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STREET CHILDREN OUTREACHES

This picture summarises the way street children survive on the streets and what they have to endure to make it through the next day.

In Uganda more than half of the population is under the age of 18 years. It is estimated that there are over 10,000 children living on the street. They are among the world's most vulnerable children. It is commonly held that life for street children is dirty, violent and short, Hungry, abused and alone, they quickly become addicted to drugs in order to deal with their suffering and become conscripted into gangs who make them criminals for as little as a dollar a day.

We run programs to assist existing number of street children by offering education which we believe is the key to lifting Ugandans out of poverty thus aiming at raising the next generation of leaders. We do two weekly street programs every Wednesday and Saturday at a small centre however we often change places due to the community challenges that often push us out of the places we rent for the street outreaches due to the stigma.

Through our programs there are various activities that we run such as feeding, counselling, literacy, medical care, games among others. Many street children attend our programs and feeding consumes the biggest portion of money along side medical care basing on what we spend on within the street programs.
With these programs we are able to understand and learn more about the street children and have a proper picture of why and what led them to the streets.
We have helped and served more than ten thousand millions to the street children during the programs. Through these programs we have re-united more than 65 children with their families. We continue these outreaches throughout the months and they have shaped a huge pass for us in helping more street children.

SHELTERS AND HIDE OUT CENTRES.

OUR SHELTERS

"With being a girl child its self is a huge challenging factor on the streets as predators are always on the peak of their game to use and introduced these young girls to a number of dangerous and inhuman programs.

Hajara’s work intensified as many girls came to the programs with each having their own story and a challenge that put them on the run for their lives such prostitution, abuse, violence, death of parents, HIV/AIDS among others. With many girls coming from different backgrounds, there was a need to bring all the girls under the same umbrella in terms of relating with each other in the one roomed house as most of them were coming from different streets with each having its own characteristics and behaviors which created huge tensions among there.

Rescue Sevens is a small center for the babies that we often rescue and those that get dumped at our program centers. In many of the dire communities that we work in often young teen mothers are faced with hardships that lead them to throwing away their children at times.

The Rehabilitation shelter provides a loving, safe place for the children to stay temporarily as they settle into life away from the streets before returning home to their family. During this rehabilitation process, the children are given and provided with regular counseling, all time checkups as each child has a different need, requires emotional support, proper feeding, beddings and then join the learning center(educating them) as we continue to learn of his/her story and be able to trace for their families.

To nurture the healthy development of pregnant teenagers, young parents and their children. To enhance lifelong positive outcomes for pregnant young women and young parents. We not only want to raise them with discipline and integrity but also as children who can work and participate in any activity at the shelter so they can have a chance to participate in the challenging and changing World. We want them to have a chance in any activity that there is and better their futures.

Gensis Boys Restoration Centre

After rescuing children from the streets, the next step with sheltering where much of the rehabilitation occurs. Many children join our shelters on a daily basis through our programs. some children come to us through the police officers majorily the girls who are often abandoned at the different station in the ghettos. The biggest number comes from our street children outreaches. All our shelters for the males and females are fully filled by children of all ages. We have seperate shelters one for the girls and the other for the boys both in different locations. Rehabilitation and gathering information about the child begins immediately once the child is to join the shelter.

Sheltering involves different steps before a child comes in such as blood testing(HIV/AIDS), family tracing, child information among others. We ensure that the state is informed when a child is joining us. Our shelters are born out of the urgent need for sheltering children. At the shelter children are provided with the needed materials such as clothing, feeding, medical care and counseling which many children are always in desperate need of.
Our shelters are the most rehabilitating and safe areas for our children and we ensure that security is paramount. Privacy for all children is maintained at all costs as many of our children are running away from a lot of danger.

Haven Girls Transitional shelter

Gensis Boys Restoration Shelter

We have more than 45 children at the shelter and the number keeps growing on a daily basis since many children continue to join the streets of Kampala and other small cities. With many children coming from different backgrounds, there is always need to bring all them under the same umbrella in terms of relating with each other since most of them are coming from various streets with each having their own characteristics and behaviors which created huge tensions among there.

Havens Girls Transitional Shelter

TALENT GROWTH

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace". 1 Peter 4:10 ESV!

SUNSHINE DANCE ELITE

Our children performed in a number of music competitions, we won in some of them and others we took second place. Music continues to be therapeutic to many children as many of them are getting a chance in life as they express their talents for dancing, writing and creating their own music. We have been lucky enough that we create all our music work and continue to grow it every single day. Our joy is to see our children grow musically and wisely as they continue to develop into talented musicians.

JOVAN'S SPORTS TALENT.

Rising our boys right is our responsibility, winning is another way of them telling their stories.

We ensure that our boys have a chance to perform and give everything their best

For Jovan sports speaks to him the biggest and so we helped him get there and encouraging him to do better in practice.

