Empower Children and Women in the slums of Kampala

If  you take a stroll in most of Uganda's slums, you will encounter many single mothers struggling to fend for their children. With no resources, single mothers leave their children to the mercy of fate. Consequently, the children end up on the streets and engage in activities such as sex work, theft, and drug abuse. Amidst such tough conditions, it is very hard for most of the youngsters to live their dreams or even make ends meet. make

The pandemic has brought hunger  to millions of people around the world. National lockdowns and social distancing measures are drying up work and incomes, and are likely to disrupt agricultural production and supply routes — leaving millions to worry how they will get enough to eat.As one enters the slum, the impact of the lockdown turns starker. Some residents have been living here for a long time but many from the other districts are stuck and look forward to return home as their patience and money run out.

Most of Uganda’s urban residents are a hand-to-mouth lot. Literally, they live off their ability to make it to town centers every day. A slight disruption in this routine means people will go hungry at home.

Eunice(not real name), a mother of three who lives in a suburb of Kampala, the nation’s capital, said she and her family have been eating maize porridge for a week now because she doesn’t have more food.

“I boil water, and when it is ready I add maize flour to make porridge. That is what we eat for breakfast and supper,” said the single mother, clutching her youngest child, a toddler, close to her chest. “There are about three kilograms left in the bag. So I don’t know what will happen after.

“We are going to die of hunger before this virus even kills us,” she added.

We are trying to take care of as many people as possible without caring about the numbers, already more than 100 kilo grams of maize flour and beans have been distributed across the four slum communities that we serve. The campaign is still running to feed the children and the 

Uganda is still under a national wide lock down on some sectors like eductaion and transport,this has had it major impacts on the lives of people especially the women and children,some have lost their jobs,families have been broken and young girls defiled.When we carried out home visits,we talked to some of the women in thecommunity and these are some of their stories in this report.

Meet Betty(not real name) she is a single mother of 10 children,her husband abandoned her and married another wife but while befor with her,she used to work a forest reserve on government land in Kyankwanzi in the western part of the country but they were later evicted from the land and that is how she ended in the slums. She was lucky enough that the SDA church offered her a room to stay in temporarily.

Before the pandemic,Betty(not real name) used to wash dishes and clean at a neary by school where she could earn some income and feed her family but that has changed since schools were closed in march,as a result of this she is left with little or no income to feed her household anymore,the children pick food from markets and garbage pits,some of the government releif food that was distributed was poor qaulity so some households in the neighbourhood would donate it to themand that is how she managed to survive for some days.She is also worried on where to go incase she is evicted because they are occupying government land,however,she is grateful to the donors and Joy for children Uganda for thr releif food was donated to them when the counrty was still under a total lockdown and her children are healthy exept for her daughter who has chronic athma. “if given the opportunity,I would like to start a hardware business because that is where I have expertise” she told our field officer.

Annet (not real name) is also a single mother of 3 who lives in Mulago,she thanks the donors so much for the kind gestures rendered to them,she says during the total lockdown,women were worried,no jobs,no markets,no transport and most of them tapped into their savings. Before the pandemic,families used to have the basic needs,have three meals a day but now they only feed once and the meals are not even balanced.Pregnant women were neglected,increased infant mortality rates,high transport costs and long distance to hospitals and the governent food which was distributed was not fit for human consuption.Business has been slow on her side but she appreciates the support from Joy for children and the donors,she is atailor and trins other women in the community to the same,she says,if given the opportunity and enough capital,Annet wishes to start a school where she can train young girls in hands on skills like tailoring.

We are still fundarising to feed the children and women in these hard times and the gap is still huge,please support our cause.