Foster Friends Uganda (formerly Center for Child Advocacy and Life Planning (CCALP)) began in 1999 as a community based initiative to support children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Nansana village in the Wakiso district of Central Uganda. It began with four children orphaned in the Nansana Community, left alone with no support from an adult. Seeing their suffering, six friends set up a small community based organization to help these children survive. They were Mr. Segawa Ephraim (pictured), Mr. Mukasa Job, Nakabuuka Gladys, Mr. G.W. Kabuuka, Mrs. Jane Kabuuka and Mr. Musinguzi Johnson. In 2001, a small nursery school was set up in a garage to provide education to such children in the community. This school was named Nansana Community Primary School. Supplies such as school uniforms, books, pencils and pens, as well as school fees were paid for by community volunteers. As time went on, more and more children were left orphaned, as HIV/AIDS claimed countless lives in Uganda. The need to provide care and support to orphans became greater as the number of orphaned children grew literally by the day. In 2004, the CCALP program expanded to Sirimula Village in the Kiboga district. Beginning in 2005, friends from England, Canada, and the United States came as volunteers to the Center to support the school, work with the children, and help grow the organization. By around 2013 a steady stream of international volunteers found their way to the program and the Nansana Community Primary School to help care for, educate, and support the orphans and vulnerable boys and girls at the Centre. By this time approximately 200 of the 800 children were educated as well as provided with a home and their basic needs. The remaining 400+ children in the program attended the Nansana Community Primary School and 200 attended Extreme High school. In Nansana, approximately 120 of these children lived at the Centre where they received food, a home, education and emotional support from their 'extended family'. The remaining 280+ students who came to the Centre and attended school each day either lived with one or both parents in the community, or had been placed with guardians in the surrounding environs through the efforts of the program. Increasingly, the critical challenge was feeding the young people as they learned and grew and prepared to enter adult life.
"Every day, many primary and secondary school children go hungry to school in Uganda and the majority of them are girls. It is difficult for them to learn on an empty stomach. A daily school meal can mean not only better nutrition and health, but also increased access to and achievement in education.
There are also many orphaned children living on the streets and others sent out onto the streets by their families to beg. We work to help children from very poor families, children stricken with poverty, orphans, children who are abused, tortured, traumatized by war, diseased, mistreated, neglected, or abandoned and children whose parents are in prison. Reducing hunger and malnutrition while increasing school enrollment in these children also saves many children from growing up to become the next generation of criminals. So it is not only the children we are trying to save but also our communities and nation."
There are also many orphaned children living on the streets and others sent out onto the streets by their families to beg. We work to help children from very poor families, children stricken with poverty, orphans, children who are abused, tortured, traumatized by war, diseased, mistreated, neglected, or abandoned and children whose parents are in prison. Reducing hunger and malnutrition while increasing school enrollment in these children also saves many children from growing up to become the next generation of criminals. So it is not only the children we are trying to save but also our communities and nation."
The original team today
Mr Segawa Ephraim continues as Director and the children and young people call him “Uncle Segawa”. He works several jobs to raise funds for the schools as well as overseeing them. Segawa Ephraim has been a hero to thousands of children. The Reverend Kim Padfield Urbanik visited the schools and was inspired to nominate Segawa for the CNN Hero Award. She created the following video to support that nomination. Segawa speaks later in the video.
https://youtu.be/jyYqo09AnJk
Mr Kabuuka died recently. Mrs Jane Kabuuka is now elderly yet continues to bath and care for the younger children and help with cleaning at one of the schools. Segawa now lives with Mr Makusa Job and Nakabuuka Gladys. Mr Musinguzi Johnson left the project to work on a project of his own.
Mr Segawa Ephraim continues as Director and the children and young people call him “Uncle Segawa”. He works several jobs to raise funds for the schools as well as overseeing them. Segawa Ephraim has been a hero to thousands of children. The Reverend Kim Padfield Urbanik visited the schools and was inspired to nominate Segawa for the CNN Hero Award. She created the following video to support that nomination. Segawa speaks later in the video.
https://youtu.be/jyYqo09AnJk
Mr Kabuuka died recently. Mrs Jane Kabuuka is now elderly yet continues to bath and care for the younger children and help with cleaning at one of the schools. Segawa now lives with Mr Makusa Job and Nakabuuka Gladys. Mr Musinguzi Johnson left the project to work on a project of his own.
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https://fosterfriendsug.wixsite.com/fosters/our-programs
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Michael Kantor
Until recently the primary fundraiser was a GoFundMe one established by a US supporter Michael Kantor. Michael and I corresponded and shared information and frustrations. I originally contacted Michael as part of my own “due diligence”. Michael closed this fundraiser after it was found the person entrusted with the program's fundraising was keeping his fundraising secret from Mr Segawa Ephraim and the board and was pocketing the money. However the link is still active. If you click on the link below and then on “Read More” there is a wealth of information about the program. https://gofund.me/f5c538de |