Jovan’s winning is a push, courage for many children that have dreams and come from the same situation as him.

TALENT GROWTH

PARTICIPATION IN MUSIC COMPETITIONS 2021

YOUTH TALENT ABILITIES COMPETITIONS 2022.

CODY RESCUE CENTRE FOR TEEN MOTHERS.

A HEALTHY MOTHER, A BETTER WORLD FOR THE CHILD.

Many girls like Cissy if are unlucky from getting rescued, they end up having a life of chaos and drug addicted nature every single day of their lives. Our most vital element was not only to rescue Cissy but to save her and the baby so, that the baby wouldn’t have to ended up on streets where his mother got pregnant in the first place.

Cissy and the baby are doing very well and were finally resettled in January of 2023 on the 9th. Our greatest joy is to rescue girls and provide them with a better chance to life and curb on the level of stigma that many single mothers continue to face on a daily basis. The journey is never easy especially with recovery and trauma that many of the children have to endured on a daily basis. To see a better world for the child who needs to be safe guarded and loved, we surely are thankful that both lives in a good place. We thank God for making it all possible for Cissy and her son to be welcomed back home. We love to see families re-united and the children well safe guarded.

Cissy was one of the girls that used to frequent our food relief outreaches in the city slums during the COVID 19 lockdown. Mostly silent and always by herself, there eas something striking about her. Something that required utmost attention. Our team interacted with her and found out she didn't have a place to stay and had been long without a home. Having assesed her need, we took her into the shelter only to later learn from the shelter cook that Cissy was pregnant. It was a very demanding and diffcult challengeto manage especially it beingfroma street uncle from a different program. It took her time to speak of her tribulations and only did so after she felt like she could trust us. We are happy that Cissy and her baby are safe and have a place to call home. We are hoping that she would join a skills training program that would equip her with something. We aim to trace her family this year and know what to do and how to go about everything regarding her life.

Cody Rescue Centre For Teen Mothers

While at the shelter, Cissy performed in a number of activities and Music was her main interest and performed in a few competitions with other kids. We believe every girl has a chance to life if given the right resources. We are very glad to have been that for Cissy.

We have worked with many individuals over the past years to provide free services to street children who end up committed in remand homes. We carry out monthly visits to juvenile remand homes to offer both physical and emotional support. We have managed to set up a few workshops and meetings to speak, interact and engage members of the different communities in various issues concerning their children, community, health not forgetting awareness meetings with the police to see how best to help the street children.

Teen pregnancies continue to challenge various districts in Uganda at large and about One thousand teenage cases are reported on a daily basis. This is a crisis that not only occurs when children join the streets of Kampala but also even in their homes within their families, at schools and in the local communities themselves where most girls spend much of their time. Poverty can largely be attributed to be the cause of the continuing crisis since parents are forcefully marrying off their teenagers as they feel burden to have girls in the homestead. Social determinants of health such as Education and low income levels of the teen's family have contributed highly to the teen birth rates. It is however also beneficial in return once they marry their girl child off and in return acquire pride price paid to them.We have had many teen pregnancy cases this year ranging between (12-24) and this is the smallest number that we were able to have due to our resources and at times girls continue to dump/throw babies at our small centers thus leaving us with the babies.

This is a difficult situation especially not knowing teen mothers at times makes it so hard with the authorities as we have to report and ensure that the information is fully provided to avoid any illegal problems. Teen pregnancies have caused closure of the chances of the girl child such as education thus resulting into stigma from the communities themselves where many of the girls come from, which has affected many girls to the point of running off and joining other related sexually behaviors. In additional to this these pregnancies can have serious health impacts such as complications during the pregnancy and child birth are the leading cause of death. We continue to have many challenging factors during child birth in cases where the girls die because they come to us very late and the majority are often forced to take aborting pills by those responsible for the pregnancy and at times their bosses who engage them into prostitution.

Teens in certain settings are at a higher risk of teen pregnancies and birth than other groups especially in the dire/ghetto areas where majority of the girls are exposed to an early age. We have managed to resettle a few teen mothers and it was a huge success however we have had to provide fully for them and the babies in order for the family to be accepting of them. For many girls who have had no way to go we have taken on the initative of finding better solutions for them suchas housing them, skilling them and ensuring they have all the needed materials for themselves and their babies. We tried fostering with various families which worked half way as the same challenge we were trying to prevent from re-occuring was on the full pen of re-happening thus forcing us to create our own centre for the girls which is very demanding and requires us to find donors for it. This program continues to affect our girls and the program itself in different ways for instance the adolescent mothers especially those aged (10- 19 years) face higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis and systemic infection, low birth weight, premature birth and severe neontal conditions.

