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August 03, 2012
1)Welcome
It is one month since I started my volunteer work at Childline Uganda. The entire period I have been here, I must say I have enjoyed despite some few shortcomings here and there. I thank Omprakash for giving me the opportunity to serve at Childline Uganda. Part of my responsibilities as a volunteer grant recipient is to submit my monthly report inform of stories. This is my first monthly report; I welcome readers to post comments. 2) “Today for tomorrow” programme report
Today for tomorrow is the highlight of my volunteer work at Childline Uganda.TFT is a total lifeskills empowerment programme for OVC, and focuses on equipping the children with different skills in life. The programme aims to - Help build their self-esteem.
- Help the children stay focused in life by encouraging them to work hard in school give them hope and impart some creativity skills in them.
- Teach the children responsibilities as citizens and as children.
- Help the children build their character through the six pillar lessons.
- Offer psychosocial support by providing recreational equipment’s, facilities and programs. The programme acts as a safety net for children, as they seek new families, people who will love them and guide them on the way to go. We also encourage them to have a deep relationship with God, and to never give up in life no matter what..
In the TFT programme, we have different sessions such as the activities session where we teach the children different crafts, drawings and paintings and we continue to mentor them. Many children have demonstrated different talents and skills and their willingness to follow their dreams. We have had different sports and games activity sessions, and to say that these children have performed is an understatement. The following is a list of the different activities we have had with the children this past one month. Drawing
On July 7th and July 14th, the children took part in a drawing activity game called “identity”. The all idea of the game was to help identify children with drawing talents.in the game, each child was assigned his/her own drawing space and paper stuck on the wall. With background music playing on, each child was required to dance while moving to the next available space until the music stopped where they were required to draw pictures as instructed by the leader. After the game, the leader helped identify best drawings by asking each child the pictures they liked most on their papers. In the end three best drawings were identified, and three winners in the game were identified, they are Winfred, filbert and Joann. Painting and coloring
This past month, we conducted several painting and coloring activity sessions. The highlight of this activity has always been the coloring of the TFT bible coloring book which i brought from Kenya. The children also had an opportunity to make and paint different paper garlands; pirate, princes and sporty garlands which they really enjoyed. These activities continue to sharpen their painting and coloring skills as we continue to mentor and guide them. Paper crafts activity
The children have also participated in different crafts making activities. One of the craft that the children really enjoy making is the paper garland craft. The children also made different caterpillar and butterfly cut out shapes, and painted them with their favorite colors. This month, i plan to teach them weaving using normal papers and manila paper. I will also be introducing the ripping paper project where we will be using different pieces of papers and egg shells. We started collecting the egg shells two months ago, and will continue to collect more this month before the activity. Games and sports activities
During this month, the children took part in different sports and games. We were privileged to have marc, an HDV volunteer from Denmark who donated several games materials. Marc donated two footballs, four tennis balls, playing cards, playing bars, pressure pump and many other items. Together with Mark, we participated in different sporting activities; football, netball etc. The children really enjoyed the games, and showed great skills. This month we also had Debbie Durst, an AISSEC volunteer from USA who came and volunteered with Childline for two weeks. Debbie taught the children different games. One particular game which the children enjoyed is the “Duck, duck, goose”. Debbie also taught the children two other games. The children remain active during sporting and games activities, the games have proven to be essential in the TFT programme, and continue to add value to the life of the children. Today for Tomorrow partnership and achievements.
During a stakeholders meeting in the month of July, Childline was among few organizations selected to partner with MILDMAY in their OVC project. Childline was exclusively selected because of the TFT success story and because of the work we have done in the child rescue programme which has become a huge success. In the partnership, MILDMAY has pledged to donate food and scholastic material donations towards the TFT programme. Last month, we received two rounds of the donation inform of food supplements ; maize flour, porridge flour, beans, rice and cooking fat .Scholastic materials included books, pens, rulers, erasers and pencils. The programme will run for two years, and we hope to reach to at least 500 OVCs. In our Wednesday and Saturday programme, we will also continue to provide lunch and porridge to the children with an hope of attracting more to the programme and to help in retaining them. We are proud to say the children are happy, and are always looking forward to the programme. Many decline to go home after the programme, as they feel Childline has become their second home. We thank MILDMAY for the partnership, and we continue to seek more donations towards the programme. Today and Tomorrow shortcomings/challenges
1) Many of the guardian and parents cannot afford to pay for the school fees of the children, in most cases relying on Childline. Many come to us with high expectation, thinking that we will do everything for them.
