ChildOfHopeUganda

Child of Hope offers safety, hope, love, education, protection and inner healing to children in Eastern Uganda who have lost their homes, been sexually abused, orphaned due to AIDS/HIV and those living in abject poverty. Everything we do is for children and their families. We offer answers to some of the difficulties they face and, as you will see in this website, our activities are varied and expanding! In February 2011 we opened our brand-new, awesome school in the heart of the Namatala slum district of Mbale – and now provide free education, healthcare, food and clothing (and a lot more) to 500 pupils of nursery and primary age from the poorest and most vulnerable families in the slum. And then we offer their families free social care, healthcare and numeracy/literacy training, business training and grants – all designed to help them break the cycle of poverty in their lives… read on!

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Christmas fun in the Namatala slum

The Child of Hope Christmas Party – for all the children from Namatala slum who attend Child of Hope school – was a resounding success. 

In fact, it wasn't just our children - we like to spread the love, so we also invite their siblings and parents. Around 1,300 people from one of the poorest places on Earth forgot about their poverty for a few hours and enjoyed a day of food and fun! The kids will even got a present each from Santa! 

We can only do this thanks to the kindness of our supporters, so a huge ‘THANK YOU!’ to everyone who has donated towards the party - we hope you enjoy these photos of the fun.

Many thanks, and Happy Christmas from us all at Child of Hope! 

https://www.childofhopeuganda.org/news/christmas-fun

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COH Nativity Episode 11

Today is the final episode of our fun nativity play, hope you enjoyed it much as our school children did in acting their parts!

In a few days we’ll be holding our Child of Hope Christmas party for these slum kids of Namatala, Uganda. If you would like to donate towards the fun, please follow the link to our JustGiving fundraiser page. Thank you! https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/slum-kids-party

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COH Nativity Episode 10: It's day 10 and the (mostly) wise men get to meet King Herod, who is not impressed with talk of a new king…

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It's day 9 of the Child of Hope wacky nativity video and wise men have spotted a star... in the garden?

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COH Nativity Episode 8: You won't want to miss today's episode - sheep, a heavenly choir - what could possibly go wrong?! 

Remember to spot Charlie the Bear too - all the letters he's holding in the videos spell out an anagram of a Christmassy phrase (ooh, a clue!). If you can work it out by Day 11, you can go into the draw to win Charlie Bear! 

Please don't forget to donate to our slum kid's Christmas party if possible, link below. Your donations will provide them with food, fizzy pop, a present and a fabby party! Thank you! http://bit.ly/COHChristmasParty2018Donate

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Child of Hope Nativity Episode 7: We are now over halfway through our Nativity - in part 7 Bob is given a mission! Do let us know if you are enjoying it so far!

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COH Nativity Episode 6, and Joe's in trouble! 

A huge 'thank you' if you have already donated to our Child of Hope slum kid's Christmas Party - if you keep meaning to but have forgotten, why not make today the day?! https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/slum-kids-party

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Child of Hope Nativity Episode 5

It’s day 5 of Child of Hope’s fun nativity play… Joseph tries to arrange some suitable transport for a very-pregnant Mary. More tomorrow…

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COH Nativity Episode 3

Part 3 already! Child of Hope’s tongue-in-cheek nativity play continues… and there’s more tomorrow!

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We hope you all enjoyed Part 1 yesterday! Part 2 is here and plans are being hatched! 

The children in the video will be attending the COH Christmas party along with all the other COH kids - if you would like to donate please click the link. All the kids, who come from one of the poorest places on Earth, receive food, a fizzy drink, a present, a fab party and memories that will last forever. Thank you! 

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/slum-kids-party

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Episode 1 of Child Hope’s 2018 wacky slum Christmas nativity video

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Christmas nativity play, Child of Hope style... the trailer

Here's the trailer to the 2018 more-than-slightly-crazy nativity play featuring Child of Hope kids and the odd goat or two...