THE PATHWAY PROCESS

We go through a number of processes the moment a teen mother joins us. It is never easy especially with many needing help and similar resources. From Antenatal care to the time until the child is born. We go through various stage that require patience as many of the teen mothers have a hard time controlling their feelings and all that associated with being a teen mother. Rescue Sevens is a small center for the babies that we often rescue and those that get dumped at our program centers. In many of the dire communities that we work in often young teen mothers are faced with hardships that lead them to throwing away their children at times. Through the Rescue Sevens, we have managed to rescue at least 36 babies, many of these babies are often left at the libraries that we run in the dire communities and others are left at the wing for women by girls/women who come to us looking for assistance. This a very challenging problem as many babies are often left and abandoned by the teen mothers because of fear, stigma and force by peer pressure that has led the teen mothers to make the wrong choices.

Advocacy

Advocacy remains one of the top priorities because it allows us to be the voice to many voiceless souls especially the children who we want to keep safe on a daily basis. It is very crucial to us to see change and advocate where we need to see improvement. We have organized and got invited to speak on different occasions all aiming at the improving, safe guarding, educating the children and involving the communities at large in various solution based efforts to grow and change the continuing challenging social and economic problems.

Our main emphasis is to see families re-united and organized as every child deserves to have FAMILY and be re-settled where it is possible. We have had millions of meetings with families and communities so as to remind parents of their responsibilities and how together we can impact these children if we work together. We have yielded a lot of positivity from various families that have co-operated with and helped shape a number of things within the re-constructing of the street children who we have been lucky to re-settle.

All our programs include all kinds of people that is the elderly, the parents both single or married and the communities at large as the problems that affect one group affects the other and thus the entire community. We run small centers that are meant to skill and equip women with skills so that we can see change in all the communities socially, economically and mentally as majority of our women are running away from different sorts of problems ranging from violence, inadequacy among others.

RADIO ADVOCACY

We arrange, involve, represent, voice out, communicate problems to those responsible until impact surfaces everywhere we put our hands.

FAMILY ADVOCACY

Family is the best unit for a child to grow and have values in him/her so we work hard to see families together and rebuilt.

EDUCATION ADVOCACY

Education is the cornerstone of our communities and country and our aim is to see every child be in school and safe.

COMMUNITY ADVOCACY

Advocacy is the empathy, compassion and community at work. we ensure that our voices had and powerful.

ADVOCATING

"A voice for the voiceless, to those who can further our Advocacy programs."

Mrs. Stephanie Rivoal, the former Ambassador of France, 2018. The ambassador had of Hajara's work through presentations and invited Hajara together with a few of the shelter children who were transforming. It was a good opportunity to create more awareness and give insight of what is possible in the different lives of street children whenever enough resources are fully invested into programs that are aimed at rehabilitating and educating of the children through formal, skilling/vocational training among others. We are thankful that the awareness we created that day was vital in the line of Education as it is mainly the most emphasized element among the many programs, because we know the only way to change the lives of the children, we needed to have them in schools. It was encouraging and a dream come true for the children to enter and be welcomed in the Embassy something not many street children dream of.

Mr. Sembamala Douglas, a journalist involved in various Art projects such as Film, theater, and Activist in the various social projects. He is majorly the influencing factor that encouraged us to start the music project. He wanted to meet the children and visit the first hide out center that we were running at that time and discuss with the children the significance of Art in everything that they do. Many children are talented artists and express themselves through Art work from the street Literacy programs. We believe that God’s love is what cultivates true resilience and strength in the face of adversity, so we make it our priority to share His Word and guide the children to use their God given gifts.

ADVOCACY

HEALTH

Health is a priority to us and takes largely the best portion of the donations such we run many programs and various people come to use with different struggles medically ranging from the children, elderly, women and the community it’s self as huge groups of people are unable to afford medical care. The teen mothers who often dump and leave their babies behind in various intensive conditions thus requiring us to keep in hospitals for so long as they receive treatment and care.We cover and pay many medical bills and continue to spearhead various campaigns aimed at promoting awareness on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and other diseases that often require surgery and continue to negatively impact different lives and devastate families.

Our shelters are composed of various children with different illnesses which require s to ensure they have access to proper and better medical care and at times we have to use ambulances in case of emergencies for the children with sickle cells, heart conditions, bone diseases and other related diseases that continue to affect and hinder the growth of the children.

We facilitate and send assistance to the re-settled children who are also often sick and rquire medications to take monthly. Medications are of different prices basing on a child's condition thus requiring us to have set funds a side for the children.

Through our programs there are various women that attend and come with all sorts of illnesses that need surgery and we often have to find measures on how to go about it thus ensuring they are healthy so as to cater for their children. We make sure we step in to help the mothers get back on their feet and heal as we are certain that once they die and leave kids behind they are high chances of these children joining the streets since they are often on their own once they became orphans. Many households are led by single mothers.

