ALFA ORPHANS AND SCHOOL ASSISTANCE

...let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. ( 1John 3:18) and provide New Possibilities for a Dignified life for all Rural Women and Children

ALFA ORPHANS AND SCHOOL ASSISTANCE:
Children are Uganda’s precious resource for a brighter future!

The last ten or so years that closed the last millennium, Uganda has seen a great increase in the number of orphans due to the AIDS epidemic; and as many as one third of the under 18 years population may be orphans in a few years to come. And one of the most visible and immediate social impacts of the epidemic is the rapidly growing number of orphaned children. It is estimated that 1.9 million children have lost either one or both parents due to AIDS.

The children affected by HIV/AIDS are emotionally vulnerable, financially desperate, face a greater risk of being abused, and are exposed to stigmatization and neglect. On death of parents they quickly assume greater responsibilities of looking after each other, some head families on the death of elderly grandparents. They are forced into situations such as prostitution to earn a living and this exposes them more to the virus thus providing for a “vicious like cycle of infection” in a household – thus loosing everything that once offered them the comfort, security and hope for the future.

What orphans become, and the future society they create, largely depends on what children learn in the present. Orphans can flourish when nurtured in a peaceful, stable environment, with loving, caring parents/guardians and communities who teach them positive values.

The orphans’ care and protection, therefore, calls for multiple approaches for action. Organizations, communities, families, and children in this epic struggle urgently need stronger commitment and sustained effort. There is no credible evidence that the end of the epidemic is in sight. The fight must be vigorously pursued while at the same time measures must be put in place to fulfil the rights of women and children. ALFA Ministries strives to provide these conditions – education/training and resources needed to help orphans grow mentally, physically and spiritually in those values that assure a fruitful, happy and dignified life through ALFA ORPHANS AND SCHOOL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME.

ALFA ORPHANS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME is working to meet the needs of orphans created by the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. There are an estimated 2.4 million orphans, representing nearly 10 percent of Uganda's population. In ALFA Ministries’ home district of Mpigi alone, there have been thousands of deaths due to AIDS, leaving thousands of children orphans and vulnerable. But, ALFA Ministries does not institutionalise children unnecessarily, but helps to settle them within relatives or guardian families.

Then Orphans Assistance Programme’s Vision:	To give hope and encouragement to orphans, build their lives and guide them to be responsible and productive members of their community.
Then Orphans Assistance Programme’s Goal:	To assist orphans and needy children to attain basic education and derive from that education as much as possible - enabling them to become self-supporting.
The Objectives of the Programme:	To provide the sponsored orphans with school fees, school uniform, scholastic materials, mid-day meals at school and health care where and when possible. To improve the school environment standards by providing school desks, water tanks, building materials, etc to dilapidated schools where sponsored orphans go. To organise community based courses/seminars in such area as: STD/HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention counselling and care, child nutrition, water protection, home environment sanitation and protection etc. for the communities in our area of operation. To train, support and create job opportunities for unemployed youth/school drop-outs in skills that will enable them to become self-supporting. To train, supports and create job opportunities for unemployed youths/drop-outs for them to be self-supporting. To provide micro-loans or economic assistance to individuals youths or groups to start small scale businesses such as dress-making, carpentry workshops, livestock rearing, poultry keeping etc.
Statistics	According to a report by the AIDS Control Programme of the health ministry in Uganda, it is estimated that 1,438,000 people in Uganda (over seven percent of Uganda's population) carry the HIV virus. Out of those with the virus, 761,300 are women, 532,900 men and 143,800 are children under 12 years. It is also estimated that more than a million children are orphaned by AIDS, with some children under 15 finding themselves heading families. In some communities, only the children and the elderly remain, thus threatening Uganda's socio-economic strata, where the economic mainstay in agricultural-based subsistence that needs energetic people.

International opinion considers Uganda to be ahead of the curve in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. The government of Uganda has responded to HIV in a relatively proactive way since the beginning, declaring a national campaign against AIDS in 1986. Since then, messages extolling condoms have taken over local billboards and radio announcements, a campaign credited with reducing infection rates by 25 percent over the past decade

PRACTICAL ADMINISTRATION:
Once the interested person, family, organisation, club, church etc. registers an interest to sponsor a child [click here to register your interest] we give him/her or them a chance to sponsor a child of their interest in terms of gender and age.

We then, write a “CASE HISTORY” about the orphan/needy child and take a ‘post card size’ photograph that we send to the interested sponsor[s] at the beginning of the sponsorship.
Once the sponsorship begins, we have the obligation of sending one letter [every four months] to the sponsor from the sponsored child. Together with a report form from the class teacher, the sponsor gets the opportunity of not only keeping in contact with the sponsored child but also to monitor the child’s academic development.
We provide any other information needed by the sponsor about the sponsored child and the programme
.
In case of sickness, we inform the sponsor about the condition of the child and the measures taken to obtain medical treatment for the child.
We make local visit arrangements for any sponsor who requests to visit the sponsored child.

The Cost to sponsor an orphan:

It costs USA $20.00 each month, or USA $240:00 each year to sponsor one orphan in an Elementary School.
It costs USA $40.00 each month, or USA $480:00 each year to sponsor one orphan in a Secondary School.

USA $500:00 (five hundred) is enough to sponsor an unemployed youth to start a small scale enterprise that can make him/her self-supporting.

HOW THE SPONSORSHIP MONEY IS USED:
When orphans and needy children are taken on the sponsorship programme, community environment problems are also put into consideration. So, the sponsorship is utilised in the best way possible to benefit the sponsored child and to improve the environment of both the school the child attends and the community in which the child lives. The sponsorship, therefore, covers the following:

Sponsored Orphan’s Direct Assistance:

· The sponsored child is provided with school fees, a school uniform, scholastic materials, a mid-day meal at school and simple health care.

School Assistance:

· Improving the standards of the school environment by providing school desks, building materials, water tank, etc. But where construction work is needed, the communities contribute to this by providing labour and the locally available materials.

Community Assistance:

· For the betterment of the sponsored child, we organise courses, seminars, etc. for the community, in such area as: ‘STD/HIV/AIDS awareness, counselling and prevention, Child nutrition, water protection, home environment sanitation and protection, home economics, etc.

Programme Administration:

· In order to run the programme successfully, we use 10% of the sponsorship to cater for all the administration work involved.