MONDO’s child support activities reached
a next level in Kikooba Infant and Primary School. In the last months we did
not spare energies in order to ameliorate the living standard of the children
and help the school to stabilize its functioning. As a first stage MONDO
financed the establishment of a boarding section hosting twenty children in
the school. We also organised two sessions on child protection with an aim to
provide training for the staff. As a third step MONDO decided to involve
Kikooba to the Brilliant Fund, its child support program.
MONDO is actively involved in
supporting hundreds of kids in need in Kenya, Ghana, Myanmar and Afghanistan.
The Brilliant Fund was founded in 2009 and since then gave the chance for the
most vulnerable children to have one of their basic rights, education. Specifically
in Uganda children are exposed to child labour, human trafficking, abuse at
school, early marriages and teenage pregnancy which are factors of high level
of drop-outs from school. According to UNICEF’s data only 25% of the children
enrolled to primary education makes to be enrolled to secondary. In a country
level only 40% of the children become literate at the end of their studies due
to the extremely low level of quality of education. Children with disabilities
are largely excluded from formal schooling because of shortages of special
needs teachers and facilities. Kikooba Primary is aiming to provide
quality education and fights extreme poverty in order to keep the children in
the school.
In Kikooba paying school fees is
a challenge for each and every family. The region is highly affected by the
bush wars of the 80’ and touched by draught regularly. The families are mainly
living from subsistence farming and lack of any other income. Kikooba primary
school was founded in order to provide the possibility of education for the
most vulnerable ones with very low fees. However the question in Kikooba is not
whether something is expensive or cheap but rather costs any money or not. The
families are struggling to find the means to support the children’s schooling,
nutrition and clothing.
Due to MONDO’s Brilliant Fund we
were able to identify the 100 kids the most in need and cover their school fees for the
year 2019. The selected children are all members of families living in extreme
poverty, some of them abandoned by one or even two parents, orphans and some
HIV+. Abandonment of children is a very common phenomena in Uganda. Due to the
lack of work places in the country many parents decide to look for jobs abroad
mainly in Arabic countries and leave their children behind. These parents are
highly exposed to human trafficking and modern slavery. The parents leave their
children to the care of their relatives in the villages and try to earn an
income abroad. Almost every selected children are coming from this family background.
By paying EUR 50 per year for
each supported children, the donors keep the children in school, alleviate the financial
struggles of the families and make sure Kikooba Primary school can
keep on the work to provide quality education. By supporting a
child, as a donor you are not just helping by giving the chance to a kid to be
educated and a successful member of the Ugandan society but help to keep them
away from child labour, human trafficking and forms of exploitation. MONDO together
with Ugandan Pioneers Association is dedicated to continue the work for a
better future for Ugandan children in Kikooba.
