KIDA Magazine

Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

KITOJO INTERGRATED DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

A Publication by Kitojo Intergrated Development Association A Community based Initiative

TEN YEARS Plus

Empowering Lives

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Kitojo Development Association

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Empowering Lives

Kitojo Development Association

Editorial

Kitojo Intergrated Development Association P. O. Box 128, Fort Portal Telephone: +256 772 469 333 Email: kitojotouristhome@yahoo.com Blog:www.kitojo.multiply.com

Empowering Lives

Table of Contents sedf

It is not easy to make an innovation that offers promise of so much to so many, in so short a time.

Again, it takes more than just dreaming to make yourn dreams come true. The reality behind this is indeed hard work, discipline and staying positive.

The initiatives at KIDA, have proved things by experience and increasing knowledge; and indeed Rev. Ezra Musobpozi gives a challenge of nor being selfcentred, but showing kindness to fellow beings. Congratulations Reverend and please keep it up.

Having seen what is on the ground, one cannot doubt about the future of KIDA which in 1999 started the journey on the road towards Empowering Lives.

We should also pay tribute to whoever renders a hand and pledges to continue supporting this noble work.

KIDA covers services including social/ economic development, health with emphasis on HIV/AIDS prevention, maternal child health, micro-finance, vocational studies and girl-child education -all related to the human welbeing ans fighting poverty in society.

Fredrick Nyakabwa EDITOR 3

Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

His Majesty King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, Celebtates 10 years with KIDA Education goes hand in hand with fighting various evils in our society. The evils include corruption, indiscipline, poor attitude towards work, rape, defilement and drunkardness, among others.

Family and clan heads must instill good moral values in children even before they can start formal education. There is a need to bring up responsible citizens and critically focus on the youth.

In order to have a healthy and strong society, we must prevent and fight diseases such as HIV/ AIDS and other preventable diseases which are known causes of death of children and family members.

In the first place, I wish to congratulate Kitojo Integrated Development Association (KIDA) upon marking ten years anniversary of its existence. This is a good sign that KIDA’s progress has been steady.

Secondly, I have liked the theme: Empowering lives, which sounds very appropriate as far as general development is concerned.

The vision of KIDA is also encouraging and indeed in line with Tooro Kingdom’s thinking and aspiration.

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The Kingdom’s focus is, among others, on education for the youth both in school and out of school. Therefore, people are encouraged to revive the informal education system at the family and clan level to complement Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) programs.

The need to spearhead positive cultural norms and values cannot be over emphasized since they form good background for formal education and basis for shaping one’s life.

Parents and guardians should be mindful about immunizing children to protect them against killer diseases. We must work closely with the government and other development partners so that reaping good results becomes a continuous trend through collaborative efforts.

Family heads and clan leaders must be sensitized in order for them to be able to appreciate and internalize the focus on key health programs.

It is important and less costly if people, especially children, are fed well and are given a balanced diet as one crucial way of guarding against diseases instead of having to treat the sick and those facing death which could otherwise be prevented.

Kitojo Development Association

In our culture, there was the practice of having granaries in each and every home. Chiefs and clan leaders must ensure that the system is revived so that food security is guaranteed, the health of our people is improved and incomes are stepped up through the sale of surplus harvests. Nowadays, climatic changes are common, hence the need to prepare for disasters as well.

There is a question of redefining our culture to suit modern challenges by identifying negative elements of our cultural practices and eliminating them. We need to respect the role of a woman in the home. There is also a need to share responsibilities among family members

Kitojo Aids care Sacco M

icrofinance encourages the culture of saving and investment by the most impoverished people. Secondly, microfinance is designed to make loans more accessible to these people since they are usually turned away by commercial banks.

These banks demand that people provide valuable collateral like land, titles, and permanent structures before they can be given loans. Yet, impoverished people often do not have these things even though they desperately need loans.

Ever since the mid-1990s, the Ugandan government has been encouraging the development of microfinance in the country because a properly

instead of leaving the women (Nyinabwenge) toiling alone.

The time is gone when the man (Nyineeka) could simply go for drinking sprees with friends.

Again, practices of wife beating, rape, defilement, drunkardness, negative attitude towards work must be addressed.

I am pleased with people like Rev. Ezra Musobozi who initiate and start implementing good ideas geared to empowering lives as the KIDA theme goes.

