Existing Reality in Uganda
The population of Uganda is 45 million (based on the recent United Nations estimates, January 2019), of which 85% live in rural areas. The fertility rate is 5.8 per woman (2016) and illiteracy rate approaches 80%.
The Republic of Uganda is divided into 127 districts, which are divided into four administrative regions. Districts are subdivided into counties, sub-counties, parishes and town councils.
It is estimated that in Uganda everyday there are 33 new HIV / AIDS infections among young people aged 15-24. Knowledge about HIV / AIDS remains too low, as is the use of prevention and treatment services among young people.
To make matters more challenging, there is no capital to start up small businesses that increase their income. Their agriculture serves only to support domestic consumption, which sometimes does not suffice, forcing them to have only one meal a day.
Uganda is a developing country that has not yet reached the level of service delivery to all members of the community, leading to inequality.
Our beneficiaries
BURAHYA program caters for 287 people in the villages of Butebe, Mbuzi, Mukaburara and Mugoma A and B, all of them belong to Burahya county, in Kabarole District. Although the impact of our activities goes beyond the 51 families we work with every day, because the whole community benefits from the development and improvements that are carried out.
Our Community consists of 84 adults (57 women and 27 men) and 203 minors (113 girls and 90 boys).
60% of women are widows, separated or single mothers, and they are the only people who take care of their own homes. 21 families have between one and three children, 20 between four and six, 8 more than seven and 2 have no children.
As far as education is concerned, 45% attended Primary, 26% are illiterates and 1% are University graduates.
Employment situation is precarious and unstable. They are mainly dedicated to the care of animals or agriculture, both in foreign plantations and in small platos of land where they cultivate for self-consuption or sale. In addition, many women also weave baskets using banana fibres, a prominent raw material grown locally.
As far as health is concerned, 15 adults and 7 children live with HIV/AIDS. Malaria, asthma, and other respiratory problems, ulcers, cancer are some of the recurrent diseases. Although the biggest handicap is not the diseases themselves, but not being able to access the treatments suitable for them.
The houses, made by clay and adobe, have one or two rooms and are mainly semi-permanent, kitchen and toilet are of cane or wood. Some homes do not have them. More than 95% of families need improvement in this regard. Only 5 households near Fort Portal town have access to National Water, the rest are supplied with wells, boreholes, ponds or Mpanga River itself, which in most cases are located more than 2 km away, to travel every day.
Education: “KUSOMA” Project
In Rutooro, the language spoken in this area, “KUSOMA” means “to study”, and defines exactly our target in this project.
The Ugandan school system is structured in Nursery (3-5 years), Primary (6-12 years) and Senior Secondary (13-18 years). Children whose parents can pay school fees have access to education, however in some cases they start school late and they are delayed compared to their classmates, so they end up leaving school. Some children attend a term and are forced to leave school for lack of payment of school fees.
Know more about school fees:
ABOUT SCHOOL FEES: For Nursery and Primary the price for only school fees per term is around 140.000 UGX (average) in a good school, and this amount can reach 220.000 UGX if we add food and other requirements.
For Secondary the amount increase till 190.000 UGX (only fees) or 350.000ugx (with requirements and food).
If we talk about Vocational School, we reach 1.000.000 UGX for the whole training.
All these prices are for Day Scholars.
If they manage to finish their secondary studies (S4 and S6), there is a possibility to join other institutions of learning.
The school calendar begins in February and consists of three terms, with their respective holidays and breaks. Each level has its school fee and regardless of age or school, all children wear uniforms.
The school situation of the children that are part of “Kusoma Project” is as follows: 18 are in Nursery, 93 go to Primary and 33 attend Secondary. In addition, 32 have not been able to start their schooling or have had to abandon their studies due to the impossibility of facing the costs and 8 have dropped out. There are currently 19 children in our project who are not yet of school age.
Our target is that children and young people in the community have continuous access to education and do not have to postpone or leave school for lack of funding.
Improving lives: “ENYIKARA” Project
“ENYIKARA” literally means “how people live”, in the local language.
The families that are part of our program live in semi-permanent houses that are in very poor condition, in which the spaces dedicated to cooking and bathing are only frames or shrubs, or old iron sheets as a structure.
With this project we directly improve the standards of living, mainly in hygiene and sanitation of the families that are part of the program. Be in Africa takes charge of the construction of the bathrooms and pit latrines, plus the kitchens, installing charcoal stoves and shelving the store utensils, after washing them to avoid germs.
Therefore, within this construction project, besides creating jobs, it helps the community to live healthy and prosper.
Families require constant and regular monitoring, the follow-ups are necessary to ensure continuous coverage of your basic needs.
Youth Social-Economic Development: “NASOBORA” Project
“NASOBORA” literally means “You can or you are able to do it” and it is our most ambitious project for now.
The youngsters in Burahya – Fort Portal, and Rwenzori region have got economic and social problems. The economic problem is lack of employment opportunities and jobs.
Even though youth population is dominant in towns, there are not enough jobs to absorb them and there is very high unemployment. As a result the youth do engage in illegal activities such as theft, gang work, sex trafficking and so on to sustain their lives.
Common social problems are lack of recreation or entertainment centres, inadequate social facilities (health, education, and housing), etc. The lack of recreation and rehabilitation centers has led young people to practice bad habits, such as chewing Mira (Mairungi) and drinking alcohol. With the aim of creating a recreational entertainment center a skatepark will be built in the Fort Portal community where young people of diverse ethnicities and socioeconomic levels can reinforce their confidence and provide personal motivation through a combination of skateboarding, art, educational activities and entrepreneurship that we call “Social Skateboarding”
The challenge of this project is to provide a concrete possibility of social and economic empowerment to the adults of tomorrow and to all their families.
This project aims to give a concrete possibility of social and economic empowerment to the adults of tomorrow and to all their families.
Therefore, in this project we want to support social entrepreneurs, favoring professional training, through the establishment of a business center, an adult school, a library, a didactic cinema, a sports center, and a space for professional training , free education and training in ICT, as well as for the development of NGOs and local organizations that promote community development.
How we work
Our Breaking News
Cooperation and Reality
Cooperation requires a high knowledge of the reality we work with. We are currently in the Primary process to elect the local candidates who will run in the next General Elections in February 2021. https://youtu.be/_x5RjFp9Ri4
International Solidarity Day
SOLIDARITY: "Unconditional adherence or support to causes or interests of others, especially in compromised or difficult situations" AND YOU, ARE YOU SUPPORTIVE? Our challege for September: Deliver 75 RELIEF KITS in the Community: [video width="1920" height="1080"...
August Emergency Relief
https://youtu.be/2JjoI8VxsYM
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