Devicing a Solution to Poverty

“When the shopping gets tough, the tough ones get to go shopping.” It has been and it is still a heavy situation that you don’t need to tell a neighbour or a friend because it is all to us and a uniform. Hence a question; what is the way out for all of us?

Look at the prices and costs of necessities, fuel is getting next to gold in being second expensive mineral,
a lot has been foregone and forgotten in order to save for what to eat, some people now only get one meal a day and things like sugar, breakfast sounds like history in their ears.

Ever meet a friend growing extra thin and was once fat and wonder why? It is just because of the current
situation in our country, Uganda! If you asked your self why all this is happening, you will perfectly fail to secure the answer but if you asked a friend, he/she will tell you Jesus is soon coming back because all these signs were said to happen.  Why? Still stands.

I don’t know what you may think but it has become a rotten story that stinks to every body both in villages and in towns, being young or old, men and women. I may not tell what is happening to your side but if you don’t mind share it out with us.

Just imagine if you invited 100 people to your party getting 60 turning up for the function will be chance.
People have cut short attending parties because they increase on their expenditures, no buying new clothing, school dues is another threat parents are changing their  children from expensive to cheap schools and for my dear orphan children who are the most vulnerable in all most everything, they are facing the true negative side of the situation.

What should be done? We don’t know for even when we go farming, the soils are no more longer fertile to support high crop production, pests and diseases have increased the speed at which they destroy crops. The rains are unreliable, I mean things have gone to the opposite side, the goal posts have been shifted.

Struggling out like an hunger lion, people have turned to gambling for survival. While others have got to dubious acts and behaviours to secure a living. You will meet young girls being forced to get married that parents can get bride price, young boys exposed to child labour for they have to help in finding something to make their homes and families stand. The disadvantages in all these are known to all of us and with such in mind, what is coming next?

Diseases have increased among people and the cost of treatment is as expensive as buying a new house. If God is really observing all the happenings, then His miracle will be the only answer, as He saved the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians, let Him save us too from this slavery.

Whose concern is it? It may not be a justified answer as to who is concerned but if you are concerned, then think positively to justify the means or factors to the safe ending.

Posted by;
MATHIAS WALWANA

Teach a Man to Fish Project gives hope to children

“I have many benefits to present that I have attained from BROSDI and many of them rotate around education and agricultural activities. Primarily, I have been in position to learn and attain computer skills something which, I used to just dream of.” Dhakaba says.

Dhakaba Mwamada is a student from Hillside Secondary School and his one of the beneficiaries of Teach a Man to Fish project. He shares the benefits he has attained from using the BROSDI center since he joined the Hope Childrens’ Club.

Dhakaba explains that he can now go to the internet, surf, send SMS to friends and relatives; and also chat with friends.

Like many other children in rural Uganda, Dhakaba knew nothing about the computer like a new born baby who knows nothing about the world.

Note only has he been able to use the Internet but also he took advantage of the resource room to enhance his reading skills. Dhakaba continues that “there are many text books in the BROSDI resource room, which have been and are still helpful to me. I have used them for my revision through the guidance of Mathias (BROSDI staff) and I have realised my performance in class change positively. I count this as an achievement. I will always go and visit the resource center for my revision. I just appeal to my fellow students that let us turn up and start using the center so that we can join the digital global.”

Children in the Teach a Man to Fish project work in groups and some of the activities done is agriculture. Dhakaba, confirms that he has really benefited from the potato field they had just planted at their school some two months back. He argues that this will be a source of income not only to the group but to him as a member. He has gained agricultural skills which, he taken back to use in his garden at home and also improved his performance in the agriculture examinations.

Dhakaba also confesses that “before I was very slagish and I didn’t know how to manage my time.”  As a student, he used not to have a self revision timetable, would reach school late and used to perform poorly in class. However, he has now realised a big change after being taught how to make a personal revision time table. His time management skills have improved as he now reaches school on time and his class performance has improved.