Ideas in regard to economic/ social development, health, micro-finance, agriculture, nutrition, education including vocational studies, human rights and all projects meant to spearhead development, are wonderful initiatives which ought to be encouraged and run microfinance institution can offer many distinct benefits to a poor community. Microfinance institutions are often located in rural areas which give people the opportunity to save the little they have. They also charge lower interest rates than commercial banks because they use different methods to establish credit worthiness. But these things are not all that microfinance has to offer.

The development challenges that KIDA’s communities have are not unique compared to the rest of the country.

KIDA’s approach to these problems, on the other hand, has been unique and sets us apart from other microfinance institutions. We provide intensive training for those who wish to become members of the SACCO in order to ensure that people know how to use their loans optimally and also to ensure that they are able to effectively plan for the repayment of that loan. We also educate and sensitize people

Empowering Lives

supported by the government, cultural institutions, religious bodies, NGOs and schools, among others.

In conclusion, I wish, in a special way, to pay tribute to the government and His Excellency the President of Uganda for having introduced good and relevant development programs and for having ushered in a conducive working environment that has enabled people, organizations and associations start private sector, development programs.

Areas and society cannot develop unless all the stakeholders take active part in tackling issues and challenges with focus on progress.

on the microfinance process over the radio, on an individual basis and at the group level.

On the administrative side, we have conducted several marketing campaigns that have contributed to a dramatic increase of membership which is currently at 504. We anticipate increasing the maximum loan amount as our membership and thus our capacity to lend increases.

Finally, we have broadened our membership base to include any person who is able to save with us regardless of his or her HIV status.

For more information about Kitojo AIDS Care SACCO, please contact the manager, Mugisa B. Deogratius Tel:+256 777 828 280.

Mails to KIDA, P. O. Box 128, Fort Portal, Uganda or kitojotouristhome@yahoo.com.

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Empowering Lives

Kitojo Development Association

KIDA’s Journey of Empowerment We faced a mountain of challenges and were armed with little more than a simple idea that things could be better for the people of this community.

In July 1998, my wife and I purchased a piece of land in Nyanswiga, a small village located in Ruteete sub-county. The community we came to was as welcoming and friendly as any, but a decade and a half of the AIDS epidemic had devastated the families that lived there. The disease had taken parents away from children, friends away from friends, and husbands and wives away from each other. But more than anything else, it was robbing people of their fundamental right to live.

Poverty had also gripped this community like it had so many others around the country. Parents could not afford to provide nutritious food for their children, let alone afford to send them to school. Lack of access to a clean water source meant that even taking a drink of water could end in sickness and death. The people were drowning in a sea of poverty and disease without the tools— like education, medicine, and skills—they needed to save themselves.

As my family celebrated Christmas later that year my hands were busy preparing for the celebration, but my heart was preoccupied with a call to make a difference. I did not know how to get there or even where to begin, but I could envision a community that was healthy, prosperous and 6

A decade later the semipermanent kitchen has grown into a permanent structure just as KIDA’s presence and impact in Nyanswiga and other communities has grown.

The only thing that has not changed is KIDA’s vision of empowered people taking care of their own lives. We strive to achieve this every day using eight different approaches

Rev. Ezra Musobozi

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Comprehensive counseling services and a monthly voluntary counseling and testing day (VCT)

happy. With little more than that vision, I sought out help from the community. In April, 1999 I began taking counseling lessons along with a small group of seven women and a good friend of mine Reverend Solomon Kandole. Though we could not at the time give the people money or medicine, we thought that by offering counseling we could help them discover their problems and develop strategies to enable them to help themselves.

1. Education of the community through radio and drama programs as well as positive living conferences

Director and Founder KIDA

Together, nine people seated on logs around a crude table fashioned from a scrap of iron in the center of a small, unfinished, semi-permanent kitchen gave birth to KIDA.

2. Medical services that deliver competent medical care and needed supplies to people living with HIV/ AIDS, which will soon be expanded to the general population when the construction of our brand new hospital is complete 3. Education in agriculture and nutrition 4. Education in hygiene and sanitation 5. Microfinance

services

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through Kitojo AIDS Care SACCO 6. Support for orphans and vulnerable children 7. Practical vocational skills training Even though the content differs greatly among the programs in this diverse group, at the core of each is a path to empowerment and sustainability.

