Getting to the Heart of the Matter

During our time here in Uganda we have had the opportunity to conduct research into the difficulties and troubles that girls and women out here encounter in their day-to-day lives, along with the mass responsibilities that they take on in their roles as mothers, home-carers and wives.

The gender gap that exists the world over is very stark in Uganda. Girls receive less education, are much more likely to be subject to abuse, and the majority still occupy a traditional subservient role in marriages and families. Supporting girls and women is deeply connected to working to put a permanent end to children of both genders living on the streets. Many of the children in the S.A.L.V.E. programme and many more that we encounter on the streets have been abandoned by their mothers who were forced into early marriage, sexually and/or physically abused and uneducated about family planning. By supporting girls' and women's rights and education we can reduce the number of unwanted children given birth to. As well as, very importantly, promoting equality and raising the standard of living for everybody.

One of the most common and successful ways that female rights are being promoted in Uganda are through local women's groups that meet regularly to address the issues of most concern to women in the area; be it family planning, literacy, child care, dealing with abuse and domestic violence, or politics.

This week Assy and Laura were able to visit a local women's group in Masese 3 to see how it was run, and to learn more from the women involved about how they feel they benefit from the group. It was a great experience, allowing us to see how empowered the women had become from the group and has shown us the possibilities that these sorts of groups bring to the women who attend them. We hope that as more of these groups emerge, they will begin to spell a brighter future for the next generation, and we will ultimately see fewer and fewer children taking to the streets.

Masese 3 and the transit centre

Another busy week with SALVE!! With a big fundraiser coming up in London this week, the UK staff have been working hard on the preparations. Meanwhile the day-to-day business of work on the ground here in Uganda has been ticking over. We had a weekend full of dramas with Richard and Avaga, one of the boys that we have been getting to know very well over the last few months. The drama concluded with both boys safely back in the transit centre where they are being carefully monitored by the staff there and by us. We are hoping that this time the boys will fully commit to the opportunity they have to reform and we will welcome both of them back into the SALVE home in the weeks to come. The major obstacle at the moment is drug dependency which afflict so many boys on the street and makes the transition to settled life even more difficult. The transit centre however, has the specific skills and resources available to help street boys to tackle their drug dependency issues and gives them an intensive rehabilitation period before re-entering school life.
SALVE is working closely alongside the transit centre to facilitate the boys rehabilitation; visiting regularly and liasing with transit centre staff to ensure that the boys are making positive progress and that any problems are quickly addressed. We are continuing to work on and develop this close relationship with the transit centre so that together we can maximise the effectiveness of our programmes and ensure that the most comprhensive care is delivered to the street children.
We spent some time in Masese 3 this week, familiarising ourselves with the urban conditions that have contributed to so many children running away to the streets. Masese 3 is a slum community on the outskirts of Jinja where many people struggle to get by with little to no income. The Karamojong people (from the North of Uganda) in particular rely on collecting food and doing small bits of manual labour in exchange for money, food or firewood. The community has several child-headed households and many part-time street children, who can be seen on Jinja streets in the day but return to Masese at night to sleep. Our trip to Masese was very enlightening and has taught us a lot about the background of many of the children in our programme.
Meanwhile our community education and street clinic programmes continue to move forward and are showing great promise. As the interns are approaching our final couple of weeks in Uganda it is very encouraging to see so many plans coming to fruition. We are really looking forward to hearing how things get on over the coming months after we leave.

Street Clinics at the Bus Stop

Most of the clinics this week have taken place at a bus shelter behind Jinja’s main bus station which many of the street children frequent during the day. We have discovered during our time here in Uganda that there are many different types of children that can be seen on the streets of Jinja; there are children that tend to go to the streets during the day to earn money through performing small tasks for local shop keepers or finding and selling scrap, before returning home at night; ones that permanently stay on the streets both day and night; as well as older children who have been on the streets for many years and have become very hardened to the lifestyle.

During our street clinics this week we have been able to interact with both some of the younger children who permanently stay on the streets as well as some of the older ones that come there during the day to earn money before returning home. A major issue that became immediately apparent on stepping foot inside the bus shelter is the number of children that have resorted to taking drugs (sniffing aviation fluid). This is something that we as interns were well aware of but walking into the station and being hit with the fumes really brings it home.

The clinics have given us a great opportunity to talk with the younger children and find out more about their individual situations and ways in which S.A.L.V.E. may be able to help them - as well as gaining their trust in us as an organisation. It has also enabled us to interact with the older street boys, which has been a really interesting experience. Our previous understanding of the older children, before spending time with them this week, was that they would be the most hostile of the various groups that live on the street.

However, we were surprised that they were very receptive to idea of talking to us and discovered that they, much like the younger children, have been written off by society and there is a great challenge ahead to try and reintegrate them into society. Whilst our facilities at the moment are better suited to take on younger children (under 16) , we are always going to continue to build relationships with the older street children in the hope of being able to offer them more opportunities in the future, such as vocational training, as S.A.L.V.E. continues to grow.

Happy Easter from Uganda

Happy Belated Easter from everyone in Uganda!!

The S.A.L.V.E. children were all happy to be back at the Bugembe home to celebrate the Easter weekend, although they all had a lot of work to do with plenty of homework to help to prepare them in the lead up to their exams in a few weeks. They managed to put aside a few minutes for us in their busy schedules to share some chocolate with us, which went down very well. Today though its back to school and lots of revision!

We decided to spent the holiday back in Kibuye village celebrating with some friends! The setting was slightly more traditional than the Easters we are used to at home. We spent our time cooking an Easter feast of rice, sweet potatoes, greens and meat over the fire, and taking long walks around the beautiful village setting. We managed to bring a small bit of our traditions to the Easter celebration though by bringing some Cadbury’s chocolate with us!

Earlier in the week

We were excited to help to launch a new community education initiative. S.A.L.V.E. has chosen to work in the area of Mafubira (which some of S.A.L.V.E.s research last year identified as an area that a significant number of the local street children might have come from for many reasons like poverty or abuse) where there are many people very eager to see change and improvement in their area and in their circumstances. We are hoping that S.A.L.V.E. will be a positive influence in the area and will help facilitate people eager to help themselves. In our first meeting, our main aim was to assess the needs and interests of the community. Ideas came both big and small from the participants. We are looking forward to our next meeting this week and are hoping to see some of the many ideas take off in the coming weeks and that in time this will lead to less children from the local area ending up on the streets in the first place.

We are really pleased that by the end of the week, we had picked Richard from the streets again and brought him to the local transit centre. The whole organisation got together to decide what the best next step for Richard is. Like so many children who have lived on the street and come from very unsettled backgrounds, Richard has a lot of trouble adjusting to settled life. We are hoping that with enough time, patience and loving care, we will still be able to work with Richard and continue to keep him on the programme and ensure that he has every opportunity for the future.

In other news

Last weekend saw a historic 4-0 victory of Uganda versus Burundi in the national stadium in Kampala. The interns took up their front row seats and enjoyed watching the football drama play out. Despite the stadium being quite empty and bare, there was plenty of atmosphere and the Ugandan victory ensured that there was lots of singing, dancing, conga lines and chanting taking place! A small taste of the football fever that will hopefully be taking over Africa before long when the World Cup descends. Even though Uganda is not participating, people here are very excited about the build up to the event.