We continue to assist women and their children especially those affected with HIV//AIDS by picking their antiretroviral tablets from different state centres. Many women who have been affected by tuberculosis have ended up in our centres since the stigma that they face while with their families and communities hinders their recovery and esteem towards their healing.

FROM DANGER TO A SAFE FAMILY.

"We may not be superheroes,but we enjoy to save lives.From every wound we beleive there isa scar, every scar tells a story.A story that Abdul survived."

ABDUL’S STORY: Abdul came to us last year after his car accident and we were able to trace him on the streets of Kampala in a common slum where many of the street children reside. He was in a bad state as his bones were broken and the look of his face spoke it all. He couldn’t walk with a stick and the first thing we did was to have an X-ray taken of him and see the state of the leg. It was in a bad state as it had taken weeks without him getting medical treatment a surgery was suggested. Taking Abdul off the streets was very problematic as many other working street children groups were him on the streets so that that would continue to take pictures and not help him. This didn't stop us from doing want was right and worthy so as to save his life and Hajara suffered quite a number of injustices choosing to take the boy for the operation, they are many children just like Abdul suffering in the hands of the wrong uncles physically and emotionally and the worse truth in this it is they have the biggest and huge funding from various places and it is hard to win a case against them and this basically increases on persecutions and physical tortures that Hajara has had to undergo until Abdul improved. Many children to be takeoff the streets one has to be strong and ready to face the consequences that comes with everything.

After his surgery we connected him to a family that would foster him and have him as it was far from the city and the aim for this was to help with his recovery from his drug addiction, however much of the role we thought would be played by the foster family wasn't actualized as we thought for we learned how they were mistreating him and making him work while his leg was still fragile and this in the near time demanded us to have another simple procedure repeated so that he could be able to walk and stop the constant pain he was having. Finding his family isn’t easy and the location he comes from is dangerous at the moment to resettle a child as it is under constant attacks and the state leaders are trying to take guns away from the Karamojong’s which is causing internal and tribal conflicts among them and with this we are careful on who we will have to live him with. Abdul's recovery and being at the shelter still continues to raise problems and constant attacks that have had to put other children lives in danger. Abdul wants to join Vocational training and take a course in vocational training and we would love to get him started come this semester.

Abdul’s transformation has been remarkable right from his addiction to the normal boy that we worked hard and hoped that he will become. This all wouldn’t be possible if it was not all for the many people that joined us through donations so that his surgery would be a possibility. Our aim was not only to see him walk again and have a chance to life like any other child. We wanted to see him a better Abdul and engage him into an improved society as he comes from one of the most dangerous marginalized society where violence continues to affect much of his tribal community.

We enrolled him in counselling which he had to take on for months so that we can bring him back to life. Many street children suffer from temper management and at times lack control of how to control and direct their anger. Abdul needed alot of counselling and assurance that he was to receive and have everything that he needed. We worked together with him and didn’t let the setbacks pull us down each time he had a meltdown.

STREET KID RECOVERY

EDUCATION

Through Education, our children (93) have dreams and aspire in changing the trajectory of their own life stories for the better. Our children dream of becoming pilots, mechanics, teachers and presidents. They dream high and aim for the stars. We believe that every child has the right to education and development. One of our goals is therefore to get as many children off the street as we can, and find them sponsors for school. Some of our children go to boarding school while a few go to day school and live with their families.

Day school, one of the ways we empower our children is by educating them so we enroll them in school. Our young and middle kids attend nearby Day schools. Our young children are basically the day scholars. Boarding school, one of the ways we empower our children is by educating them so we enroll them in school. Many of our girls are much safer in boarding schools especially those joining secondary schools. Far Boarding school for the transforming boys, some of our boys go too far boarding schools because we want their transformation to be easy far away from the addictive behaviors they battled while on streets.Other children join vocational training centers while others have joined university levels.

Education largely constitutes the biggest percentage of our budget since all our children attend private schools/institutions. we emphasis private schools as a result of many of our rescued children spent so much time on the streets as a result they often lose touch and memories on what they studied before due to the drug consumption that they tend to use while on the streets.

We do our best to search for sponsors for all children which isn't an easy and sadly only three of our kids are sponsored and thus we want to continue doing our best so that as children as well can get a chance to be sponsored and finish their education and be who they aspire to be.

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PRIMARY SEVEN SUCCESS

The past years we have had many children sit for their final national examinations both ordinary level, advanced level and primary level. Many of our children have performed perfectly fine and wonderful as many of the kids have actually been the best in their schools. We have kids who have graduated highly and won in their schools. We have 93 children in our programs includng those at the shelters, resettled and those from the communities.

Education consumes much of our budget as many children attend different schools and are in different classes. We have all our children in private as we want to give them a quality education. Many of our children have been very unlucky and unable to attend school while on the streets and once we rescue them the plan to get them in school is the next on our tables. Many of our children are in need of sponsors in order to be in school. "Education continues to liberate many of our children."