These programs are not designed to give handouts, which only leads to dependency. They are intended to make specific and targeted investments in the community that when taken together, will give people a path to better living. For example, when KIDA’s Agriculture and Nutrition department gives one of its agriculture groups seeds to start a new garden, we are giving not only the seeds, but the seeds plus the knowledge and capacity needed to successfully grow a garden.

competitive world in addition to offering self-employment opportunities through our vocational programs. This is what a multi-faceted, holistic approach to positive growth looks like and it succeeds because we are not doing things for people, we are helping people do things for themselves.

After ten years of operations, KIDA has made many mistakes and learned many lessons as a result. However, above all, the most important lesson we can share is that while money and resources can indeed create short-term results, without something to guide them any progress is doomed to fail.

True, lasting success requires vision and determination and these two things together are

Empowering Lives

more valuable than anything else you can find.

As KIDA enters another decade, I would like to extend my personal thanks to our partners who have assisted us in this ambitious effort thus far.

I would also like to give special thanks to the Friends of Ruwenzori, the Beevor family, Elizabeth Marquart, Richard Abdullah, Virika Hospital, the Government of Uganda, the KIDA Board Members, the dedicated KIDA staff, the local community and all the people of God who have chosen to walk with us along the journey of empowerment.

I thank you for continuing to join hands with us.

“The struggle continues…”

Then after the garden is successful, we ask for the surplus seeds back so we can give them to another group and start the process again.

When the group profits from selling the vegetables, they are encouraged to save with the SACCO in order to build wealth.

With proper hygiene and sanitation and practices they can effectively prevent disease, remain healthy and strong, and continue saving instead of falling into a cycle of short-term saving that is being constantly eroded by illness-related expenses. Finally, we are able to offer multiple opportunities for income generation by educating orphans so they can attain stable employment in a

KIDA is among other things undertaking the construction of a Health Centre IV Project for the community.

QOUTE 1:

If there is any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.By William Penn, Founder of US State of Pennsylvania.

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Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

Personal Hygiene a MUST

By Asaba Shedrach Health Assistant, KIDA.

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here are many good reasons to wash your hands. For one thing, using soap and water regularly halves the number of diarrhea infections that occur and reduces respiratory infections by a quarter.

Most Ugandans, both young and old, are aware of the general health benefits; they know that hand washing rids you of potentially dangerous germs. Yet only 40% do in fact wash their hands before touching food or after using the latrine (and only 14% of these use soap)! Are they too hungry or do they believe they haven’t touched anything dirty?

The National Sanitation and Hand Washing Campaign takes a new approach to this foolhardy attitude so does not repeat the health warnings that people already know. Instead it uses positive images such as a “mother’s love for her child” to motivate everyone to wash more often.

After all, people who wash their hands regularly don’t usually do it because they are being health conscious; they do it because it makes them feel good and big, and because it makes others feel good and developed about them.

It’s about internal comfort and registered self respect.

In a survey carried out in 2007, Ugandans gave a variety of responses that underline this fact.

Some said they wash their hands because this makes them seem wise and for this noble cause, are admired. Others said things like “it stops the other women talking about me, that I am dirty” or “a family that never gets cholera earns respect” or “a clean person will be elected to the local council.”

Two common answers were, “it feels good when my hands are clean and soft,” and “in my religion, I have to wash to pray.”

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In fact the idea that hand washing is actually healthy was only suggested in cases where latrines looked visibly soiled and hands had visible dirt. This kind of information is essential for the success of a campaign like the Hand Washing Campaign. If we know what things are important to people it is easier to motivate them to maintain good sanitation and personal hygiene.

QUOTE 2

“We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it”

By William Osler “Improvements to sanitation and hygiene benefit the health and enhance the lives of our people.

Our appeal to stakeholders is to keep thinking of innovative ways of attracting the much needed funding to make these improvements as possible.”

One such innovation is the National Hand Washing Campaign, which encourages Ugandans to wash more and make sure they use soap, since thousands of children

below the age of five die each year from diarrhea and other sanitation related diseases. Furthermore, colossal sums of money are spent every year to treat worms, respiratory infections, bloody and non-bloody diarrhea, food poisoning and the related in adults.

This commitment shall improve health and reduce poverty in Uganda.

Collecting two and two together; did you know?

• A good latrine is where you feel safe, and enjoy the whole process of using it to the point that you attach pride and respect to the latrine. Imagine if a latrine had the language of people—it would say, “I know all the secrets of mankind!”

• In ancient times, the Greeks and the Romans used to have many gods and goddesses.

