Northern Uganda Part Two

Our earlier post talked about the children whose lives were devastated by the recently ended conflict in Northern Uganda. That post talked of the healing needed by those children forced to become soldiers.

However, not all the children who are suffering in the aftermath of the war are former combatants. Others who were orphaned because of the fighting are now struggling to look after younger brothers and sisters. They have to work, often at menial jobs, putting in long hours for a pittance in their attempts to care for their families.

While western children play and go to school and plan for their futures, many of their Ugandan counterparts are caught up in a spiral of hopelessness and despair. To feed their families they work. Education would improve their chances of a better paid job, but education costs money, and to get that money they need to work even longer hours, which means they don’t have time for the education, which means they can’t earn more.

World In Need finds sponsors for the children. It costs £20 (about $30) a month to sponsor a child. This money can be paid by one sponsor or split between two, or even a group of people working together. School classes sponsor children, as do Sunday schools, women’s groups, businesses and churches.

We believe that education is essential in the fight against poverty, which is why we make it a condition of sponsorship that the sponsored child must go to school. The money given helps that become possible by paying the costs of the education and other things such as food and rent, meaning the child no longer has to earn money to supply these things.

Education is a right that should belong to all children. Too often it is seen as a privilege, only available to the favoured few. At World In Need we aim to change that. If we can achieve that aim, then children like little Ivan will grow into a far more hopeful world than the one he has now.

For more details, visit our website: http://www.worldinneed.co.uk and click on the flag of the country that interests you most.