Celebrating 35 years of supporting needy children

By Jacky Achan

Operating in 28 countries with 14 major global support partners, Compassion International continues to transform the lives of needy children in a journey that started in South Korea in 1952. Having expanded to Uganda in 1980, a total 147,591 children have benefited from the programme.

Faith Ojambo, the programme manager Compassion International Uganda, says individuals and institutions alike having taken up sponsorship of the needy children.

"We work in partnership with churches, which identify children who are most in need, find them sponsors and equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to lead a fulfilling life," she says. Having started with 10 churches, Compassion International Uganda today works with a total 341 churches. "During the partnership, we do a lot of equipping for the churches. We educate them on, among other things, book and record keeping plus our values, to ensure the children are well catered to and the sponsors are given solid accountability," Ojambo says. She adds: "Together, we continue to educate the children on progressive lifestyles and equip them with skills so that they can care for themselves and their families."

Getting the children on board

Ojambo explains that the church understands the community they serve and it is for this reason that they work with the churches to identify needy children. "We do not necessarily focus on orphans, because there are orphans who are lucky to have well-off relatives to take care of them. Ours are children who must be from families that are the neediest of the needy and surviving on less than sh5,100 a day," she explains.

Other beneficiaries include abandoned children, exploited children, children living with elderly caregivers, children living with terminally ill caregivers and orphaned children with no support.

The child sponsorship programme at Compassion International Uganda takes into consideration children between three and nine years. "We believe effective development of children happens around this age," Ojambo explains. Meanwhile, the child survival programme targets mothers and children aged zero to two years.

Other support

Compassion international Uganda has also offered health interventions to needy children and their families have received mosquito nets, clean water in their homes and medical treatment.

"We have played a pivotal role and helped 25 children get heart operations. The majority were carried out in India and a few in Uganda," Ojambo reveals. This is in addition to providing homes by moving needy children and their families from dilapidated shelters to modest housing.

Over the last two years, Compassion International Uganda has set up over 400 homes for the needy children and their families. There have also been income generating activities set up. "We have trained the caregivers on how to manage their businesses and some have even received income to start or boost their projects," Ojambo discloses. "We work with the church that applies for a project, so we sit together and decide on the direction to take," she adds.

Element of religion

Ojambo explains that Compassion International Uganda does not discriminate along religious lines. "As long as you are needy and the church knows about it, we give you support as long as you are able to fit and work within our Christian values," she says.

But all their staff are Born-again Christians. Compassion international Uganda has 84 staff at their offices and 1,023 staff working with the churches that partner with them. "Compassion therefore provides employment to a total 1,117 Ugandans," Ojambo explains.

She adds: "The staff are mandated to sponsor needy children as well." Ojambo explains that the beauty about their sponsorship of needy children is that it is set on one-on-one sponsorship. "We get a sponsor who provides a child with $38 a month. I sponsor one child but there are members of our staff who sponsor three to seven children and as staff, together we sponsor three needy children," she explains.

We pool money together from the different sponsors and support the needy child and channel this money too to support projects. Compassion international Uganda also has donors who support the big projects including construction of homes, boreholes, classrooms and provision of heart surgery. Other sponsors out of need have provided more money under complimentary interventions that have enabled the holistic development of needy children.

Rendering knowledge and skills to needy children

On this front, as Compassion International Uganda is celebrating 35 years of impact, Ojambo states that they have a certified curriculum, different from the one used in Ugandan schools. "It's contextualised according to age and content and our staff have been trained on how to use it. We expect all the benefitting students to acquire economic, social and spiritual growth in undertaking studies under our curriculum," she explains.

"Classes are conducted every Saturday. Besides normal schooling, the children also get to study with us until they are 22 years, which is the graduation year and they are expected to have completed studies and attainment of skills. "Outstanding students among these have, since 1999, always been identified, given extra funds and equipped with leadership skills under the leadership development programme." Ojambo says 1,094 children have benefited from the programme.

Youth leadership programme and future plans

Today, the 15th group of the youth leadership programme graduates in Kampala. Ojambo explains that the youth development programme and youth leadership programme are a major component of their work.

"Starting next year, we will not just be identifying just a few to benefit from the leadership programme, every child who comes to us will have to get leadership training," she states. "We shall also be mobilising Ugandans to sponsor needy children in the country. There is great potential among Ugandans to sponsor and meet the needs of the needy children to live a decent life," Ojambo concludes.

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35 YEARS OF MINISTRY IMPACT