FROM STREETS TO SCIENTISTS (ADVANCED LEVEL SECONDARY SCHOOL).

Our role as guardians is to believe in them at all times.

The trajectory of these boys story would have been different and difficult, as the streets offered them nothing but suffering and loss.

We met them in a very horrible state and were unsure what the future would be for them as every child takes a longer time compared to the other in terms of transformation.

Today, Samuel and Innocent are in advanced secondary school doing sciences. We are beyond proud of how far these boys have come and continue to become every single day of their lives. Education continues to be the core value of our works.

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Benjamine's Story

His Story is the ladder that helped him climb.

Benjamin's love for school led us into his life immediately after we found him during our street programs. He left home immediately after his parents split and with his mother's death intensified the situation in a way that was very unbearable. The constant beatings at home led him to the streets as his father would excessively punish him in case of any mistake that he would do. When we met him he was very bruised and we had a one on one talk with him so that we would figure out a solution to his challenge. We traced his family and were able to communicate with them for two full weeks and find a solution for him. His resettlement wasn't an easy process as the stages were intensified by his father, however knowing our responsibility we respected his terms as long as Benjamin was to be taken back to school and treated well as any child and the punishment to be given to him had to be reasonable.

Benjamin lost his mother with such a situation, his father took on the responsibility which was not an easy task. Many street kids always leave home when one or two parents die and this could have been a similar situation for Benjamin. He was on streets for about nine months and he regularly attended our programs just like other children. He was very humble and often demanded to be taken to the shelter which we did immediately as his interest in academics was overwhelming to us. Joining the shelter just like other kids he had hardships and struggles for the first two months.

Rehabilitation takes a longer time for every child depending on his level of addiction and what he engaged in while on the streets. For Benjamin much of his struggles were what he had dealt with while at home and these challenges were a huge stem in his behaviors such as temper and fighting with others. His love for studies and focus assisted him in his transformation because he focused more on learning and always challenged the staff with questions that would help him grow and improve.

Sponsor an IT student

Benjamin continued with his studies while with us and when he went to boarding school we ensured that he was catered for properly and had all needed. He finished his Ordinary level and went on with Advanced level and majored in sciences. Today he is at university finalizing his degree in computer studies.

His story and transformation continues to push him and us to do more so that many kids are able to accomplish what they are destined for.

BUILDING AND RESTORING HOMES.

Restoring the dignity of Proscovia and her family!

To have a stable family and decent living for Proscovia, who has eight children and other family members totaling it to twelve people living in a single room (without the much needed requirements such food, proper beddings, mattresses among others) is still a big dream. With so many families facing challenges, we have been able to provide food to several of these families throughout the COVID pandemic and assist others with rent payments, despite working with a tight budget. Proscovia’s family life is so saddening, makes one tearful just from looking at the house and making it worse if you sit to listen to the way they live and survive. Dire and dilapidated is what would best describe their housing situation. Each time we visited her house to take them food, aside from the strong stench that comes out of her house (which is by a sewage stream) what caught our eyes were the children seated with their hands clenched on their chins taken up in wonder of what tomorrow holds for them. The day before we visited her, it had rained heavily and I found the house in ruins.

One fateful day, we went to drop the foodstuffs, floods had already taken over the house and everyone had to stand on the already destroyed two beds that they had and the extreme need to lift the ones up yet the roof also needed to be supported lest it fell straight onto their heads. We pondered in disbelief on what we could do to at least create impact and change a thing or two about how they were living. We fasted for two consecutive days regarding her situation and I finally spoke to our friend about it but with fear especially since we have the shelter which also has its needs and requirements at hand. For the past four years, Proscovia and her family have had to live in this house and the children have to go through situations and bare them with high spirits in hope for a better tomorrow.

She had to endure the fear of raising, especially a girl child, in such a ghetto environment which makes them prone to insecurities and injustices such as rape, sexual molestation and taken advantage of in many ways just because of the dire lifestyle they live.Proscovia’s story is one of the many but well, we can only hope and pray for her as we forge a way out to help her have a reasonable and be fitting home to house her children and nurse their dreams of becoming important people in this world.When we visited them, Proscovia presented us with a bottle of soda and her generosity reminded me of the Bible verse in Mark 12, above.

Special thanks to our friends for making this possible for the family and providing them with a safer home. This photo encompasses the work process from the start to the finishing up of the house and filling it with the needed materials.

Restored and renovated homes for people that suffered at the hands of natural calamities like floods with in the swampy slum areas and in other suburbs around Kampala. Prosscovia's house was one of several restoration and renovation cases. Her housing situation has since improved and at least she doesn't have to worry about where she will sleep whenever it rains heavily.

