While staying at Tudabujja, Retrak's transitional halfway home and training farm located on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda, street children receive practical and theoretical agricultural training. The skills and knowledge they gain at Tudabujja enable them to contribute to their family's welfare when they return home.
There are an estimated 6,000 children living on the streets of Kampala, Uganda. Each child who is living on the streets has his or her own reasons for being there, but for many poverty is the underlying factor combined with a difficult family situation. A survey of children at Retrak Uganda in January 2010 indicated that the most significant factors in pushing children to the streets were low standard of living, abuse, death of a parent, family separation and an inability to attend school.
Tudabujja transitional halfway home and training farm provides children with a period away from the streets and in a family environment. This experience helps them to work through psychological trauma, develop a positive outlook for the future and learn valuable skills on the farm and in the classroom. The agricultural skills and knowledge the children gain enables them to contribute meaningfully to household income and the well-being of their families once they are returned home.
Tudabujja will house 90 children each year, providing them with education, sports and recreation, agricultural training, nutritious meals and medical care. Living in a family setting, the children's emotional, psycho-social and physical health are restored in preparation for their reintegration into family and community life. This ensures that when they return to family and community life they will adapt and settle more easily.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).