Using the center has also made Dhakaba improve networking skills amongst his friends. He adds that “friendship is the order of the day whenever I go to the centre to do my activities. I meet people from different areas and they become my friends. What makes me happy is that I now have friends that I see and those I don’t see because I have got them through internet. I have really benefited from BROSDI.”

Childhood lost: Assistance for Children Orphaned by AIDS in Uganda

Imagine yourself as an orphaned child, the head of your household, responsible for your younger siblings. It is difficult for many adults to envision such a childhood.

According to the Uganda National Household Survey, a vulnerable child is one who lives in a child-headed household or is a child labourer, an orphan, a child not in school, an idle child (that is, one without work or school), a married child, a child living in a household headed by an elderly person, a non-orphaned child not living with his or her parents, or a child living with a disability.

By this definition, 65 per cent of children in Uganda fall under the category of ‘orphans and other vulnerable children’. In real numbers, there are more than 2.2 million orphans and nearly 8 million vulnerable children in Uganda today. And nearly half of the country’s orphans have lost one or both parents to the AIDS pandemic.

James, 16, heads a household of four siblings orphaned as a result of AIDS. The family homestead is in Alela Village, Barr Sub-county, in northern Uganda’s conflict-affected Lira District.

The family has been living on its original homestead since 2005, when they returned from years of displacement in the nearby Barr camp settlement. The children’s mother died in 2003, their father in 2005.

James speaks of being “devastated” by his parents’ passing and the early realization of his responsibility, as the eldest child, to provide care to his siblings (Edward, 14; Stella, 10; Dicken, 12; and George, 6).

The story continues….

An Orphan’s definition of a challenge

Submitted by Walwana Mathias

What a challenge it is to be an orphan? Such a question can be in a mind of a person like you. But an orphan child can reveal the facts of the answers.

Just try to flash back how it was challenging to pay school dues for your children last term yet you had to pay back a loan to the bank at the same time. Well this may seem an easy challenge because you ran to the friends for help. But just imagine a small orphan child who has no one to run to; in some rural area not focusing big on towns, orphans testify the wrath of their parents’ death.

Suffering is the only clothe for them to wear they are like the early men who only used to put on backcloth. Everybody looks at them as a burden to the family where they stay and to the community at large.

Community members are not there to help and they hold no positive say to protect orphans and it becomes worse when the parents died of HIV/AIDS as they (community members) look at the children as futureless.

Allow me to drive you back to a funny situation but it will help us to realize the point; remember the times when America was planning to destroy the reign of Sadam Hussein. This looks to be the very plan and similar way that guardians focus to see off all what is concerned of the orphans mainly what their parents left.

They make successful plans of sharing all what belongs to the orphans and with no say the children keep looking on.

As it is that sugar dissolves in water, which is scientifically true, guardians also say and believe that when you get fees and give to an orphan to go to school, that will dissolve to nothing and you will be wasting funds. This leaves the little children who even have capacity of performing well at school no chance to education.

In villages mostly, elder people have a slogan that “if you don’t work, then you don’t eat”. It is true to a less extent because we all need to work to get what to survive on but it is beyond measure the way orphans work.

They are made to work a lot throughout the day yet even the eating they say ‘meets’ them in dreams.

With big crying, curses, and sadness the orphans have, they say that all what is about them is focused to God to have away out for their lives otherwise, they are living in challenges.

Be there to reach an orphan child.

THE LIFE OF AN ORPHAN CHILD IN THE RURAL AREAS

Submitted by Walwana Mathias

A lot happens within our environment. It may be hard to believe but yet true that the life orphan children live is of big challenge.

I fail to know why it happens in such a way that after the parent(s) pass away, their children start testing the wrath of their death, as these people who remain to take care of the children, they again make them pass through regrettable experiences.

These children suffer a lot, to the extent of missing out schooling because no one is willing to pay their school dues. What is more hurting is that even the little the parents leave for their children, the relatives (uncles and aunties) start sharing them among themselves in equal ratios.