CESSPOOL EMPTYING PROGRAM

"We couldn’t let mothers, children, the elderly and the communities at large suffer when we could do something about the pit latrines.

Ensuring sanitation in the community is one of our major reasons to better the environment for many people especially the mothers and the elderly who suffer very much whenever the hygiene is in a poor state. We have lost many mothers due to poor sanitation and hygiene and on discovering how bad the pit latrines were in the different communities we serve. We took it upon ourselves to draft means of how to ensure proper ways to navigate and keep the latrines clean.

Many mothers continue to struggle in various dire communities especially low earnings from the small business set ups that they are able to run. And living in the ghettos is surety that the pit latrines are in worse and unhealthy conditions as majority of the people only rent small spaces that they afford and the cheaper the rooms the worse the pit latrines.

The start was not easy as we had to set up community advocacy/awareness meetings on how to go about the pit latrines situation in the various communities as needed so as to ensure the health of the children and many mothers. This was a very difficult situation as many landlords who are illiterate thought we were after taking their properties and reporting them to the state. It took us two months to ensure we were on the same page with people and involving chairpersons and counselors of the villages in order to start on the cesspool emptying of the pit latrines and putting a few in areas where they were needed urgently.

To our surprise many areas didn’t even have any pit latrines in place at all and because of this we had to set up measures and put up pit latrines, this was a huge program as we needed landlords to cut on the rent for many mothers since we had helped construct the pit latrines. We mobilized the communities and their leaders so as to work on the whole work process which brought an easy since the people themselves lent a hand in their community development.

We have improved and renovated many pit latrines in various communities. So far we have put eight of them in the different communities that we serve in order to bring an ease in the lives of the children plus their mothers. Many mothers are thankful to have proper pit latrines and as their hygiene has improved. Whatever we can do to bring ease in the lives of many individuals. We continue to maintain our pit latrine program as many communities are still in giant need.

BUILDING AND RESTORING HOMES

RESTY'S PIT LATRINE CONSTRUCTION.

"We Buried The Shame".

Resty is a mother to five children who lost their father immediately after the birth of their last child and the situation became undoubled very hard as all responsibility had to be taken on by her. It was very tough since she wasn't working but rather stayed home to raise her children. She is one of the mothers who has benefited from our food relief supplies and more necessities for the children. On visiting her countless times, she informed us of how the neighboring communities treated her and saw her after the loss of her husband. Blame was centered on her as many viewed her as cursed which is a common identity attachment to women after their husbands die and more so if the death is unsudden. Resty not only had to deal with the misery and failure of not being able to feed her family but struggled with the fact that she didn't have a pit latrine for her family to use and this meant they had to go into people's homes to ask if they could use their pit latrine.
This intensified problem for her as children would sometimes mess or lose the lock and this aggravated the pain as the community saw it as shame and often laughed at them for not having a proper latrine.
Resty informed us of the situation and we prayed together how best to help her and see that this family could be relieved from the shame and the hostile treatment they were receiving from the neighbors who kept laughing at them for not having their own pit latrine. It took us a week to build the pit latrine, Mark, Francis served as the helpers during the construction of the Pit Latrine. We worked very hard to articulate and live by our core principles that we want families such as Resty's to have a safe home and a pit Latrine of their own that way they don’t have to live in shame of what society was turning them into because of their lack and loss.

PIT LATRINE BEFORE.

" ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away"

Resty's family, especially the children were filled with gratitude and so much joy that they knew that God's plans and hopes for them were not over yet. It is this kind of hope that we want to share and live in with the many comminuities, with people that we meet and remind them of how God's work never stops until He makes it happen for families. We are well aware that the small things that God makes us able to do not only allows us to live by our core principles and set goals but at the same time allow us to worship and glorify His name through sharing and living by His word and this remained us of the Bible verse in Revelation 21:4 above.

''Our dream was to see the FAMILY have a pit latrine and so we began and pursued it upto the end. We BELEIVE in solving as many problems as we can so that families can have the joy of raising their children”

REBUILDING MARIA'S WORKING SPACE

HER DISABILITY DOESN’T STOP HER IN DOING HER WORK AS A WOMAN DESPITE THE STIGMA

We supported Maria a disabled lady who we continue to assist out with food supplies, we helped rebuild her wooden small business space so that she can be able to work and attain independence which is often hard for her.

We worked very hard to see that we finish Maria’s small business room and guard her from the rain which was a huge success and well completed. We left her with a proper start in her business and in doing so we aimed at allowing her a chance to work and reduce on the stigma that she continues to face.

Together we can do so much and make the impossible possible for many women as Maria. We want our work not only to represent what God asks us to do but to be the voice for many women who suffer in silence and are often denied chance due to their disabilities.

Maria continues to do her work and enjoy her wheel chair as it brings easy for her in movements. We want to continue blessing as many women as Maria because it is through them that we get to live out God's love and fulfilling the job that He requires us to do. Changing lives for the better is our aim and going disciples is next.

