EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

BACKGROUND

The Education program is one of the key Departments of Comboni Samaritans of Gulu which was started in 1994 as a response to the plight of the orphans that were left behind after the death of their parents and dear ones due to HIV/AIDS pandemic. The department since then, is supporting children who dropped out of school, Child head of Households, OVC who are HIV+ or with parent/s HIV+, Orphans (total or single), and Children with Disabilities or OVCs whose parent/s is/are disable, OVCs with chronic disease. E.g. (Cancer, Heart diseases, Sickle cell, Diabetes, Asthma, Dementia, etc., Single mothers (widow, divorced, abandoned) i.e. abandoned children and other critically vulnerable OVC. The Education support starts from Nursery, Primary, Secondary, Vocational and Tertiary Institutions.

Currently there are 15 projects under the department supporting a total of 1,046 (546M & 500F) beneficiaries in the districts of Gulu, Amuru, Omoro, Nwoya and Gulu City,

CATEGORY OF THE BENEFICIARIES

    1. Total orphans

    2. Single orphans

    3. Children Living with Disabilities

    4. Children Living with HIV/AIDS

    5. Child-Headed households

    6. Children living with very old grandparents/relatives and one child is the one who is the head of the household.

    7. Children Living with parents who are HIV+

    8. Teenage mothers

GENERAL GOAL OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

To ensure that all beneficiaries receive fundamental rights to formal education, skills training /Apprehentership and provide a holistic approach to HIV and AIDS pandemic while upholding the Gospel values.

General activities of the department

The education sponsorship program targets the orphans and vulnerable children of school-going age that are affected and infected by HIV/AIDS in the three districts with an aim of creating a conducive environment for their growth and development by guaranteeing the possibility of attending schools in order to attain quality education for a better future life.

PROJECTS AND THE NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES BEING SUPPORTED

    1. Good Samaritan ODV = 493(269M & 224F)

    2. Solidarity = 31 (12F & 19m)

    3. Osimo = 3 (2F & 1M)

    4. Byello = 16 (10F & 6M)

    5. Opit Livelihood = 96(50M & 46F)

    6. Marina = 60 (36F & 34M)

    7. Mariate = 8(4F &4M)

    8. Hope for the Future = 107(55M & 52F)

    9. ISP = 81(41M & 40F)

    10. To Get There (T.G.T) = 92(44M &48F)

    11. Good for Gulu = 8(3F &5M)

    12. Karadali = 13(7M &6F)

    13. Christina = 7(5M &2F)

    14. Sr. Giovanna Vocational = 16(6M &10F)

    15. Zanetti II = 15F

ACTIVITIES BEING IMPLEMENTED

    1. Home visits to the families of the beneficiaries.
    2. School visits to the beneficiaries in their different schools.
    3. Provision of Health support to the beneficiaries when they are sick.
    4. Payment of the medical bills at different Health Facilities.
    5. School fees payment.
    6. Provision of scholastic materials and school requirements.
    7. Provision of psychosocial support in terms of counselling, Career guidance and Education for Life.
    8. Provision of food support to the most vulnerable households under our support.
    9. Financial support to start IGA to very vulnerable families.
    10. Provision of start-up tool kits to the beneficiaries after they have completed their vocational skills training in different fields.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

From 1994 to date, Comboni Samaritans of Gulu has supported over 15,000 beneficiaries. Some of them are working in big positions in Government offices, NGOs, Health Sectors and others are doing their personal businesses.

CHALLENGES

    1. Reduction in funding by the donors – thus there is difficulties in provision of scholastic materials, school requirements and food stuff.

    2. High school fees – we are unable to pay all the school fees being demanded by the schools and when we request parents/caretakers of the beneficiaries to top up, in most cases they are not able to top up the fees being demanded by the different schools, hence some of the beneficiaries drop out of school

    3. There is an overwhelming demand for Educational support from the vulnerable community, we receive people every day coming to our office looking for support.

HOW OUR EDUCATION SUPPORT WORKS