Children are exposed to child labor; young girls are forced to get in marriages, taken like they are not humans, which make them live unhappy.

In your own way, just imagine a situation where you can pass through a day with nothing for your stomach. This is what the orphan child experiences as most of them take days only getting one meal a day and at times move out with totally nothing to eat. They are expected to work a lot throughout the day, mistreated and at the end of the day when time for sharing benefits comes they are considered last.

This result into poor performance at school, most of them end up dropping out of school. Others decide to leave home and go to streets thus become street kids whereas some end up losing their lives for they feel no body is there to stand on their side for support, hence yielding a negative feeling in the life of orphans regretting as to why they were born.

I don’t know what is happening there with you but Let’s share it

WE LOVE “PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT” (PMP)

Practice makes Perfect (PMP) is one of the programs under Hope Children’s Club. Under this program, the children come to the centre (BROSDI) every Saturday and pass through/ revise past paper questions with the guidance of their teachers. These questions are collected from different areas and schools, organized by our BROSDI Academic Bank and given to the children for revision.

The subjects covered among others are; Social studies, English, Mathematics and Science. Every Saturday two subjects are covered and normally English goes with Social studies and Mathematics lines with Science.

The program has been seen progressing well since its birth in 2006. Many children have passed through PMP and their performance has been recognized as positive.

We thought it wise that we get down to the children by asking them whether they do have need/ love for the program or not. I am very happy to let this to you and I believe it will also make you happy that in response to the question, in one louder voice; they all responded and said yes; meaning they loved Practice Makes Perfect (PMP). I called on them to prove out of reasonable doubt to everyone that they really loved the program. Believe me; they were very happy about it.This does not only make the children glad but also brings hope to the organizers of PMP.

They confessed out their reasons as to why they love PMP as below;

• Through the practice and revision we do at the center (BROSDI) in different subjects, we are now more perfect. We gained confidence; we no longer fear tests and examinations at school. Guess what? This gives me feeling that before these children started on PMP they had fear of tests and examinations meaning they could even suffer from examination fever when time for examinations came.

• We are able to pass examinations very well than before. We used to perform poorly but now we perform better and our guardians and parents appreciate. This is so because we have got used to the many questions from different areas, which gives us courage to study more after knowing that what we do is what others do.

• PMP helps us to understand topics and questions that we fail to understand at school. The good environment we study in at BROSDI supports this. Yes we have a free and conducive environment that favours learning.

• The program has helped us learn good behaviours. The teachers have taught us how to behave in the community and when we are at school. This makes us love PMP because if you don’t have good behaviours, you can’t be successful in education. We have learnt respecting our teachers and elders above all.

• We have gained skills on how to revise. Most of them confess that before they didn’t know how to revise. That they used to waste time opening books; looking at diagrams and counting ticks they have in mathematics. “We are able to revise very well” the children said.

• PMP has exposed us out of the school environment. In this, we have got to know many people and; got in touch with teachers and pupils from different schools.

• These kids have really gained perfection as the program leads too. They proudly say that they are can now speak English smartly than before. “Many of us could hardly make a correct statement in English.  If one tried then this was in time of problems and could only be forced to speak in English” they said. This is a bit calling for laughter but the point in it is that they can now speak English perfectly. They used this word “walkover” to mean how easy it is for them to speak English now.

• Referring to their fellow members who passed through the activities of PMP and they performed well in their Primary Leaving Examinations (P.L.E). They say that basing on that reason; they they can also excel in their final examinations. We pray for them as they are already in the process.

• Not forgetting the awareness they get on HIV/AIDS. We love PMP because when we come to BROSDI, our teachers tell us more about the virus, which has helped us to stay safe and directed. The teachers also keep on guiding us on our future.

• The program has also made us brighter. We really love PMP and we want it to stay for more years that even our small sisters and brothers can benefit from it.