The word hygiene comes from ‘Hygiea,’ who was the Greek goddess of health and in Rome they even worshiped a special goddess of sewers and sanitation whose name was Cloacina. She was named after the largest drain in the city, which in Latin was called “Cloaca Maxima.” The Cloaca Maxima is still working today as part of modern Rome’s sewer system.

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• Women’s public latrines (toilets) contain twice as many bacteria as men’s public latrines (toilets).

• God advocates for the obligations to having and properly using a latrine (toilet); Deut. 23:12-14!

• At the beginning of 2007, a group of doctors and medical experts in the United Kingdom (the readers of the British Medical Journal) were asked to vote on what they thought was the “Greatest Medical Advance since 1840.” There were many candidates for this prize. Some said it was the discovery of

bacteria and antibiotics, others thought it was anesthetics or the x-ray or open heart surgery.

However, in the end most experts voted for sanitation.

No other development has saved as many lives over the last 170 years as sewage and sanitation systems have for “all other medical advances help to cure diseases, while sanitation stops them from happening in the first place!

• So, what anyway?

are

the

germs

aternal health is a significant global concern that needs to be addressed by the international and national health systems. Pregnant women face many more health problems than the average woman. There are several major complications that could threaten their health and the health of their unborn child. Accordingly, pregnant women should seek antenatal consultation during their pregnancy, for the birth of their child, and post partum followup with a medical professional.

Many pregnancies are unplanned and potentially unwanted. Family planning is an important way to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the strain of another child to feed and care for. Family planning can also decrease the prevalence of unsafe abortions, which are abortions conducted by persons lacking the necessary skill or in an environment that lacks the appropriate medical standards.

for microorganisms is ‘bacteria’; which is why some drugs are called antibacterial drugs. But most often they are simply called ‘germs.’ They are always many different kinds of germs around, but because you can’t see them, you might not think they are dangerous. However, one single germ can multiply fast enough to become over 64 billion germs in just twelve hours! Although some are harmless, diseases like cholera are also caused by germs. The best protections you have against diseases like that is to be clean.

Many diseases are spread by microorganisms, which are living creatures so small you can’t see them. Another name

Unsafe Arbotion M

Empowering Lives

In Uganda, induced (intentionally caused) abortion is only legal under specific circumstances, most commonly when the mother’s life is threatened. By law, the procedure is also legal in efforts to preserve the physical and mental health of the mother. Many women seek illegal and unsafe abortions because abortion is highly stigmatized, expensive, and it is difficult to obtain the necessary approval to obtain the operation.

Illegal abortions are a substantial contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality in Uganda as they are often performed by untrained and unskilled persons under unclean and unsafe conditions. One in six maternal deaths in Uganda is due to complications from abortion.

These complications can be caused by both induced, deliberate abortion but also from spontaneous abortion (miscarriage). While most induced abortions are illegal in Uganda, women are encouraged to seek care for complications

resulting from abortion and will not be prosecuted for doing so. If one obtains an illegal induced abortion or experiences a spontaneous miscarriage, they are encouraged to seek professional attention to avert or treat any complications.

Complications from abortion and miscarriage include heavy bleeding, infection, pelvic pain, and other symptoms. Moreover, in order to avoid an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, women should utilize an effective family planning method, such as oral contraceptives, injections, condoms, cycle beads, among others. More information can be found at your local clinic.

Through education and access to family planning methods we can decrease the maternal mortality rate in Uganda and increase the health and well-being of pregnant women, mothers, and families. Prevention of unwanted pregnancy is the first step in avoiding complications from illegal and unsafe abortion.

However, it is equally important for women and families to utilize healthcare services following a miscarriage or illegal abortion.

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Kitojo Commun

Kitojo Development Association

First Volunteer Counceling and Testing day (VCT) - Community education - 2003

Beneficiaries of KIDA’s asset loan program for tailoring graduates - 2009

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Handing over supplementary bee-keeping inputs to community members - 2005

Empowering Lives

Educating women on baking for income

KIDA promotes human rights and HIV/AID

Promoting positive living among K

nity at a glance

Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

e generation and good livelihood - 1999

DS prevention through youth sports - 2004

KIDA’s infants through play - 2009

KIDA promotes human rights and HIV/AIDS prevention through youth sports - 2004

KIDA’s community outreach program - 2009 11

Kitojo Development Association

The Speed of Change

By Chris Frey

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grew up in modest family, but there was always food security to sustain our family. I’ve never had to worry about dying of a treatable disease or not getting access to the medical care I need. A year ago I asked myself, “why?” Was it because I was special or more deserving? I don’t believe that. I could have just as easily taken my first childhood steps in the grip of famine or in the midst of ethnic cleansing or dozens of other scenarios that force a billion people around the world into extreme poverty.