BUILDING AND RESTORING HOMES

We enjoy to see what happens when the right resources are provided and given to the women who want to work and become independent. Recognizing her autonomy and being aware of her strength and weaknesses, Maria sets her goals in terms of what she wants to achieve and our role is to make sure it is able to achieve what she would want us to assist her in and we fulfilled by ''REBUILDING HER SMALL SHOP AREA.''

STA WING FOR WOMEN AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

MARIA AND HER CHILD'S HEALTH.

"Rescuing a mother to save a baby's life".

MOTHERHOOD IS THE BIGGEST ROLE AND PRIORITY TO US, WE CONTINUE HELPING MOTHERS IN VARIOUS COMMUNITIES.

"A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and External, with possibilities of virtue and vice, but as yet unstained."

We met Maria during the COVID-19 in a critical as she was pregnant living a terrible situation without the needed resources to prepare for the birth delivery. Maria struggles with alcohol drinking and has been addicted for a while, the major aim to us was to have the baby safe and well delivered. Maria’s way of life and living was not a good state for a child to be in. We did our best to first purchase all the needed materials for the children.

We were able to purchase the needed requirements such as mattress, food stuffs, baby needs and provided all she needed as the baby was born premature. The baby had to stay in hospital more than the required time. The baby was born with a disability and it is this very reason that we had to support her until the time of discharging her and the baby was possible. We were able to solve as much challenges as we could and be a voice of reconciliation between her and her sister which wasn’t an easy thing as it failed largely. Our hope was to put an easy for her to have a connection so as she would have the help and support of her sisters. Alcoholism continues to affect many families and thus causing much damage to the children we are often abandoned. The best we could do was to ensure that milk is delivered every day to her and the baby. We kept our responsibility and the baby survived and made it.

Sta Wing For Women

TEDDY'S SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY

A picture of the Teddy's family receiving food packages. Mama Teddy the mother to Vicent a young boy who we found during our street programs and resettled him immediately before getting addicted to the street behaviors. Providing Teddy with some amount of helped get her garden back on track and thus sustainability as per now she is able to feed all her children and only asks for assistance with school fees and medical.

FARM WITH A PURPOSE PROJECT

"Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,and he will reward them for what they have done.” -Proverbs 19:17

Teddy is a single mother to five children, who has raised her children alone without the help of their father. Teddy and her children survive largely on subsistence farming on a small scale and our first start of meeting them was trough finding her fourth born on the streets and we worked on his re-settlement. We met Vicent on the streets of Kampala and his reason for leaving home was due to the food insecurity.

She had to fend for herself and provide for her children which isn't easy especially with someone having more than one child. At that time her major challenge was food and so we provided food supplies and weekly check-ups in order to enure Vicent receives all that he needs that way we reduce on the number of children joining the streets everyday.

We took it upon ourselves and ensured that we paid every amount that was needed for her garden to be cleared and well prepared so that she can plant crops again. Farming is the main the activity many women partake in other than animal rearing. We helped to get her garden set and in doing so we wanted to cut on costs she would incur in purchasing on a daily basis for a larger number of children. Vicent settled home and we continue to pay school fees for him and his young sister. We want to keep families united and in a better FAMILY UNIT.

FARM WITH A PURPOSE PROJECT

DEBORAH'S LIBRARY

"The world is full of magical places, and the library has always been one of them for me. A library can be that special place for our children." "A library takes the gift of reading one step further by offering personalized learning opportunities second to none, a powerful antidote to the isolation"

We are truly very grateful of how impactful our libraries continue to be for many children in the different communities we serve. We continue to use them to rehabilitate many children who would have ended up joining the streets of Kampala and more so the dangerous gangs in the dire communities.

The major aim of our libraries is to reduce on the illiteracy measures that continue to negatively impact many communities especially those in a very dire need as majority of our library children are. Many of the children come from single headed homes and are often left to fend for themselves which continues to expose many children to very unlawful behaviors and risks their lives tremendously as many young boys have lost their lives due to stealing and being forced into small gangs that their parents fear themselves thus losing a huge portion of our generation.

This library continues to reduce on the tension and fear many parents have for their children as they are aware that we aim to provide safety and ensure that these children have a chance to learn until we are able to push them into schools for further studies. We so far have 12 children from the library who have joined schools and we hope with more resources we are able to send more and draw more into joining us at the library.

The libraries, to many children all over the World, are safe gates for children to earn, create and become the wonderful writers that they dream of becoming. A library to Hajara was the safety place that she would confine herself in while at school and even outside the school. Due to her reading at a popular supermarket Hajara was able to lead many street kids to transformation as they were attracted to her and thus in the end lead to what Save sunshine shelter kids is today. The library continues to reach more children everyday.

