Report Day of the African Child -Uganda

Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Why Bushenyi Primary School .................................................................................................................. 2 ACTIVITIES ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 IMPACTS OF THE ACTIVITIES ......................................................................................................................... 5 FUNDING AND EXPENDITURE ....................................................................................................................... 6 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 8 APPRECIATION .............................................................................................................................................. 8

AFRICAN CHILD’S DAY 1. UGANDA

Introduction The Day of the African child was first commemorated in 1991in memory of over 700 children that where killed during the apartheid in Soweto South Africa in June, 1976. About 10,000 children marched along the streets of Soweto on 16th June, 1976 protesting the quality of education.

This day is celebrated annually to raise awareness about the education of the African Child as well as their rights In Uganda, the medical students joined the rest of the student body and other stakeholders in commemorating the day at Bushenyi Primary School.

Why Bushenyi Primary School We identified Bushenyi primary school as the venue for the day’s activities because it is a disabled school. It’s about 3.5km from KIU teaching hospital. The school has both day and boarding scholars whose school fees are Ug. Shs 15,000/= and Ug. Shs 120,000/= per term respectively.

The school contains 106 pupils of which; 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

27 mentally retarded pupils.

20 deaf pupils.

3 pupils with epilepsy.

2 physically handicapped pupils And the remaining 54 pupil have learning difficulties

The school also consists of 15 teaching staff and 3 non- teaching staff, one of the teachers being completely blind and the other one having difficulties in talking.

It’s a UPE funded school but like any other UPE school, funding is limited and not enough From the interaction with the Headmistress and through observation of the pupils, we assessed the needs of the school to include;  School fees for some pupils as some of their parents cannot pay due to poverty but this is also due to the fact that some parents have neglected their children thinking they are a curse to the family.

 Scholastic materials are not enough in this school due to lack of money  Not half of the number of pupils in the school have school uniforms, a uniform costs Ug. Shs 20,000/=. A good number of pupils lack shoes.  Most parents send their children (day scholars) without lunch so they study on empty stomachs  Most of the pupils in the boarding section are just abandoned at school without any requirements and basic needs.  The school lacks a nurse or medical personnel and budget for medication.  Feeding for the boarding section pupils is also not good, pupils rarely get an accompaniment for their morning breakfast (porridge) and the posho and beans is the food throughout.  Most of the teachers have not been professionally trained to handle special needs children.  They lack materials for co-curricular activities.  The spiritual part of these children has been neglected as there are no religious leaders that come to share with them In the light of the above, we came up with the following; 1. Raising awareness about the school and its condition; this was done by reaching various district leaders and informing them about the state of the school, though there was not much response.

We also reached a charitable organization ie Rotary club of Bushenyi who had earlier built a classroom for the school, and promised their full support and for the start they promised to give pupils Ug. Shs 150,000/= towards our activities.

Several corporate companies were approach and many were willing to join the cause but only sited the short notice for not doing much in the celebration of DAC. There were also free talk shows on hunter radio and adverts on both hunter and crane radio, and here we were addressing the community on how to embrace children with disabilities and encouraging parents with such kids to take them to school. At the same time inviting people to donate whatever they had for these children and calling upon them to join us for a walk and later a fun day with these children.

2. Caps and ribbons were made and then sold to university students at Ug. Shs 1000/= each, so as to raise funds for the fun day and create awareness.

3. Contribution and pledge forms were designed with the help of the dean of students at the university; we also called for clothes, shoes, scholastic materials and playing materials.

4. And lastly we encouraged students and university staff to sponsor these pupils; and so far eight pupils have been sponsored.

ACTIVITIES The activities among others included; a) Radio talk-shows: We had four different talkshows on Hunter Fm 105.0. Each show was for 1 hour. There was overwhelming response as we got callers from even the neighbouring districts. Each show had a professional as well as students from the university. b) Ribbons and Caps There was also the sale of ribbons (blue, white and red) and caps (blue) to raise awareness about the rights and the need for recognition of the children with disabilities c) Walk for the Child This involved staff, students and pupils and well wishers from the areas around Bushenyi joining in the walk. It was a real sacrifice as people walked for three and a half (3.5) km from the KIUTeaching Hospital to Bushenyi Primary School, Ruhandagazi; the only school in the district (Bushenyi) for the disabled children. d) Games There were several games that where played and these included; many games involving the use of balls, rope skipping, water fetching (using the hands/ palms) competitions, steeple chase races, music and dances e) Exhibitions Amazing the talent and skills the disabled have. They displayed some of the hand-crafts (baskets, mats, wall hangings etc) they made with the supervision of the staff at school. f) Drawing Books were available for colouring by everybody including the children that came to the event at the school. This started way back before the day, many students at the university took time off their busy medical school schedule and shaded the colouring books that were handed over to the school. Even on that day (16th June, 2012), there where books for also to children to colour as part of the fun. g) Donations

Several items including shoes, clothes, scholastic materials etc where collected during by the university students that where eventually also distributed on that day to all the disabled persons that came. h) Deworming This was another important activity that took place on that day. Both children and adults that had not undergone this exercise in the recently concluded nationwide program where dewormed using albendazole. i) Assessment and review of disability conditions There was also a team of clinicians, orthopedics specialists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists who assessed several disabled children at school and those that came from the surrounding villages. j) Medical Education The medical students and the staff from the university spent time to also educate the children, their parents about the different disabilities; this was a continuation of what had started in the radio talkshows. k) Eating/ Food There was plenty of food, drinks for everybody that attended. Sweets, popcorns were everywhere in the venue as the university students shared with the disabled children and the community at large.