Yet, by sheer good fortune I was born in a country where these concerns no longer exist. So I joined the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is an organization run by the United States Government that is dedicated to providing skilled labor to other organizations around that world.

to open their hearts and continue to support its operations.

For ten years now, KIDA’s influence and impact has grown dramatically and soon a brand new health clinic will stand as a testament to KIDA’s commitment of improving the lives of the people in the surrounding community.

I came to Uganda four months ago for one very simple reason: to try and make for others the things that I had been given.

Right now, one out of every six people around the world is impoverished, starving, and dying for treatable illnesses.

There is no law of the universe that says this must continue.

A person who has good hygiene and sanitation is a person who behaves in a way that prevents the spread of disease. Specifically, hygiene refers to practices that promote and preserve cleanliness and healthy living. Sanitation refers to practices that prevent human contact with waste. If people practice good hygiene and sanitation, they can significantly reduce the risk of getting sick.

KIDA shares this powerful dream and it is what has led the people of this organization to dedicate their lives fighting to end the heartbreak, sorrow and tragedy we see every day. It is what motivates KIDA’s donors 12

As Hygiene and Sanitation Coordinator here at KIDA, I’m in a unique position because I

Empowering Lives

have the opportunity to directly improve the well-being of the people that I meet at little or often no additional cost. How much does it cost, for example, to pick up the trash around a home; or to remove standing water from around a compound to prevent mosquitoes from breeding; or to put up an unused jerrycan as a tippy-tap to prevent diarrhea and fecalborne diseases? These are the things that KIDA is teaching and they do not require millions of shillings to implement, but rather a willingness to learn and the motivation to fight for one’s wellbeing.

Sometimes the reason people do not take steps like these is because they simply do not know where to begin. So in an effort to combat this problem, we have partnered with the Agriculture and Nutrition Department and have implemented the Model Village Project.

By conducting sensitizations in the community every week we are able to bring critical knowledge to the people who desperately want to keep their families healthy and want to contribute to building a model village. Because of this effort, even people who have lacked proper hygiene and sanitation in their homes for years have begun making small changes to improve their condition.

They have made the commitment to give themselves a healthier and happier life by cutting down the plants that mosquitoes love, by building sun-drying racks to make their dishes safe, and by washing their hands before they touch food and after they use the latrine.

Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

Community members learning about Nutrition and Natural medicine - 1999 Despite some encouraging progress, our organization still faces tremendous challenges.

Some we visit are too old, weak, or sick to construct the things they need for themselves, even if they have the resources available. Others are too young to appreciate the benefits of implementing these techniques or changing their behavior. Still others remain unconvinced that these methods will improve their lives at all. It can be difficult to overcome these challenges, but it is never impossible and the first step is always finding the inner strength to change.

We believe one way to help people discover this is by giving them a tangible example to follow. To achieve this goal, we have partnered with KIDA’s Demo Garden Project to construct exhibits that will

display multiple techniques to build and maintain a healthy environment, in addition to proper gardening techniques.

The idea is to give every person who is willing to come and learn the knowledge and capacity to create for themselves a clean and hygienic village. We are also partnering with KIDA’s other departments like the drama team and the vocational department to implement proper hygiene and sanitation practices in their performances and trainings. We believe that approaching the challenges people face from as many angles as possible is the most efficient and effective way to help people live better lives.

Empowerment is ultimately the goal. The question is how do you achieve it for communities and the individuals that live in them? Few would have thought

that this small organization that started with nothing more than a powerful dream could have survived ten years. But by making the commitment each day to make the community a better place; by taking small but meaningful steps in the right direction, KIDA will continue to succeed.

The people in this community, across Uganda and across all of Africa will find salvation the same way: by making the commitment to take a small step each day to make their life better than it was the day before.

Mpora mpora ekahikya omuniongorozi haiziba.

Chris Frey is a United States Peace Corps Volunteer and a KIDA Coordinator, for Hygiene and Sanitation Dept.

