My first week at Hands for Hope

Ok so my first week isn’t quite finished yet, but I thought I would write a short update to say a bit more about Uganda Hands for Hope and my week at work so far.

Hands for Hope (HfH) is based on the edge of the Namuwongo slum and works with the community that live there, supporting the most vulnerable families. Around 15,000 people live in the slum, many of them refugees from northern Uganda, the CR Congo and Sudan. 90% of people there live under the absolute poverty line (less than 75p a day). I went on a community walk there yesterday with one of HfH’s social workers and visited some of the families that HfH works with. Although I had seen images of the slum and met some of the children, nothing quite prepares you for the level of poverty you witness when walking around this vast area and it’s difficult to describe it in words.

This video (that Stew put together last year) captures this and the work of HfH well.

 

HfH was set up in 2008 with the aim of providing support to the most vulnerable children and families living in the Namuwongo slum. It currently supports 300 children and their families. HfH run a nursery school (where I’m based!) and funds children to then attend a local primary and (soon) secondary school (the first HfH children start secondary school next year). It also support the families via a livelihoods programme for women, an afternoon youth programme, a library and health related activity (e.g. health checks, HIV/ AIDS awareness).

I have spent the week meeting the staff (HfH employs 17 staff, including teachers and a team of social/ outreach workers) and learning lots about the organisation (Tammy, the current general manager/ administrator, who I am taking over from, is providing a really great handover!)

It is still the school holidays here and, during this time, HfH runs a holiday club for all of the children.

 

Jean Marc, one of HfH's ambassadors talking to the children at the holiday club.

 

This is the final week of holiday club and HfH fundraised to take all of the children on a day trip. So today we went to Wonder World, an amusement park here in Kampala. This is the second annual trip for the children (last year they went to the zoo in Entebbe) and for many of them it was the first time they had left the immediate surroundings of Namuwongo or been on a bus or on any rides. It was a really fun (and tiring!) day. Here are some pics:

excitement on the bus!
 

queuing to get in....

Lunchtime!