This was very important especially in a district with one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the country

IMPACTS OF THE ACTIVITIES Activity Talkshows

Ribbons and caps Walk Games

AIM Awareness about the rights and existence of disabled persons especially, the children.

Raise awareness & funds Raise awareness about the day & disabilities Create friendship and awareness and raise the children’s esteem

Outcome Many telephone calls, Attendance from neighbouring districts 489 sold 300 people joined in the 3.5km walk Races, games for blind, music, ball & water games, etc played

Exhibitions

Creativity and talents of the disabled children Fun and friendship

Drawing Donations (clothes, shoes, toys, etc) School fees

Friendship

Deworming Assessment of conditions

Help the very poor parents have their children in school Reduce diseases Treat or refer conditions and counseling

Medical education Eating / Food

Counseling and awareness Enjoyment

Sold some items to raise funds for the school Over 20 books where coloured.

Over 500 clothes given out & others promised as pledges 5 pupils fees paid for 1 whole year; More in pledges yet 98 people dewormed Epilepsy, club foot, arthritis, Erb’s Palsy, osteomalytis, amputees, etc seen Satisfaction, fun and play

FUNDING AND EXPENDITURE SOURCES OF FUNDING 1. CONTRIBUTIONS GROUP UNITED FAITH CHAPEL HEALTH PARTNERS PRIDE MICROFINANCE WATOTO STAFF CONTAGIOUS FELLOWSHIP CONTRIBUTION FORMS RED CROSS AUNT HELEN TOTAL

AMOUNT(SHS) 50,000 50,000 50,000 102,400 100,000 375,600 45,000 180,000 953,000

Other Sources of income Sale of ribbons and Caps Others (Anonymous) Total

320,000 66,500 1,339,500

Contribution in kind and Tuition fees Hunter Radio KIU-Anglican Chaplaincy Red Cross; KIU-Link Medical students’ Association (AMSKIU) Bushenyi Primary School FAMSA Akech David Awan Other KIU students TOTAL

Talk shows and Adverts P.A system Items for donation Items for donations Drawing & colouring books 189 Ribbons Grounds for the activities Tuition for 2 pupils for 1 year Tuition for 1 pupil for 5 years Tuition for 5 pupils for 1 year

100,000/= 225,000/= 225,000/= 550,000/=

DAC EXPENDITURES ITEM

QUANTITY

Soda Snacks Doughnuts for kids’ breakfast Doughnuts on the day Popcorn Straws Openers Chairs Track for machines Fuel for the generator Transport for some members on that day Policeman’s allowance Face paint Playing materials Sweets Manila papers for publicity

20 crates 200 packs 10 packs 20 packs 300 packs 2 packs 3 50 1

AMOUNT PER UNIT(SHS) 17,400 2000 2000 2,500 500 300

10 people

TOTAL AMOUNT 348,000 145,000 20,000 40,000 40,000 5,000 1500 15,000 70,000 30,000 30,000 20,000

2 packs

20,000

3 packs 30

10,000 500

40,000 70,000 30,000 15,000

Transport during preparations Airtime Printing and photocopying Caps Ribbons Refreshments during preparations Dewormer tabs Total

80,000 30,000 60,000 300 189

1 tin

500

150,000 50,000 20,000 30,000 1,339,500

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. The government and other organizations should include disabled children in their planning and budgets. This is so because they are either left out or allocated a meager proportion of the budget.

2. Build the sense of responsibility and capacity of families and communities to care and protect all children including the disabled ones.

3. That the children with disabilities should only not be thought of as important during only such days but rather, make it a daily or regular duty to consider and embrace them.

4. This is thus a call to different fellowships, associations, organizations, companies and individuals to sponsor these children at school so they may achieve adequate quality education.

5. Provision of scholastic materials and other items that will be useful and ease the learning and the wellbeing of the disabled children in the society.

6. The spiritual being of these children also needs to be looked into. This will help to build their esteem, grow better in society and also be recognized

APPRECIATION We could have not have done all this tremendous work without the help of some people, therefore on this note I want to extend my gratitude to the following people for their service towards this cause; i. ii.

The Dean of students KIU for all her involvement and support.

The manager Hunter radio for the free radio talk shows and adverts and for his advice throughout the whole process.

iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi. xvii.

Contagious fellowship (KIU) especially the vice chairperson (Faith Indiso) for all her sacrifice towards the children.

The KIU Anglican chapel for their contribution including the public address system given to us freely.

United faith chapel for their contribution The SDA community for their contribution The catholic community for their contribution.

The Muslim community.

The Federation of medical students’ association (FAMSA).

Association of medical students KIU (AMSKIU) The Red Cross Society of KIU Pride micro finance Ishaka branch for their contribution The Rotary club of Bushenyi for their support Francis’ Cell members for their contribution, time, and active participation in the organizing for the Day The watoto church staff despite being away from ishaka, collected clothes and money for this cause.

And most importantly the KIU community for their full approval and support in all activities towards this work.

And above all God who granted us favor before different people and gave us the wisdom and energy to do this.

Prepared By; Mubiru Francis Coordinator DAC in KIU