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Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

Food Security KIDA’s Contribution towards the 2006 NRM Manifesto and Prosperity for all through the Agriculture and Nutrition Program The Agriculture and Nutrition program began in 2005 and it is amazing that today we are celebrating these ten years of KIDA’s existence. This program has been operating in the three sub-counties of Buheesi, Ruteete and Kasenda. It has 15 groups and it caters for both people living with HIV/AIDS and those not. Our motto says “Empowered people caring for their lives.” This program has achieved it through a combination of dedication and effective programs.

We thank God for enabling us to achieve some of our objectives

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and we have hope that He will continue blessing us to reach our set goals.

What is so special about Agriculture and Nutrition at KIDA?

Swithen Mpuuga

Agriculture and Nutrition Coordinator, KIDA

A fartmer maintaining a plantain banana garden

KIDA has a demonstration garden which has various types of crops including cabbage, egg plant, doodo, green pepper, and ebitooke. They are cultivated using the best and improved methods of farming and we want to expand the program to include even more crops. This helps in training our groups and the surrounding communities by giving them basic knowledge and skills they need to have successful and productive gardens. In addition, more emphasis is put on the growing of vegetables so as to promote positive and healthy living amongst our clients.

We also conduct trainings on better methods of farming with emphasis placed on organic farming practices and proper nutrition through the use of locally available food.

We provide free vegetable seeds and implements such as hoes, machetes, watering cans for the active groups as a way of motivating them. After selling their crops, each group is encouraged to save in their account at Kitojo AIDS Care SACCO. They save a certain percentage and the surplus is

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used to cater for their needs at home.

Through our model village program we are also able to promote hygiene and sanitation practices among our clients and the surrounding community.

We carry out home visits, exchange visits and seminars that enable our groups and the communities around learn more new things, knowledge and skills from other groups in different districts to increase on their production.

Safe motherhood compelling task for all every minute, 6 women die either trying to give birth or because of pregnancy related complications.

Making motherhood safe for the world’s women calls for national governments, multilateral, bi-lateral agencies, NGOs, communities and individuals to make maternal health a top priority. Basic facts on maternal mortality (death) in Uganda:

Lastly, we carry out community outreach whereby we assist people who are needy by helping them complete activities that they are not able to carry out by themselves.

Visible impacts of our work • Increased agriculture production evidenced by daily sales of edible bananas, poultry products and vegetables within our local markets throughout the district.

• Increased household incomes evidenced by better housing of some of our clients.

• Increased saving on our group accounts and investments in other income generating activities.

• Food security has drastically improved. Households where KIDA operates can now provide at least two meals a day for their families.

In conclusion, we thank God and all the people who have brought us this far.

Empowering Lives

Rev. Kalyebara B. Stephen

(MPHL Uganda Christian University

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afe motherhood is a concept that no woman or fetus or baby should die or be harmed by pregnancy or childbirth.

This can be realized by providing timely, appropriate and comprehensive quality care at preconception, pregnancy, child birth and post delivery to women, men, adolescents and new born babies with special emphasis on skilled attendance at delivery.

What is the burden?

In Uganda 435 per 100,000 women die while giving birth or 28 days after, and 76 per 1000 babies die during delivery or 28 days after. Worldwide

The chief causes of maternal death and illness are pregnancy related.

Reproductive stress is caused by too many children, too frequently delivered and poorly spaced birth leading to poor maternal and infant health.

In developing countries like Uganda, pregnancy and child birth are leading causes of death, disease and disability among women of reproductive age 15-45 years. This disease burden becomes bigger than any other single health problem, yet pregnancy is perceived to be a normal event.

Maternal and child health interventions can be among the most cost effective investments in health if all stakeholders have shown concern. There is a crucial need to focus on 15

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maternal health! At least 3040% of infant deaths are as a result of poor care during pregnancy and delivery.

Poor maternal health and poor nutrition contributes to low birth weight almost 20% of all birth that may lead to infant death. When a father dies, 31 sons and 55 daughters per 1000 children are likely to die, but when a mother dies 80 sons and 190 daughters per 1000 babies born are likely to die. The benefits to promote maternal health can be seen below: Prevention of disease and early treatment can be affordable and cost effective to many people and families.

A health seeking behavior and good maternal health services can strengthen the entire health system. Building women’s trust and empowering them economically will promote preventative care.

Male involvement in antenatal care and support for post delivery care.

Skilled attendance at delivery and health workers’ critical involvement to provide timely, skilled and user friendly services can greatly improve the burden of maternal and infant death.

This will make safe motherhood a reality in urban and rural Uganda and be able to improve on the Millennium Development Goals of infant and maternal mortality that is far to be achieved by 2015.

