Sept. 5 marks International Charity Day. One charity in Uganda is giving hope to disadvantaged children. By equipping them with life skills and education. Over 3000 children have passed through the foundation since it opened in 2010.
CCTV’S Isabel Nakirya reports from Kampala.
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It’s time to start of school vacation in Uganda and also time to have some fun. But these children will not go back home. They are homeless, many orphaned by HIV and AIDs.
Dancing to the sounds of drumbeats from Uganda’s ethnic tribes is part of what these children do during their spare time.
It’s not only for fun, but also perfecting their skills to perform at events.
“Sometimes we go to perform voluntarily or sometimes we perform at introductions where they pay us some little money and they give us that little money to help us, because like me, I can get 3000 shillings to buy my pads and other necessities,” Mwanawagwanga beneficiary, Dora Lamunu said.
Mwanawagwanga Foundation, located at the heart of the capital Kampala, is now home to about 300 children.
And for 6 years now, the charity has helped children from poor families between the ages of 3 to 17, achieve education.
Apart from education, the charity also identifies talent in the children. And music and dance is one of those activities the children participate in with the hope of becoming performing artists in future.
The children are equipped with life skills to enable them to become self-sufficient after they reach 18.
“This year we went to Rwanda to perform and minister to the people. It has helped me so much because i have improved on my talent and I have gained confidence, self-esteem,” Lamunu said.
Part of Uganda’s junior football team is composed of children from this home.
Caretakers here hope the children will one day play in the country’s national team.
“What we do with them, they do different activities like liquid soap making, they do some baskets, some mats, such stuff help them to sell and get some money to be sustainable. We are not doing the best for each of these children but we are trying to do something that we can. The budget is always stretching but we try to keep it low. We also talk to them and tell them, they also understand,” Mwanawanga Foundation caretaker Bobson Byamukama said.
Some private students are admitted to study here to enable the charity raise money to cater for the vulnerable ones.
And children who have passed through this school often come back as volunteers, teaching the younger ones the skills they already acquired.
The founders of this charity hope to continue empowering disadvantaged children at the same time nurture their talent.