2) Many of the children are walking and traveling so far to attend the programme. Currently, we are in no position to offer transport for the children even though we sometime try so hard to sustain. We continue to advise the parents and guardians to bring their children and to come and collect them, it has been so challenging though.
3) Lack of materials
We currently lack materials to sustain the TFT, FAL and peer education programme. Childline currently has limited resources to sustain the programs, forcing volunteers to sometime use their own materials in the different programs. We will continue to seek more donor support and fundraise to keep these programs running. 3)FAL (Functional adult Literacy) programme report
We officially launched the FAL (Functional Adult Literacy) programme on July 5th.Over 45 adults(both men and women) attended the first session which we conducted at namutuku near lake wamala, 45 km from Mityana town. To start off, the participant took part in communication skills activities where we asked them to read, write and discuss some simple text, drawings and graphics. After the activity, we identified each participant’s area of need, discussed it and planned the next meeting, unfortunately, due to limited resources; we are currently conducting the programme under a tree, but hope to find a proper venue for the programme. We also hope to register more participants in programme this month. 4)Omprakash outreach report
Part of my volunteer project at Childline Uganda involves participating in Omprakash outreaches across Uganda. This past month, I visited five different organizations, three in Kampala and two in Mityana. I visited and gave presentations at Kampala secondary school, where i also met some few students and discussed details of the volunteer clubs programme. I also visited community outreach in masaka Uganda where I gave a presentation, met the volunteers and distributed different brochures. This month, I’ll be visiting different organizations in Kampala, where I will be giving presentations. Helping me in the Omprakash outreaches is Madinnah who has so far been so resourceful and has agreed to commit herself in the Omprakash outreach. Currently Madinnah acts as our secretary, and after introducing her to Omprakash, she agreed to help me spread the word through presentations and issuing out posters and brochures in all the universities in Uganda. Together with Madinnah, we will be visiting different Universities this month in Kampala, where we will be meeting the students, discussing volunteering and helping introduce them to Omprakash. Madinnah will also be helping me in launching the volunteers’ club programs among peers in schools, and will also help in organizing events, mentoring the students and guiding them. 5) Volunteers club programme report
As I continue with my Omprakash outreach in Africa, my hope is to reach to as many students as possible and to recruit as many volunteers as possible through the clubs. The purpose of the volunteer club is mainly to mentor students who have the desire in participating in community development but who otherwise have no platform or opportunity to do so. In the programme, members will be participating in different activities and events. Members will be allowed to vote for their own leaders who will be reporting the progress of their club. During holidays (school vacation),i will help in connecting the members with different Omprakash partners where they will be participating in volunteer work, and also will have time to interact with the volunteers and learn more from their work. This month, together with Madinnah, we hope to launch the programme in three different schools, and will be meeting the students to discuss the programme in detail. Membership will be voluntary, and therefore we will work with students who have the passion to work with the community, and those who have career aspiration in that area. Last month, I launched the programme in two different schools, and met some students. At VOSA,I met 14 students, talked to them about volunteering and discussed details of the programme. This month, we will continue to mentor them as we guide them through and hope to connect them with childline Uganda and Omprakash. My dream is to recruit at least 3000 students to the programme and to Omprakash, and to reach to at least 100 schools through the programme. I believe that Africa will begin to see real development only if it’s people spearhead the process, and only then will we see change. With the programme, we hope to promote local volunteerism by empowering the local people to take charge and initiate change. 6) Partner and Volunteer stories
Part of my outreach mission is also to collect stories from different Omprakash partners and volunteers. So far last month, I visited kawempe youth center where I met Esther the director, held a brief interview with her and discussed details of my project..At KYC,I also met Matthias from the Eirene foundation in Germany and talked to him about Omprakash. I also collected project and volunteer stories from Esther and Matthias respectively. Matthias is also now a member of Omprakash and has posted different stories. Encouraged by the story i posted about KYC, Esther thereafter also contacted past KYC volunteers previously nonmembers of Omprakash, to join and post their stories to Omprakash. The purpose of collecting the volunteer stories is to use them during my presentations in schools and to help inspire prospective volunteers and partners. At childline, I also introduced three volunteers to omprakash ; Mark from Denmark, Debbie from USA and Maddinah from Uganda. Mark, Debbie and Maddinah have all posted their different stories about their experience at childline. I will also use their stories in the High school volunteer clubs programme. This coming month, I will also be visiting two different Omprakash partners to collect more stories and to introduce more volunteers to Omprakash. I have total belief that these stories will inspire more prospective volunteers and partners and will continue to foster relationships within the Omprakash community.
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