4 Legs 4 Education, now in Kachumbala

Versión en castellano en: [ES]

Deutsche Version: [GE]

When we have an idea that works... why not to keep using it? We got to improve the access to education of 32 children with the help of our friends the goats... and we want to keep giving that opportunity to more children in Kachumbala, Uganda. Wanna give a hand?

My name is Banesa, and I was living in Uganda between 2019 and end of 2020, volunteering in some rural development projects. During that time, I met Tony, Maren and AMUNO project.

AMUNO RURAL HUB is a local NGO based in Kongunga Town, county of Kachumbale, Uganda, which started in 2019 by the hand of Anthony Okiria, Tony.

Bukedea district is not exceptional in terms of poverty, with 54% of the population in absolute poverty, and 20% with malnutrition. Despite these conditions, there was no organization registered in the area which would work with the community for its resilience and development. Tony grew up in this region, and he knows it very well, that's why Tony decided to call people together and create in 2019 AMUNO, the shuttle from where to create opportunities for his neighbours.

In 2020, I run for the school where I was volunteering the project 4 legs 4 education . Through a fundraising campaing like this, we raised enough money to buy 21 animals for the school. These animals were lent to the families in worst conditions, to breed them. When the borrowed animals produced litters, these ones were kept by the beneficiary family and/or given to a new family by turns. Like that, in two years, from 22 families who started the project, they have turn into 32 by summer 2022. All of them got an income source from where to ensure the school fees for their children now

The success of this experience is what brings us to open this new fundraising campaign. We want to give the same opportunity to the children in Kongunga.

Some context:

According to the last available National Population and Housing Census (from 2014, so, please, have in mind how this might had changed after the pandemic), the population of Kachumbale County aged 2-17 years was 27,961 people, which represented the 50.6% of the population.

The attendance in Primary school was 87.2% for persons aged 6-12 (86.3% for males and 88% for females). However, when it comes to Secondary school, it turns into 31.5% of boys continuing their secondary studies, and only 26.5% of the girls. Up to 60% of the girls' school drop outs come from early pregnancies. As a highlight, during the pandemic, schools were closed for almost 2 consecutive years, which meant an alarming increase of dropouts from schools.

In the region, there are registered 23 public primary schools and 5 private primary schools. When it comes to secondary schools, the availability is just 3 private ones and 1 public.

The access to quality education is almost impossible for these children, which keeps them in the poverty loop.

AMUNO has set this year a public library in the village of Kongunga, so children can have access to books (an offer which their schools can not provide with).

Normally, children go to school with just a pencil and a notebook, listen to the teacher and copy from the blackboard everything they tell them. Even though schools fees in public schools are quite low, these fees and buying scholastic materials often becomes a challenge to the families, the fact is that this keeps the children away from the school until they can get them. Access to books is also very difficult. At this point, you can imagine how difficult it is for them to develop their reading skills.

Which kind of access to information and education can a person have when they can hardly read?

Once the library was set the next challenge came: children feel bored, tired and embarrased to read the books, since they can hardly read (despite going to school).

Here it's when it comes the BIG OBJECTIVE of this Campaign:

TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE CHILDREN IN KONGUNGA BY ENSURING THEIR ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND PROMOTING READING SKILLS.

To achieve this goal, we will start by these specific objectives:

• To support the financial situation of the families of the area: starting with 20 families, we will provide with a goat to each of them, they will rear the animal and share the produced future litters with the library. This way, they will be able to have a source of savings which will improve their investing capacity, being able to ensure access to education for their children.

• To create an income source for the library: the shared goats from the families will be invested on increasing the group and hiring a proffesional to support the learning of the students during weekends. With one sold goat, we can pay two months of allowance for this person.

• To contribute with basic needs for the development of the children of the area: We want to set a little rabbit farm in the library. This is a kind of farming that doesn't need too much space, neither attention. Rabbits also reproduce fast and can provide enough to buy some vegetables and nutritioned meals to the children coming to the library during school breaks (because they don't have lunches). Mens sana in corpore sano...

• To promote cooperative movement as a strategy for self-development: As a community project, it will include the families in all the process, following the guiding principles of the project: Transparency, Accountability, Democracy and Teamwork. They will also take care of the training of the families, monitoring the growth of the animals and looking for the markets.

Where does the donation goal ammount come from?

*There are 21 goats because we are going to give a female to each family, 20, plus a male that we are going to have in the community for reproduction.

*The training will be carried out with families to work together on the concepts and importance of education, financial education and family farming.

"One child, one teacher, one book and a pencil, may change the world" - Malala

For more detailed information go here.