOS Children's Villages focuses on family-based, long-term care of children who can no longer grow up with their biological families. At our SOS Children's Villages and SOS Youth Facilities they experience reliable relationships and love once again, meaning that they can recover from what they have experienced, which has often been traumatic. They grow up in a stable family environment, and are supported individually until they become independent young adults.
The initiatives of SOS-Kinderdorf International in Uganda started in 1988 with the signing of a government agreement. The establishment of the SOS Children's Village Kakiri in a small village not far from the capital Kampala was SOS Children's Villages' first project. The location was purposely selected in the Luwero Triangle since this region had been particularly badly hit by the war in 1985. At the same location, SOS Children's Villages also established a kindergarten, a primary and secondary school and a medical centre and thereby makes a positive contribution to the improvement of the living standard of the neighbourhood. In June 1997, after several years of continued efforts, the "SOS Children's Villages of Uganda Trust", was founded. The SOS Children's Village work in Uganda has been under the patronage of Uganda's First Lady, Mrs. Museveni since 1997.
The demand for social facilities for orphans is great, not least of all due to the growing Aids pandemic, and consequently the second SOS Children's Village was established in Entebbe, Uganda. A new government agreement with the Republic of Uganda was signed on 14 March 2002, which guarantees an increased recognition and support of the SOS Children's Village work on the part of the government.
In June 2002 SOS Uganda started an SOS Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu, in order to provide active assistance to displaced children in the north of the country. In the meantime permanent SOS facilities carry on to help the children and the needy population in Gulu: a temporary SOS Children’s Village cares for some of the many displaced children who could not be reunited with their families. The children and coworkers are looking forward to move into their new homes, when the permanent village will have been finished in the course of 2007. The SOS Social Centre Gulu provides various services to vulnerable children and families in the area.
At present there are three SOS Children's Villages, one SOS Youth Facility, two SOS Kindergartens, one SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, one SOS Social Centre and one SOS Medical Centre in Uganda.
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Updated 1 August 2011
