POOR CHILDREN
The African continent is home to more than 400 million poor children, and the number continues to grow. Africa’s child population is expected to reach 1 billion by 2055. This makes it the most prominent child population on the entire continent. In some African countries, such as Uganda and Angola, half of the residents are under 15 years old. Fifteen million children in sub-Saharan grow up without a father or mother. Here HIV/AIDS disease has taken one or both parents away. They have no home and live at relatives’ houses or on the streets. More than 30 percent of African children suffer from chronic malnutrition. Others have physical and mental disorders in their daily lives. They are often small for their age and suffer from heart and kidney problems. Some have fragile immune systems, preventing diarrhea and pneumonia very difficult. Hunger, poverty, violence, and armed conflict have forced millions of African children to flee their countries alone. Wars have broken out in many countries on the African continent, and millions of children live in fear and violence.
SAVE COMMUNITY CARE FOUNDATION
Save Community Care Foundation (SCCF) is a nonprofit, independent, indigenous community-based organization in Uganda founded in 2010. They run various initiative programs to address the community’s numerous problems, with head offices in Kaliro-Uganda in East Africa. SCCF-Uganda works directly with rural poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged, vulnerable children. They also work with disabled persons and aged women. Also, displaced persons, the illiterate, and young children in communities are important to them. VALUES: Teamwork = We motivate the privileged section of society, especially youth, to join hands for the betterment of society. Respect= We deliver services to the deprived area without compromising their respect and integrity. Excellence= We work toward the achievement of set goals by continuously improving the core practices and ideas. Accountability= We fully understand the importance of financial accountability to ensure that donations and funds are spent wisely and resourcefully. VISION= To build a society whose human rights are protected, the untapped potential of individuals is made and empowered to take responsibility for their development. MISSION= To work towards eliminating violations of rights, poverty, and illiteracy through capacity building and initiation of self-help projects
HIV AND WOMEN’S PROGRAM
3) HIV/AIDS Awareness and Health: together with the health centers in Kaliro district, they sensitized more than 9,000 people about the virus and prevention. They referred 127 people to the health centers to receive appropriate medication. Finally, through their partnerships, they brought medical care to remote communities with a system of mobile clinics. 4) Girls and young women: the adolescent years are crucial for girls and boys to develop skills that will enable them to sustain themselves in the future. Unfortunately, many girls are victims of early marriages, often resulting in domestic violence and teenage pregnancies. SCCF works to provide better opportunities for young women by helping them enroll in training institutions that can help them cultivate their vocational skills, preparing them to enter the job market or start their businesses.
FINANCE SUSTAINABILITY AND PARENTING PROGRAM
5) Financial and business skills: accessing the banking system is difficult in these areas, so it is almost impossible to obtain loans and investments. Thus, they started Village Savings (village savings banks) and Internal Lending Groups (VSILGs), providing capital for business ventures and serving as social security in difficult times. 6) Economic sustainability: they have promoted Income Generating Activities (IGA) in vulnerable households in the form of goats, chickens, pigs, and seeds (corn, beans, vegetables). Their responsibility transfer system enables the project to be sustainable and reach many people who need their services. 7) Parenting training: they offer training to mothers by teaching them how to prepare nutritious food for their children. In weekly sessions, mothers learn how to choose local foods and cook healthy meals with SCCF staff. They thus learn the importance of child development and growth and how to treat some prevalent illnesses that can be deadly if neglected.
COLLABORATION WITH RYVANZ MIA
Save Community Care Foundation’s Food Support Programs’ mission is to provide nutritious food to vulnerable children in need. To accomplish this mission, they work with registered organizations and opinion leaders in the communities we serve in Africa. The first project took them to Kaliro, Uganda, where they fed vulnerable children nutritious food. The children had a special meal for the first time thanks to the Ryvanz-Mia Foodshare Program in Kaliro-Uganda. The children had fun and became happy by jumping, singing, running, and dancing-it was fun for them to have food instead of porridge. Thanks to this support, we saw one child from the Center eat four plates of food and ask for another. His response broke our hearts: “The Center houses 130 children (71 boys and 59 girls) orphaned, neglected, on antiretroviral and TB drugs, abandoned, living in acute poverty and highly vulnerable poor, housed in our Kaliro center.
RESULTS OF COLLABORATION
Each child receives three meals a day: breakfast in the form of porridge, lunch, and dinner in the form of posho and beans, but we hope to change the diet to rice, meat, and vegetables. Three staff members run the Center, plus a cook and a counselor who offer psychosocial counseling to children who have been defiled. No public schools are nearby, so children from nearby villages go to the Center to learn. They help them develop their careers through dance and drama. Writing and reading competitions and sports are also important. We are proud of the collaboration between Ryvanz Mia Charity and Save Community Care Foundation. It is essential to underline the importance of donating to the Save Community Care Foundation. You are welcome; the door is open. We appeal to donors to help us build a comfortable Children’s Center that will allow orphans and poor children to continue to have breakfast and lunch at the Center. No matter how small your donation is, feel free to send it because it can change someone’s life and future.
