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SCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR N. UGANDA

The Background:  Northern Uganda lacks adequate financial resources to send it’s brightest but poorest students to college.  The region has the highest poverty rate - according to a report from the World Bank, 83% of the poor people in the country are in Northern Uganda. The region also has the highest unemployment rate, annual average population growth, and the lowest proportion of people owning permanent homes. 

The over 20-year Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in the region has led to a significant regional disparity in terms of educational opportunities, performance and achievement.  It has resulted into the destruction of the majority of the schools in the region though they are now being rebuilt slowly. It has also discouraged many good teachers from serving in the North because of the lack of financial incentive, especially from the poor parents.  In addition, the LRA war has resulted in a high rate of HIV/AIDs in the area that has killed most of the adults in the villages.

The children have been left to fend for themselves or taken into custody by their own aging poor grandmothers, who cannot provide for them effectively; much less send them to schools. These children have grown up in extreme poverty as they become adults themselves to bear their own children into a pervasive cycle of poverty.

 Although the government of Uganda has instituted universal primary and secondary education with the aim of providing educational opportunities for children from poor families, the cost of attending postsecondary in the country is prohibitive to 98% of the youths in this region.  Therefore, the vicious cycle of poverty continues in northern region from generation to generation.

The Challenge:  The educational challenge of northern Uganda is so daunting that it is of highest priority in the reconstruction of the region.  The college-bound youths from the region badly need financial support from outside.  Their parents are too poor to send them to college.  At a time when we are witnessing great strides in economic and social development in the global village it is unfathomable that there are still kids out there who have no hope at all of a brighter future.

The Solution:  The Lango Association of North America (LAONA) supports the World Bank recommendation for giving poor northern Uganda youths an opportunity to attend college.  The Association will give those kids the educational opportunities they need for enhancing the quality of life for themselves and their families.   The Association sees this proposed scholarship initiative as a durable and practical means of rebuilding the sub-region.  The Association is raising the money for the scholarship fund that will be administered from North America to ensure that the students from the Lango sub-region actually get the financial help they need for college education. This scholarship is by no means a hand-out; it is a much needed hand-up that will make a lasting impact on the recipients and the sub-region.  For example, the scholarship will not only empower the girls in the sub-region, but also, it will allow them to attend college without predators taking advantage of them as is currently the case.  For sustainability, this proposed scholarship fund initiative will be an endowment. Your donation will have immediate impact on the lives of these children. 

ABOUT US:  Lango Association of North America (LAONA), Inc. is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization for charitable, educational, religious, or scientific purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c) (3) of the U.S Internal Revenue Code. 

LAONA, Inc. is registered in the State of Missouri, USA.

Please check our website at www.laonaonline.org for more information about the Association and the Lango of Northern Uganda.

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Campaign Launched by the Board of Directors, Lango Association of North America:
Florence Ocen, Chair; Denis Opito, Vice Chair; Rehema Apio, Secretary; Hudson Ayo, Treasurer; Sylvia Owiny, Board Member; Tom Opito, Board Member and Charles Owot, Board Member

Thank you so much for your generous donation!

Organizer and beneficiary

Florence Ocen
Organizer
Holts Summit, MO
Lango Association of North America (LAONA)
Beneficiary

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