HOW IT WORKS
CARE Uganda connects one child in Kayango with one sponsor in the US. Our sponsors are directly invested in the lives of these children through monthly financial support, intentional prayer, and letter writing. Currently, we care for 254 children in the village!
As we work to reach Uganda for Christ through the discipleship of its youth, each child’s $50 sponsorship is used to:
DISCIPLESHIP
one of the core components for the children in our ministry
EDUCATION
with a Biblical Christian Perspective.
IMMEDIATE NEEDS
both medical and food needs are met.
SELF SUFFICIENCY
by equipping them with skills for life.
TRANSFORMATION
encourage them to use their new found hope to change their community!
DISCIPLESHIP
The president of the CARE Uganda Board makes two to three trips a year to the KCK property and is in communication with Satati, the director of the Kayango Children’s Kiddukiro, on a weekly basis.
Both boards mentioned above work tirelessly and harmoniously to ensure that our mission is clear and that the fruit of our labors will, indeed, transform Kayango for Christ.
EDUCATION
Schools in Kayango suffer from extreme over-crowding. A common class size is 50 students per class and the public school in the village has over 100 students per class. It is no wonder they have the lowest test scores in all of Uganda!
Private schools in the area have tuition rates that are unaffordable for most residents of Kayango so many children do not have the privilege of receiving an education; CARE Uganda set out to change that.
When we first began ministry in Kayango, we didn’t have the property we own now, so sponsorship money was used to help send the children to Christian boarding schools in the nearby village of Bugiri.
207 of our sponsored children attend the CARE Uganda Education Centre on the KCK property – a longtime dream since we began ministering in Kayango. The Education Centre opened its doors in the spring of 2016 to 25 Primary One students and 25 Primary Two students. 100 of these 207 children are currently boarded on the property.
Seeing this building come to fruition has brought more than just the opportunity for solid, affordable education for Kayango’s youth; it has increased commerce and employment due to needed construction, finishings, electrical work, teaching positions, grocery demands, clothing requirements and typical school necessities.
The CARE Uganda Education Centre will only grow in size and scope from this point forward and will be a staple in transforming Kayango for Christ.
IMMEDIATE NEEDS
Skilled medical care is very scarce in and around Kayango. Most of the conditions adults and children suffer from are treatable, if only they had access to reliable medical care. The majority of our sponsored children have never received medical treatment of any kind until they set foot in our ministry.
Upon entering the Kayango Children’s Kiddukiro or attending school at the CARE Uganda Education Centre, children are put through a medical screening where they are tested for diseases common to the area, as well as given a basic physical. The children are also taught basic hygienic care and are supplied with soap and sanitary products as needed during the school year.
Our sponsored children are also given a school uniform for their respective schools, as well as school supplies that are needed to complete their coursework. Besides their textbooks, our students received:
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a new mosquito net
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2 kgs of soap
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2 kgs of sugar
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12 large notebooks
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6 pens
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6 pencils
While sponsorships cover a large portion of what the children need, our board of directors feels it is important for the families and guardians of these children to take some ownership in their education. Ugandans have a long history of poverty – and thus handouts – but we want these endeavors to be something in which the community is personally invested. Families and guardians are encouraged to help provide school supplies for the boarding school children and there is a small tuition fee for children attending the CARE Uganda Education Centre (about $20 a term).
While the acquisition of education alone will transform this village and country for the better, we want to do our part to ensure it’s a community-wide effort, with change enduring from generation to generation.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
The economic activities in Kayango are largely informal. Most residents plant and harvest agricultural crops which are mostly for domestic consumption. With the food they raise, some Ugandans have a single meal a day while some can afford two. This means that much of the agricultural production is not measurable in monetary terms but is a good way for people to learn to feed themselves and their families.
The climate in Uganda is normally very wet and conducive for many types of agricultural endeavors. On the KCK property, the children raise corn, beans and fruit bearing trees, as well as goats and chickens. The farm-type atmosphere is a way for them to learn about the agrarian lifestyle of their community, as well as teach them about the responsibility and care of raising animals. When they graduate from the KCK program, they have practical skills besides their education that they can use to sustain themselves.
As children finish up their high school classes, we find it important to encourage them to continue on towards a college degree or send them to trade school where they can become certified in a skilled trade.
Several of our older students are working towards certification in Brick Laying and Concrete Practice, Hair Dressing and Salon Management, Nursing and Midwifery, Catering, and Teaching, just to name a few. The completion of these specific programs will allow these young adults to earn an income doing something they are skilled at and enjoy – something their families may not have been able to do for generations.
Our goal is to equip these children with the education, skills and techniques they need to be able to provide for themselves for a lifetime, and not just their time in our program.
TRANSFORMATION
In order to reach Uganda for Christ, we want to equip our sponsored children with the education, skills and knowledge they need to be able to provide for themselves for a lifetime. Our hope is that these children grow into young adults who will be God-fearing, educated, fruitful members of society. Their lives have been transformed so vividly during their time with this ministry, that transformation cannot help but be passed on to the local community.
Kayango has long experienced poverty, deprivation and hopelessness. Because of the hope of Jesus Christ being poured into the children we minister to, we pray those days will soon be a thing of the past.
We are actively leaving a legacy of the fear of the Lord with these children; a legacy that allows them to realize that they don’t have to survive any longer, but thrive instead…a legacy that gives them the realization of a hope and a future that they may otherwise have never known.
We have found that where there is hope, there is opportunity for change; CARE Uganda has brought hope to Kayango and we will not leave this place the same.