Child sponsorship update from Entebbe, Uganda

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Entebbe, Uganda from Summer 2008

Hearty greetings from the entire family of SOS Children’s Villages Uganda.

We hope you are enjoying the warmth and brightness that comes with the summer. Back here, it has been a bit rainy lately and temperatures have somewhat gone down but nevertheless life in the village has gone by seemingly well, thanks to your support and generosity. Once again, we are happy to bring you news on your favourite SOS Children’s Village in Entebbe. We hope this will spice up your summer.

The piece of land on which the village was built was formerly a woodland and therefore the village had a number of trees in different types and sizes with well maintained lawns. The large trees provided lots of shade especially during the hot season and on rare on occasions; monkeys would be caught playing in the canopies. However a few weeks ago, Entebbe village begun to appear rather different from what we are all used to. This is because some of the tall trees especially those near the buildings were cut down or had their branches trimmed as they were deemed dangerous incase they broke and hit the buildings. Nonetheless, we all appear to like the new look as the view of Lake Victoria is clearer and larger than ever. It is very beautiful scenery.

We had the pleasure of hosting mother trainees from SOS Children’s Village Gulu. (Mother trainees are newly recruited ladies who undergo approximately a year’s training in line with caring for an SOS family to enable them become SOS mothers or aunts.) Each mother trainee was attached to one family house where under the guidance of the mother, she had a first hand experience in performing the several duties such as budgeting for the family, preparing children for school, assisting them with home work, praying with the children and ensuring good discipline among others. They also had the pleasure to engage in activities like aerobics and swimming which are aimed at helping mothers keep physically fit. Some were fortunate to have their new families arrange for an outing so they were able to accompany them. On the other hand, being the first time for most of the mother trainees in such a setting, it was not that easy, they faced some challenges. Sometimes when the mothers were away, the children would become a bit naughty but with the different disciplinary skills they had learnt this was over come. On their return to Gulu, many of the mother trainees agreed that it was a good learning experience and they pledged to apply what they had learnt in their own families.

Children growing up

At last the Family Strengthening Progamme (FSP) in Entebbe village started its operation in the neighboring Katabi sub county. This new development comes with excitement as it is believed to have a great impact on the improvement of the livelihood of the local communities. So far a tour has been made in the area of operation which is composed of four parishes and sensitisation meetings about the programme have been held with the respective village councils. Further more, committees comprising of the locals from the different parishes have been formed and these have also been trained to handle responsibilities in regard to the programme. Currently, registration of the potential beneficiaries is in progress and after which the initial assessment of the identified beneficiaries will be done. We remain positive and confident that the well being of the families and children in the community will improve.

In March, the nursery school held a sports day. The nature of the weather that morning dragged the opening as the down pour was heavy and as a result several children felt disappointed because they thought their practice was not going to pay off. However this was only short lived as the rain seemed like an early blessing for the event; it calmed and it started to shine like it has never rained before. This brought much excitement and pleasure to the little sports men and women who begun to participate in various competitions like dancing, dressing up, letter arranging, balloon bursting and many more with much vigor. As the saying at nursery school goes; “Every one is a winner”, all the children were congulatulated and happily walked away with gifts for their participation.

Part of a family

Neighbouring the village is an unoccupied lawn that is intended for the construction of a youth home in the near future. Because young children are full of energies and therefore enjoy playing, they have put this lawn to good use lately. During their free time, they organise simple tournaments or enjoy friendly matches in games like volley ball, cricket, basket ball and football. As part of the holiday the children’s holiday programme, the children participated in various friendly football matches with the community. The SOS team emerged winners in three of these matches and they only drew 1-1 in one of the matches. This was impressive and we now realise improvement in the children’s football skills. They too participated in the Kampala Kids League (KKL) holiday clinic where besides football they got to play other different games like basketball, cricket, hand ball, swimming and many others.

In line with our vision of having every child belong to a family and grow with love, respect and security, various workshops have been held for the children as a mode of creating awareness about their wellbeing. A child protection workshop was organised in early February. The various forms, causes and remedies to child abuse were discussed. In case of incase of any abuse was the children were notified of a reporting mode to authority. They were also given the opportunity to ask questions and make contributions. By the end of the workshop, many felt empowered and one of the girls who attended had this to say; “To avoid child abuse, individual responsibility is very important; I will now be more careful with the friends I make and my dress code”. Another workshop was held in relation to health. A lot of emphasis was placed on hygiene and developing into puberty. We are happy to note that the children learnt so much and they now feel confident to face the challenges that come along with adolescence.

Generally, all has gone on well in the village and we look forward to providing you with more updates later this year.

As I close off, I wish to thank you once again for your tireless support towards SOS Children’s Village Entebbe. Best wishes in all your endeavours.

Yours truly,

Sheila Bukirwa
Sponsorship Coordinator