Stopping child abandonment in Uganda

Ewafe Project - 31 children reunited with family

Demand for the Ewafe Project has continued to be high with record numbers of children being referred and cared for during 2022. We have been using the dining area as an additional sleeping space and were caring for 94 children at the end of the year. This has increased from 65 at the beginning of the year. Despite these huge numbers, the team at Ewafe have continued to offer a quality service, providing a safe, nurturing and encouraging environment for the children there to rest, recuperate and begin the journey of rehabilitation. These services include counselling, medical support, the teaching of life-skills and crafts and the opportunity to play and be children.

Our overall aim is to reintegrate children with family. In 2022, we were able to reintegrate 31 children with loving family members and continue to provide follow-up services for them. We have identified 19 children in need of foster families, and we have successfully identified and trained 8 foster families. 4 of these families have been assessed by the local authorities and we will hopefully be able to officially place some of these Ewafe children into these safe foster families very soon.

The words of a mother reunited with her child thanks to the Ewafe project: “I had lost hope because I thought that I will never see my daughter again. I travelled to so many different areas across Uganda searching for my child. But am grateful to the Lord that my daughter has finally come back home. Thank you Kids Club Kampala, may God bless you abundantly.”

Welcome to your Autumn update. It's been another busy quarter for us here at Kids Club Kampala and we have lots to update you on.

Ewafe Project Update

This quarter has been yet again a very busy time for our Ewafe home. We have seen even more admissions than last quarter and increased the amount of children being cared for in the Ewafe home.

The rising cost of living has a large impact on household income, and is pushing families in Kampala’s slum communities further into poverty. Because of this more children are becoming homeless and vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Our Ewafe home is needed now more than ever to protect children in the slums. 

This quarter we have ...

• Admitted 20 children to the Ewafe home
• Currently caring for 88 children at the Ewafe home
• Reintegrated 10 children with family 

                                      Activities at our Ewafe home

Paul's* Story

In June 2021, we welcomed Paul* to the Ewafe home. Just over a year later, Paul was the first child to be reintegrated by our Ewafe team to another country. 

Paul was 12 years old when he left Rwanda, a neighbouring country to Uganda, with a family friend in hopes of finding his father in Uganda. Unfortunately he couldn’t find him and eventually Paul ended up on the streets. He was picked up by a Good Samaritan and taken to the local police station who admitted him to our Ewafe home.

After much searching for Paul’s father and no result, our Ewafe team instead decided to start looking for his mother back in Rwanda. After a lot of hard work, we managed to locate her and this August, 1 year and 3 months after Paul first came to the Ewafe home, he was granted permission to travel back to Rwanda.

Paul was officially handed over to the Rwanda High Commission who will be resettling him with his mum very soon. (* Name changed)

Read Paul's full story here

The Kigali Declaration

In August we welcomed the news that all 54 commonwealth nations announced a commitment to eliminate orphanages after signing the Kigali Declaration. 

The Kigali Declaration states that; 

“Children in most marginalised and vulnerable situations have been disproportionately affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including … children in institutions.”

Our own Ewafe project similarly prioritises giving children the opportunity to grow up in a loving family as opposed to institutional care. Our Ewafe home is transitional, the aim is not for children to stay here long-term. Instead, we work hard to resettle kids safely with family members or foster carers.

Craft day at our Ewafe home