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Empowering Lives

Responding to the silent tears: the urgent need for counselling in schools

N

ot long ago counseling in Uganda was considered a luxury for the thin-skinned Europeans and Americans who are constantly in need of a shoulder to cry on. Even in the recent past, psychology was considered an irrelevant discipline in our universities. No wonder the dearth of counselors and lacking information about their relevance in the country.

This attitude is changing very fast. Unfortunately it is at a pace we are not prepared for.

The reason being the silent cry of the young people who are constantly “acting out” the need we adults have closed our Although many Ugandans may eyes to. This is the need to be be in need of psychological unconditionally and genuinely help, today I speak for children listened to. A need which and adolescents. Children and in the modern adolescents in world would be this country are Quote 3: characterized by bereaving, many “busy-ness” and have experienced The purpose of life, fewer adult family loss, many are afterall is to test experience to the atmost, members, can inconsolable. to reaxch out eagerly and only be met by a Death is one of withoput fe\ar for newer trained counselor. the unfortunate and richer experience.

Eleanor Rosevelt events many little Counseling in ones in Uganda Uganda has in have had to brawl recent times with. Wars and gained relevancy due to the HIV/AIDS have left many circumstances that have children with no parents, and haunted our society and left no family! Thank God many many children emotionally children are resilient enough to hurt. The need is so pressing naturally recover from the loss. that even those who at one time However, quite a few children used to say that psychology is find it difficult to recover irrelevant must find an occasion without the support of a skilled to retract the claim. helper or counselor.

Kitojo Development Association

Empowering Lives

The power of Art and Music

By Kahwa Richard, Drama Instructor, KIDA Pablo Picasso, the revolutionary Spanish artist and painter once said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

At KIDA, we too recognize the potential of art to give hope, to inspire, and to momentarily lift people out of their daily lives to experience something so profound that they remain changed forever.

It can change people for the better.

Thus, KIDA’s Drama Group tries to infuse high quality songs, dance and theater with lessons that can teach people how to lead responsible, happy, and healthy lives.

The music, along with all our performances and dances, caters to all age groups.

We train constantly in order to give the people of these local communities the best possible show and offer weekly drama performances to meet demand.

Recently, our team completed a music album as well, complete with several music videos with topics including HIV/AIDS, positive living, alcoholism, hygiene and sanitation, and behavior change.

Orphans care Program

We currently support 4 students in nursery school, 77 in primary, 22 in vocational institutions, and 2 at university.

KIDA appreciates the efforts of these programs, but we also recognize that the government cannot do everything. Energy and enthusiasm has to come from the local people as well.

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ith great pleasure, I take the honor of welcoming all readers of this first edition of KIDA MAGAZINE 2010.

On my own behalf and on behalf of KIDA I thank God for the progress of this integrated association, especially with respect to the orphan care program.

The orphan care program here at KIDA strives to give orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) a chance to go to school. It is our fundamental view that education is not only every child’s right, but represents

Ultimately, the developmental and community impact of our performances cannot be measured in terms of the number of impressive structures built or the number of people vaccinated. In fact it can be difficult to know how to measure our impact at all.

For us as artists, when we look out into a crowd of healthy people laughing or crying or singing along with us, we know we are doing our job. And that’s enough proof for us.

Marjorie Musobozi

OVC Coordinator and Counselor, KIDA

their best opportunity for gaining knowledge, obtaining employment, and living a successful and happy life.

It has now reached a total of 105 this year.

And for parents and caregivers: The best inheritance you can leave for your children is education. It is more valuable than money or cows or any other material thing.

I conclude by thanking our sponsors, the Director, the Board of Governors, the staff here at KIDA and the community for the selfless heart they have shown towards the success of this program.

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Kitojo Development Association

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ith the unemployment and underemployment rates in Uganda reaching alarming levels, the need for vocation as a means of equipping people to generate income could not be more apparent.

Empowering Lives

Vocational Training

The government has realized the potential of vocational education and training as well; in 1998, the Education Ministry executed the Education Sector Strategic Plan that was designed in part to encourage the implementation of vocational programs . At KIDA we have supported this effort, and all others that attempt to recognize vocation as a legitimate and essential avenue for development.

In 2005, we started our own vocational program to give our clients and the local community access to a means of supporting themselves. There is no doubt that universities serve an important role in our society by providing excellent education and excellent opportunities for employment in a variety of sectors.