Starting Dec 1st, there will be an episode each day for 11 days... you can see them on our website or on social media.

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Here’s a new video for you… meet the support team that works with children and their parents both in and outside our slum school. They ensure that every child has a chance to become the best they can be; no-one slips through the net and everyone succeeds together! So this is our Family Support Team, comprising our welfare team, health team and income generating team. They do amazing stuff!

Soundtrack: The song ‘Life so Beautiful’ by artist Graham Colton is used with permission. The Music Bed, LLC. 9555 Harmon Road, Fort Worth, TX 76177 1-800-380-8154

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The number of malaria cases in Child of Hope children is reducing, thanks to intervention by our Family Support team. 

Every rainy season brings high incidence of malaria in the community, so mosquito nets (with training on their use) have been provided to many families. Yet the nets are often diverted to meet other urgent family needs, like privacy in wash areas, for bed covers… or even making ropes to tie up goats! To counteract this, the team has made regular visits to families over many months to remind them of the importance of the nets in preventing illness… and their diligence is paying off.

https://www.childofhopeuganda.org/news/anti-malaria-support

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We’d like to introduce you to Joel, a six-year-old child we found suffering in the Namatala slum. 

We discovered him during our community visit field work, sat in misery with his mother outside their tiny mud hut. Neither had eaten for two days. Joel has two older siblings; they had gone to a nearby trading centre to try to pick the leftover food from rubbish bins. Joel’s mother cannot work due to illness and had evidently been asking God to help them.

Joel was suitable for enrolling at our school and was registered and brought to school that day – and started enjoying eating a meal every day! The mother sat at home thanking God for this miracle and when Joel was taken home after school by our social workers, she cried tears of joy.

Over the next few weeks, Joel found friends and he loves being at school. His mood drops when it’s time to go home because his only sure daily meal is that given at school and he often comes hungry to school the next day. The family situation is humbling – there is no bed, no mattress, no bed sheets and no clothes. Joel sleeps on a small mat with his two siblings, sharing their mother’s gomesi (dress) for covering, while she spends most of the night sat watching over her children. Joel has never known his father’s care as he divorced Joel's mother over her illness. 

Joel’s life is like that of millions of children in Uganda. Child poverty is more than just lack of money and resources – it is also about having no access to nutrition, health, water, education, shelter, sanitation, information and child protection.

As with many in the slum, Joel’s family needs food, shelter, medical care and education for the other two siblings.

Sadly, the money in our Community Support Fund has run out. This was a small pot of cash that allowed us to help families like Joel’s with family issues that didn't necessarily fall within our programmes, but which our social workers came across in the field. Currently we have to utilise every penny to fund our main programmes, so we have been unable to put any money back into the pot.

With a monthly fund of just £40 we could intervene in some terribly desperate situations – in many cases, a matter of life and death. If you’d like to help re-build our community support fund, please make a one-off or regular donation through our JustGiving page. Any amount would help.

justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/childofhopeuganda/emergency-fund

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The difference we make

Here's the work of Child of Hope in Namatala slum and the amazing difference made by both the school and the Family Support Team that works with it.

Soundtrack: The song ‘Together, featuring Derek James’ by artist Marie Hines is used with permission. The Music Bed, LLC. 9555 Harmon Road, Fort Worth, TX 76177 1-800-380-8154

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We’re going to build a secondary school for slum children in Uganda, where our primary pupils can continue their free, high-quality education – giving them a very high chance of finding a good job.

These children are some of the poorest in the slum and would previously have had no education at all; which most likely would have resulted in a terrible future of utter poverty… crime, disease, rubbish-scavenging and prostitution.

So we’re working hard to raise £102,550 that will allow us to build a brand-new nursery/primary school close by and then convert our current primary school premises into a secondary school. Construction will start by January 2019 and the schools will open in January 2020!

Please can you help us? We have already received £73,270 in gifts and pledges – around 71% of the target – so we’re well on our way!

https://www.childofhopeuganda.org/news/lets-help-even-more-children