News from Uganda

In answer to my concerns, that I wouldn't be able to keep up the stewardship for a little girl in Uganda when I go to China, my friends from Villach gave me the money to pay a full year for this. I am very gratefull and happy for this. Therefor I wanna share a letter with all of you, which I got today from SOS Children's Villages Uganda (international homepage in English!!!!) (I crossmarked the name of the village and changed all names to protect their privacy):

Re: Greetings from SOS Children's Village XXX

On behalf of the Management, Staff and children of SOS Children's Village XXX, we wish to convey our warm greetings to you and your family.

We have come to the close of this year which has been very exciting and challenging in our village. The numbers of children and youth has grown bigger adn now we have a total of 170 children and youth under our full time care. A number of children have matured into youth and have gradually moved into our youth home which are within the premises. Today there are altogether 60 (32 boys and 28 girls); here various programs and activities are carried out to enable them fit better in the community. 3 of our boys have completed their education ; Paul, who is now self-reliant and staying on his own, is already working with an accountancy firm and at the same time furthering his education.
Matthieu, who is a very enterprising young man, has taken initiative to start a school in one of the rural areas. He is currently mobilizing resources to enable him better his enterprise as he gains more experience. Hannes has also completed his Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology and is on the look out for job opportunities. The girls likewise have moved on. Jenniffer, Martina and Sandy have completed their Diploma in Catering, Business Administration and Nursery teaching respectively and are now on apprenticeship. 12 other youth are currently at various Universities and Tertiary institutions and the rest are attaining their secondary education.

A local children soccer league has helped most of our children develop their talents in soccer of which we have several that are now very good players and have been able to join various local soccer clubs. Many partners including Kings Foundation an international organization based in the United Kingdom have trained our children in sports skills with an intention taht later on they will be able to train ather children. One of our children Enrico has shown a lot of interest and ability in sports this year. He has taken on the training of our children in Rugby. Many others who are interested in Music dance and drama have continued to be in the choir and have had an opportunity to perform at different occassions and state functions. Similarly even other areas of development have been supported.
Our children and youth have also interacted with families from the community bringing them to the reality of life outside the SOS.

We were also blessed to have 14 new children join the village this year most of whom came from HIV/AIDS affected families and have lost one or both parents ending up in the care of aged grand parents. In order to allow in more children, mother Christine has taken an additional 13th family in our village.
This year, a lot of emphasis has been placed on improving academic performance among children and therefore the Village Educator together with the mothers are working hard in this endevour. The SOS mothers, Youth leaders and teachers have undergone a tutorial and monitoring education programme to help them support their children adn youth to realize their best potentials.

The Hermann Gmeiner School which comprise both Primary and Secondary section has also helped a lot this year. On top of our 149 children from the SOS Village other 386 other students from the neighbouring community have been able to attend school at a subsidized fee. This has over the years transformed the surrounding neighbourhood; as the literacy levels rise, the development in the area is accelerated. Through the support of partner NGOs the school is also helping 20 other community girls by providing them with functional adult education that can help them live meaning ful independent lives with this they are able to learn basic skills in tailoring, entrepreneurship, reproductive health, nutrition, hygiene education and resource mobilization.

Up to 3000 people in the wider surrounding community have been helped this year through the Hermann Gmeiner Medical Centre outreach programmes namely; provision of accessible and affordable medical services for treatment of ailments such as malaria, respiratory infections, accidents, provision of antiretroviral drugs for HIV positive patients, testing of tuberculosis among others. The clinic attends to 50-60 patients at a daily basis.

A number of families in the neighbouring area have either been affected or infected with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Plans are under way to mitigate its spread through HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing services that will be be availed. Among other current programmes to the community are: nutritional support to most vulnerable families, immunization of all children within the SOS catchment area, sexually transmitted infection management, health education, and family planning as well as surgical reproductive health services.

On a sad note in June, House 5 lost one of their family member; Sabrina aged 12 to HIV/AIDS and she was buried at a near by church cementry. Incidentally this was the first death occurence at our village. Thank God the family is courageosly coping with this situation supported by the rest of the community.

Your continued support has helped us reach out tto many disadvantaged children and for this we shall always be grateful. THANK YOU!

Yours Faithfully

Village director Sponsorship Coordinator