However, it is equally important to recognize that vocation also serves a vital role and it has been chronically neglected. The jobs produced out of the vocation sector are not only critical to the employment and empowerment of the people of this country, but these jobs are also valuable, noble, and professions that people can be proud to have.

Staying true to these values, the vocation program at KIDA has established four primary areas of study that include bricklaying and concrete practices, carpentry and joinery, catering and hotel management, and finally tailoring and design. The courses are structured so that they provide both the skills needed to be successful at the trade, but also the skills needed to be successful in running

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a business. The ultimate goal is to give people all the tools they need to become self-employed or to find work in other businesses. Our focus is on giving people the tools to discover ways of creating jobs for themselves rather than emphasizing the need to look for jobs that are often unattainable in the first place.

We recognize that finding an income is a problem for everyone around the country and here in the surrounding community the situation is no different. People need a way to make money and our vocational program addresses this need by offering a broad admission policy and low school fees.

While we do require at least a P7 education, we don’t discriminate based on a person’s age, marital status, or other factors that are often used as excuses to turn people away. Our teachers and tutors are well qualified, experienced and dedicated to providing students with a positive learning environment and diverse set of skills.

We held our first graduation in 2007 and are slated to hold another one

this year. All of our graduates are now either self-employed or have found employment in various places in Fort Portal or the surrounding community. We also offer an asset loan program to our graduates that provides them with the equipment they need to start a business under the condition that they eventually pay for that asset with the profits of their business.

A career in vocation is not for everyone, in the same way that studying at a university is not for everyone. It takes a dedicated, diligent, and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed in vocation, and KIDA will continue to offer those people that want to build a prosperous life for themselves the skills to do so. However, what we cannot do as a society is continue to neglect vocation’s legitimacy when it has such a potent ability to empower people and transform their lives for the better.

Information: The Coordinator +256 0777878514 / +256 0773653875. email: kitojotouristhome@yahoo.com or P. O Box 128, Fort Portal, Uganda.

Kitojo Development Association

Breaking the cycle of poverty for children T

housands of children across Uganda are living in abject poverty; poverty that is so crushing the likelihood that they will escape on their own is virtually nonexistent.

In an appeal to Uganda in 2008, a representative from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called for a greater emphasis to be put on children.

“Investing in children is the best strategy to ensure that poverty will one day be history in Uganda,” he said. “It is a sad reality today, however, that with 60 percent of our children living in poverty, poverty in Uganda has a child’s face.”

Yet, there is hope. The country has come a long way in reducing poverty over the past few decades. But, it is going to take an army of advocates willing to nurture and train children living in poverty to transform them into responsible and fulfilled adults.

It is going to take hard work and dedicated people to break the cycle of poverty; to focus on building lives instead of buildings.

Poverty becomes cyclical when it occurs and reoccurs in families, generation after generation. Not

only are parents poor, but their grandparents were poor, and their grandparent’s parents were poor.

Now the children are now doomed to be poor as well. This type of poverty persists because there is a consistent lack of opportunity that not only leaves people feeling powerless and vulnerable, but strangles what little hope they have.

Children are born full of potential that can grow into success and transform their lives if the right opportunities are available to them early on. Thus, the response to poverty should be rooted in creating opportunity and hope for children to grow and develop.

This is the response that Compassion International takes to poverty. Their model looks at the whole person: spiritually, physically, economically and

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socio-emotionally. It is successful because, like KIDA’s approach to HIV/AIDS, it is a holistic approach designed to combat this unforgiving type of poverty from every angle.

The general abuse and exploitation of children through practices like early childhood marriage, child neglect or starvation, and child labor are also persistent. Corruption and political ambition can often interfere with the enactment of laws aiming to protect children and their families. Even the enforcement of existing laws can be difficult to achieve.

It is in all of our interests to overcome these challenges. Each of us, whether we are political leaders, police officers, church leaders, community leaders, opinion leaders, parents, members of the judiciary, members of government, or members of organizations like Compassion International or KIDA; we all have the responsibility as members of society to stand up for the children of this country. And as partners in this development, we should all work tirelessly to complement each of our efforts instead of competing with each other.The future of Uganda and the future of her children depend on it.

This article was adapted in part from an address by the Country Director of Compassion International, Herbert Turyatunga, given on June 12th, 2010, though the opinions contained herein may not reflect those of the Country Director or the original address that inspired them.

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Kitojo Development Association

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