DEBORAH'S LIBRARY

BED A FAMILY

"Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,and he will reward them for what they have done.” -Proverbs 19:17

Through our Bed A Family program, we were able to provide two bunk beds and all the needed sleeping kit materials such as mattresses, bedsheets among others for the family of Diane a mother of 7 children two of whom suffer from a deadly disease. Through our former friends we were able to provide for them beddings that they needed and further we sent out mattresses to other families.

We believe that God’s love is what cultivates true resilience and strength in the face of adversity, so we make it our priority to share His Word and hope in Christ to underserved communities. By turning to the Bible, the grandmothers, single mothers, and widows who have taken it upon themselves to care for the vulnerable children of their communities are comforted and empowered to live a life full of purpose. We ensure we include community in our works that way we are able to prevent more children from joining the streets of Kampala.

We are beyond grateful that one of our friend was able to provide mattresses and all the sleeping materials such as decker beds, mattresses, bedsheets, towels and everything needed by the family. This is a family of three sickle cell children and the mother struggles to provide for them and she is always in hospital 24/7 due to the pain and crisis that the kids often suffer.

BED A FAMILY

Over the years, we’ve distributed over 85 plus Mattresses together with blankets and bed sheets, Decker to those most in need of physical rest. In various communities we reach out too, many of the children we serve are HIV+, and nearly all of them have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS or have one parent and at times abandoned at infancy. To them, having a Mattress to sleep on means protection against coldness, insects, and diseases. It also means hope for better tomorrow, as a good night’s sleep helps them feel healthy, rested, and worthy. The joy is always unending.

We believe that every child has the right to a family. Therefore a big part of our work is to get to know the child’s story and work towards resettlement back to the family. Many children leave home due to harsh circumstances at home such as abuse, rejection or because of poverty and the vision of Kampala being the city of opportunities. When they finally get there, they realize street life isn’t as easy as they thought and they have no money to return.

RE-SETTLEMENT

Re-settlement involves a number of steps such as Family tracing allows us to Re-settlement involves a number of steps such as Family tracing, re-uniting, follow ups and re-settlements and each of the step has a number of demands basing on the nature of the crime or offence that the child committed. With tracing t is journey we first take alone as the team and later on engage the street children. The reason why we first do tracing alone as a team is to find out what the child did exactly. When we establish a connection we are able to find out more and learn more of what to do and how to go about each and everything. With re-uniting comes with responsibility of us getting close to know the family and do surprise visits so as to ensure that kids are treated as we are told by their parents. We support the child until they are well.

We finalize once we see that the child is safe and welcomed in the family as normal children and we keep in touch with the child. This process is long and we give it all our time. We are always in contact with the families of the resettled children and extend assistance whenever they need it so as to help keep the children at home. We send school fees and all the needed scholastic materials to ensure that the child is having all the needed support and be able to keep at home. Many re-settlements don’t often work as parents have indefinitely given up their responsibilities and have chosen not to be a part of their children’s lives and in these cases we fully take on the children until they are ready to be independent which often takes a very long time. We have performed over 60 family tracing and only 35 Re-settlements have been a success. We continue to do our best and cater for many children who are in the most urgent need while re-settled.

RE-SETTLEMENT.

SKILLING-VOCATIONAL TRAINING.

EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SKILLING

Ensuring that women and the teen mothers have better opportunities through skilling.

The sew with light began two years ago and the man emphasis of this project was to empower and many teen mothers through skilling something various women needed in the community so as to avoid joining undesirable behaviors due to pressure and lack of skills to do anything to earn proper living. This program has allowed us to re-organize, restructure many women and the teen mothers right from their homes and at the small stores where sewing is taught. Finding a centre where many of them would come and join other women was aimed at finding a common ground where they would each share and understand how much of their characteristics are similar such as escaping of violence, abuse, torture and prostitution for majority of them who even asked to sleep in the centres without even having mattresses but they needed the security that our centre offers.

We believe all girls have a right to live up to their full potential as individuals. Because of poverty and patriarchic beliefs, parents and society don’t believe in investing in girls’ education and livelihoods. The vocational training remains the solution to the so many uneducated children who were unable to attain and form of education and unable to read nor write. We give them a chance to life by allowing them learn from skills through the hair dressing project. The Skills & Vocational training is to socially and economically empower adolescent girls and young women, giving them the power to seek employment when the time is right and the voice to make comprehensive decisions. These skills are the key factor to avoid girls ending up as victims of child marriage & teenage pregnancy.

Many street children have joined various courses over the years such as carpentry, Motor vehicle mechanics, welding. Various children have enrolled in these courses and graduated and thus having a chance to provide for them immediately after finishing and others are often kept by the institutions where we out many of these children. Vocational training continues to allow many children to grow and transform into vital youths participating in the building of many communities.

SEW WITH LIGHT