It is a very nice program for primary children but we hope with time to have one for secondary students.

Submitted by Mathias

 

Asia: Poverty Forcing Tennage Girls into Risky Sex Work

This was a comment from Mahmuda Begum on the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Children in Uganda post.

Women and girls make up a growing proportion of those infected by HIV/AIDS. The United Nations estimates that every day 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 become infected with HIV. A staggering two-thirds of these new cases are adolescent women. Economic, social, and cultural factors contribute to the disparity of new HIV/AIDS cases between men and women. At the end of 2004, UNAIDS reported that women made up almost half of the 37.2 million adults (aged 15 to 49) living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. The hardest-hit regions are areas where heterosexual contact is the primary mode of transmission. This is most evident in sub-Saharan Africa, where close to 60% of adults living with HIV/AIDS are women.

Child prostitution in India is on the rise, and one third of the sex workers are being under 18 years old. The underlying causes of child trafficking include poverty and lack of economic opportunities for young people, the low status of girls, high demand for commercial sex, cheap labour, weak law enforcement, discrimination and conflict. Surveys on trafficking and sexual exploitation conducted in South Asia, including in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, show that trafficking of children is lucrative, well organized and linked to criminal activity and corruption. It is also transnational, often hidden and therefore hard to combat.

This depressing picture is compounded by the use of teenage girls as prostitutes in countries throughout the world. An unknown but vast number of teenage girls are used for commercial sexual purposes every year, often ending up with their health destroyed, victims of various STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) or HIV/AIDS. Teenage girls are sought with the expectation that clients will not be exposed to HIV. But prostitutes do not have bargaining power. That belongs to the customers, it has confirmed almost impossible to give prostitutes bargaining power in terms of condoms. Teenage prostituted can be raped, beaten, emotionally abused, tortured, and even killed by pimps, brothel owners or clients. Some have been trafficked from one country to another. Moreover, teenage prostitutes are frequently treated as criminals by law enforcement and judicial authorities, rather than as teenage girls who are victims of sexual exploitation.

AIDS Researcher Ms. Muslem Khan Bulon said poverty, trafficking & HIV/AIDS are interrelated; especially women and girls are trafficking for use of prostitution. Teenage girls trafficked to India are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases(STDs), including HIV/AIDS, because of India is the second largest HIV/AIDS infected country in the world, It is estimated that half of the girls in Mumbai brothels who are under the age of 18 years have been infected with HIV.

Most of trafficking girls or women would face several physical & sexual abuses. When a girl or women newly enrolls a sex industry, she tries to safe herself heard & soul, but most of the time they couldn’t free her. A survey conducted by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation that the girls forced (trafficking) into the brothels do not want to return to their homes once they are into it for more than one year. Such girls believe, they would be victim of social stigma and face discrimination from the society. They also believe, their family would suffer several social taboo, self-respect, and social-dignity.

AIDS researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam said, “Trafficking in girls and women is warmly linked to movements in search of employment opportunities. Poverty and gender discrimination make girls and women more vulnerable to traffickers and buyers. The traffickers are not accompanying the women while crossing the border. So it is difficult for the border police to arrest them. There are some female members in the trafficking gang, which helps to hide their identity. Initiatives to reduce poverty and promote gender equality are therefore of direct importance in efforts to combat trafficking.”

Mahmuda Begum
Teacher
Udayan High School
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Mahmuda.dhakaATgmail.com

Impact of HIV/AIDS Children in Uganda

Posted by Karamagi Akiiki Ednah

I found this interesting video on You Tube … “I have heard about HIV/AIDS. It is a dangerous viral disease … it is passed through sexual intercourse, blood transfusions, ….”

Click to watch the video

From our Old Home to our New Home

Hallo Friends

Welcome to our new home …

Please note that our activities remain the same as those in our old home. We look forward to sharing with you alot more

Kadaali Chris
Program Manager, BROSDI