SOS Children in Uganda

Although Uganda in eastern Africa has now enjoyed more than a decade of relative peace and stability after twenty years of civil war, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world and the people continue to suffer from its position at the centre of an area of violence and ethnic unrest. Health care is poor and malnutrition, malaria and parasites are common. There is a high incidence of HIV / AIDS at nearly 7%, alongside related illnesses such as tuberculosis (TB) and pneumonia. Less than half the people have access to clean drinking water and life expectancy is low.

The charity began work on the first Ugandan community in 1989 in Kakiri, a small market town in the Lowero triangle, 15 miles north west of the capital Kampala. The area was chosen because this part of Uganda suffered most from the war in 1986 which virtually destroyed the town's infrastructure. SOS Children's Village Kakiri has thirteen family houses for 130 orphaned and abandoned children, and three youth houses where 30 older children can live in relative autonomy while they take their first guided steps towards independent lives. The community will be their home until they are ready and able to support themselves.

The SOS Nursery School, for 110 little children from the children’s village and the local community, has four classrooms and a playground. To support the education of older children too, there is an SOS Primary and Secondary School for 500 pupils, the poorest of whom are awarded scholarships to attend.

Over 6,000 patients are treated each year at the SOS Medical Centre. This Centre offers HIV / AIDS support to those infected with the virus, and runs AIDS prevention workshops in the community and in schools. 250 children and their families in Kakiri also benefit from the charity’s ‘Family Strengthening Programme’ (FSP), which increases the capability of struggling families to care for their children and thus prevent child abandonment. We provide school fees, food packages, counselling and skills training to caregivers so they can earn money and support their children in the long-term.

SOS Children's second children’s village opened in 2003 in Entebbe, the country's second largest city. It has twelve family houses for 120 children. It also has lots of grassy areas for the children to play together, as well as trees to shelter the houses from the heat. 100 children also attend the SOS Nursery School, located on the Village site, and it has four classrooms and a playground.

In June 2002, SOS Children began an Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu in the north of the country, in order to help refugee children and ex-child soldiers, drawn into the violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Over 20,000 children were abducted by the LRA, mainly to use as soldiers or sex slaves. The charity’s emergency programme has now evolved into an SOS Social Centre (FSP) to help orphaned and vulnerable children and their families. A temporary SOS Children’s Village has been built to give family homes to 107 refugee children who could not be reunited with their families. A permanent children’s village will open in early 2009. An SOS Medical Centre in the town also provides healthcare, counselling, HIV/AIDS support and workshops to over 10,000 people every year.

At present we support over 23,000 people in Uganda through three SOS Children’s Villages, one SOS Youth Home, two SOS Nursery Schools, one SOS School, two SOS Social Centres, and one SOS Medical Centre.

"Dying on his feet" is how the village director at SOS Children's Village Entebbe described four-year-old John when she first saw him. "If we had left him there, I am sure he would be dead by now." John lived with his father and older brother in a very poor part of western Uganda. When we first found him, he could not talk, he had a very big stomach, he had jiggers (parasitic insects that lay eggs under the skin) all over him and he was shaking like he had a fever. The father didn't care - he didn't even know John's other name. It was as if everyone was waiting for John to die.

When he arrived at the village, John had a blank stare and wouldn't speak. He was very malnourished. The doctor prescribed treatment for jiggers and discovered he also had malaria. His new SOS mother, Mary, said he could not eat properly because of the jiggers. He also had bad nose bleeds. "I really nursed him", said Mary, "and he changed bit by bit”. Every morning, Mary asked John how he was; finally one day, after nearly three months, he answered her: ”Fine”.

John is now gaining confidence and he can answer questions, he can hold a pencil and he is doing well in school. Looking at him as he sits with his SOS siblings around the dining room table you would never know the agony and trauma that he suffered in his first years of life. He is just like the others: curious, chatty, smiling, and sometimes naughty!

Local Contacts

SOS Children in Uganda

SOS Children's Villages of Uganda Trust, P.O. Box 27510, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256/41/32 22 47
Fax: +256/41/32 2248
e-mail: nationaloffice@sosuganda.org

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