Children - Born into slums

For a child in a slum, life is simply a dull pain. There are few joys, and yet the children one meets in a slum often still smile in spite of. Most of them do not go to school. Even though school might be free, most children and their parents or guardians cannot afford those other things that go along with going to school such as uniforms, books, transport, even the toilet paper and broom a child must bring to school.

A child in a slum will start working at a very young age. Girls will cook, do laundry and there is the danger of being defiled even at a young age. (Young girls as young as 12 have the highest percentage of AIDS. Even the BBC has done a program on that troubling topic.) Boys will fetch the water in a jerry can, assist in cleaning and be in charge of many, some will watch over a brother, others will try to find some kind of work. Life seems like a dead end street.

In the slum, death is all around, AIDS, Malaria, other sicknesses that simple soap and water could eliminate take their toll, many children in a slum never see their sixth birthday. All of this and much more, troubled a Ugandan woman Robinah Lubwama and her husband David Lubwama who daily drove by those very slums and who saw the children suffer. She took a few of them and put them into various schools her organization has, but there were so many more and she did not have the resources to take care of them.

What could they do to show some love, to touch many lives in a meaningful way, to bring hope and healing? How do you identify the needs of children without meeting them? When would these children be free from some of their chores? When would parents and guardians allow them to somewhere?

The light came on and something unique was born - "The Bugolobi Church for Children." From its inception to now, it has grown to now over 500 children. They meet in rented classrooms in a school, four of them in all by age group. Volunteer teachers share with them, listen to them, encourage, touch their hearts and fill them with hope and identify who needs immediate help and care.

They come up the paths from their makeshift shacks both toward Robinah's apartment where they meet under the big mango tree, or they go directly to the school where the church for children meets. The street becomes filled with hundreds of children as they move toward the school. They are dressed in their Sunday finest and that can vary from great to sad. They come to ply, to sing, to listen, to eat and to be simply children once again.

When they arrive they are send to the washroom where they are told, "before and after" and that simple training in hygiene eliminates all kind of potential illnesses. There is also follow up into the homes by a social worker who sits down with parents and or guardians to assess the needs of each child. Teach parents and guardians how to create a place called home even in the slums and give inner dignity to their children.

Their time together is mixed with music, children playing the drums, a time of sharing their concerns and the good things happening to them. There are skits and plays, laughter and play, times of reflection, prayer and encouragement from the workers.

Afterwards, once again off to the washroom and then food is given to the kids and they sit with one another and share, laugh and simply allow that child spirit to be alive in them.

It is the deep desire of everyone of those who give their time every weekend to the children that each child that comes is given an opportunity in life to be who they are meant to be through a meaningful education.

The project has been solely underwritten and paid for by Robinah and her husband David. All the workers are volunteers with the exception of the social worker who has been hired to move the project beyond just being a church on Sunday morning, but something that works all week.

I took an interest in this lovely concept when I was in Uganda for several months earlier this year and my heart was deeply moved and it was about at that time when the non-profit agency I had been working on was given tax-exempt status in the USA named Ambassadors of Hope International working with children in the slums of Uganda, East Africa and even India.

I have told the story of the church for children to many people and many respond and want to do something tangible, something that will touch the life of a child for as long as they live, such as child project. Others want to give to the church project and help with the expenses at hand. If you like to help? Feel free to take a look below and find out how....The reason, I called it a project, is because it involves so much more than the Sunday morning, it involves helping to shape their lives for the better so that they can break out of that which they were born into - the slums