This brass band helps the youth to learn musical instruments to grow their talents. It is also hired to perform on functions like weddings, parties among others.
By playing in this brass band the youth earn a little money that enables them to meet some of their basic needs. The brass band has helped our youth to keep focused other than being idle. Some of the youths have been able to earn scholarships in schools to play in school brass bands as they pursue their education.
Over 900 babies are born with HIV and others abandoned every year in Uganda. HIV is on the rise among couples and it’s through these that mother-to-child transmission happen with few chances for the babies to thrive or survive. Those abandoned are usually dumped in dustbins, in bushes, on streets, on hospital facilities or in pit latrines. Social workers, hospital personnel, the Police or good Samaritans usually pick the lucky babies who survive and take them either to an orphanage, a hospital, a police station or very few to their own homes.
The children grow up without knowledge of their roots, their lineage, their real identity, but most of all, without parental love. Child-abandonment breaches all fundamental parental roles of providing nurture, protection and guidance to one’s offspring, particularly during the most vulnerable stages of their lives. With the above background, we shall focus on the following to help children.
Challenge
Over 900 babies are born with HIV and others abandoned every year in Uganda without help.
Our Work
Summary
Over 900 babies are born with HIV and others abandoned every year in Uganda.
HIV/AIDS has a caused the biggest number of orphaned and abandoned children.
In 2017, an estimated 1.3 million people were living with HIV, and an estimated 26,000 Ugandans died of AIDS-related illnesses.
A child’s earliest years present a window of opportunity to address inequality. The potential benefits from supporting early childhood development (ECD) range from healthy development to greater capacity to learn while in school and increased productivity in adulthood.
In fact, investing in young children through ECD programs—ensuring they have the right stimulation, nurturing and nutrition—is one of the smartest investments a country can make to address inequality, break the cycle of poverty, and improve outcomes later in life. Evidence from both developed and developing countries suggests that an additional dollar invested in high quality preschool programs will yield a return of anywhere between US$6 and US$17.
Challenge
Low levels of School Readiness
From an education perspective, early gaps in cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional skills jeopardize a child’s capacity and motivation to learn upon entering primary school. Low levels of school readiness can lead to costly inefficiencies in the education system as these children are more likely to have poor academic performance, repeat grades, and drop out of school before they complete the primary cycle. This reality is particularly likely for disadvantaged children.
Stunted Growth
Poverty and nutritional deficiencies are among the leading reasons that 162 million children suffer from stunted growth in the developing world, which compromises their physical capabilities and cognitive development.
Our Work
Improving basic learning outcomes across the world, especially among children from poor families, requires investing in quality early childhood programs that support physical growth and overall development (including cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional) from a very early age.
Summary
Research shows that early nutrition and well-designed parenting programs (e.g. through home visits or community based services) can be very effective in preventing stunting and improving the interaction between caregiver and children especially under the age of two. Quality, center-based care, such as in preschools, for children aged three to six has also shown positive impacts in a number of settings. Cash transfers have been documented as having significant positive impacts in a child’s development, particularly when cash grants are paired with parenting information.
Source: World Bank
Improving basic learning outcomes across the world, especially among children from poor families, requires investing in quality early childhood programs that support physical growth and overall development (including cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional) from a very early age.
Developing countries have expanded access to preschool provision in the past decade, with all regions of the world increasing pre-primary enrollment. Yet, today, far too few children, especially those from the poorest families, benefit from this critical service:
Across the world, nearly half of all three to six year olds (159 million children) are deprived of access to pre-primary education (UIS, 2012). In Sub-Saharan Africa, 80 percent are not enrolled in pre-primary programs, while 45 percent lack access in South Asia..
This is the first project being undertaken by MHA Foundation and is in two phases;
The main objectives of this project are to;
The goal of this project is to establish a community school to give orphaned, vulnerable, abandoned children and those from poor families access to education which will give them a strong foundation for a good future. Because many of these children have never been in school and others dropped out, the project has started from scratch.
Even with the advent of Universal Primary Education, a big number of children still cannot access formal education due to a number of reasons like long distances, lack of scholastic materials, among others. Bunyoro sub region had a spill over of internally displaced people from Northern Uganda that were affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and is currently facing post-war effects and challenges. Education is one of the most-crucial needs of the children in this region and it should be met through such interventions from social development organizations.
This is where MHA Foundation comes in.
The goal of this project is to establish a community school to give orphaned, vulnerable, abandoned children and those from poor families access to education which will give them a strong foundation for a good future. Because many of these children have never been in school and others dropped out, the project has started from scratch.
Recently, we received Scholastic materials to the Kindergarten. We received Books, Pencils, Pens, Mathematics Sets, School Chalks, Coloring Books, among others. The children at Maisha Kindergarten were so delighted at these materials.
Women are a very vulnerable people group. Women face a number of challenges in their marriages and in raising their children. Most times, the burden of looking after the family lies on them while the men resort to drinking and other women. Most women are infected due to the promiscuity of their husbands. These women carry out small farming projects to cater for the food to eat at home and sell off a small portion to meet other needs like scholastic materials for their children, salt, paraffin, and sugar. Others are in abusive and violent relationships and have no one to help. With the above among other reasons, Maisha Holistic Africa Foundation will do the following to help and support women
Child marriage prevalence is the percentage of women 20-24 years old who were married or in union before they were 18 years old (UNICEF State of the World’s Children, 2017
HIV prevalence is almost four times higher among young women aged 15 to 24 than young men of the same age.9
Challenge
The issues faced by this demographic include gender-based violence (including sexual abuse) and a lack of access to education, health services, social protection and information about how they cope with these inequities and injustices. Indeed, young Ugandan women who have experienced intimate partner violence are 50% more likely to have acquired HIV than women who had not experienced violence.10
The lack of sexual education is telling. In 2014, only 38.5% of young women and men aged 15-24 could correctly identify ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV and rejected major misconceptions about HIV transmission.11
HIV prevalence is almost four times higher among young women aged 15 to 24 than young men of the same age.9
The proportion of women (ages 15-49) who have tested for HIV and received their results in the past 12 months increased from 47.7% in 2012 to 57.1% in 2014 and from 37.4% to 45.6% among men.29
As a result of this discrepancy, only 55% of men and boys living with HIV know their status, compared to 82% of women and girls. Some men report they would rather avoid knowing their HIV status because they associate being HIV-positive with ‘emasculating’ stigma
