Schools were closed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Uganda. This means that our Ugandan colleagues are in the field every day making sure our 188 students and 35 disabled children are safe and doing well!

The Ugandan government introduced measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 on the 18th of march 2020. Schools, markets, churches and mosques were closed and a travel ban and curfew were put in place. The closure of schools had huge direct and indirect consequences. The number of teen pregnancies, child marriages and female circumcisions increased. And the number of victims suffering from child abuse, neglect and child labour increased too. In March 2021, we received good news. Students were gradually allowed to come back to school.

Child Care Africa offers 188 vulnerable children and youngsters in Karamoja (Uganda) the possibility to go (back) to school and work on their future. Unfortunately the schools closed in March due to COVID-19, therefore the students were forced to go home.

Child Care Africa offers very vulnerable children and youngsters the possibility to go (back) to school and work on their future. Like orphans, children with a handicap, children growing up in extreme poverty and girls on the run for domestic violence. The children get a good accompaniment, health care, education, meals, clothes and school materials. The number of sponsored students increases rapidly, because the demand for help is huge.

In Karamoja the number of (severe) malnourished children increases. In 2018, ten children under the age of five was malnourished in Karamoja. Meanwhile this number has grown to four out of ten children, 40%. In most cases it is about acute malnutrition, a dangerous condition that hinders the development of the brains. Since the lockdown measures, the locust invasion and continuing draught, hunger and malnutrition has increased.