Half of Uganda’s population is less than 15 years old. This is due, on the one hand, to the large number of children per family (on average Ugandan women have almost seven children) and, on the other hand, to the fact that many people die at a relatively early age of AIDS. Our objective is to enable as many children as possible to go to school. By each donating 10 Euro monthly, our sponsors are financing access to education for almost 1100 children in Uganda.
The Sponsored Children programme started in 2008 with a group of about 60 children in Zigoti and Madudu. Like many others in Uganda, these children were unable to go to school, because, even though government schools are free of charge, they are charged for morning snack and for building construction. Furthermore no child can enter the classroom unless it comes with a school uniform, exercise books and pens. Without an education, these children have no chance to escape poverty when they are older. We worked out that a monthly donation of 10 Euro would enable us to pay school fees, to provide maize for their daily porridge and to buy exercise books, pens and a school uniform for a child. In Austria, we soon found the first 60 sponsors amongst our circle of friends, acquaintances and – as a result our activities in the media – others beyond. In Uganda, word soon spread that there was a new NGO that looked after the most needy. We checked every application for support thoroughly by visiting the children and families at their homes. Not all applicants were honest about their situation and we soon discovered that it was best to turn up unannounced. Now we employ four Ugandan social workers to cover the many families who need to be visited regularly.
There are clear guidelines which families and children are eligible for support. Several of the following criteria must be fulfilled:
- Precarious living conditions
- No or very little own farmland for cultivating food for own nutrition
- Severe illness of the child or of one of the parents/guardians
- Too many children in the household to enable all to have schooling
- Full orphans without any functioning family ties
Children who are taken onto the programme receive the following from us:
- Capability to go to school (school fees are paid directly to the school)
- Sufficient exercise books and pens
- Porridge at school
- A school uniform (once)
We expect the following from the children:
- Regularly attend school
- At the end of term present their school report and exam results
- From Senior School onwards regularly participate at the holiday and weekend programmes (such as farm work and workshops)
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Reasons why a child leaves or is expelled from the Sponsorship Programme
+Unfortunately, every once in a while, a child leaves or is expelled from the programme. There are many reasons this occurs. Some children simply do not want to attend school and would prefer to work on lorries transporting maize or work as motorcycle taxi drivers.
In remote areas early pregnancies are a significant problem. Often girls start attending school at a later age and, as a result, are still in Primary School when aged 16 and don’t feel comfortable amongst much younger classmates. Unfortunately, a man’s promises of a better life are more attractive/appealing than school.
A further reason for children leaving the programme is the family moving away. In Uganda only a very small percentage of the population owns land and when cheaper accommodation or a better job become available in a different region of the country, then the family moves very quickly. Since the area of activity of A CHANCE FOR CHILDREN is limited to two of the districts of Uganda, we cannot continue to support all children in their new location.
Lastly, we reserve the right to expel children from the programme. To date this has happened only rarely, but in these cases, the child misbehaved badly (refusal to do farm work, threatening a teacher) after repeated warning.Möchten Sie eine Patenschaft übernehmen?
How you can help
- Becoming a sponsor With just 10 Euros per month we can pay the school fees, notebooks and pencils, school uniform and a daily meal...
- Volunteer A Chance for Children can guarantee that 100% of all donations go to Uganda, because our staff in Austria operate on an entirely voluntary basis. If you want to become a volunteer in Uganda... >>
- Corporate Sponsorship Financial sponsorship plays an integral part in sustaining our projects, but we very much appreciate certain donations in kind as well.
