Feed 1200 children and 400 women during LOCKDOWN

Although linked to poverty as conditions reflecting inadequate access to resources to obtain food, issues such as hunger and food insecurity have seldom been recognized as important in urban settings. Overall, little is known about the prevalence and magnitude of hunger and food insecurity in most cities. 

The effects of covid-19 lockdown continue to bite hard for hungry families. Food insecurity has been exacerbated by rising fuel prices, long dry spell, rising food and non-food prices and poor harvests. "In the past 12 months... essential foods such as maize more than doubled in price.

Children living in the slums face daily hunger and lack of access to education. In Uganda the rising trend in urbanization is fuelling the population of Ugandan slums and meaning that more and more children are becoming susceptible to the risks of malnutrition and poor health.  Most of these children also do not go to school because they cannot afford it. Nutrition is vital for children, especially the young ones. Good nutrition is more than just having enough to eat – it also means having the right balance of foods and sufficient nutrients. 

Having enough of the right foods is especially important for infants and toddlers, whose bodies and brains need good nutrition for healthy growth.

Joy for children- Uganda works to provide children in deprived communities with the chance to live meaningful lives by proving access to basic needs such as food, shelter, education and clothing.

During the Children’s day of 2022, Joy for Children- Uganda with the support of partners/donors made a profound and lasting impact on 150 children in the three slums of kampala- kivulu, mulago and Bwaise. With the provision of essential sustenance, food and water, these children were given the gift of nourishment and the opportunity to thrive. The interactive session was not just enjoyable, but also deeply meaningful, leaving an indelible imprint on the hearts and minds of all those involved. This was conducted at community schools in the 3 slums.

“Food is a major problem to many schools in the slums and many government institutions are not able to fund all the feeding programs,” Ritah, a teacher in one of the community schools.

It only costs $10 a month to buy enough rice, beans, and porridge to feed a child 2 meals a day, 5 days a week while they are in school. Because some children attend school to get this food, your donation of just $10 a month will also help them get an education and improve their life and the life of their family, by getting them off of the dangerous streets in the slums.

The absence of school feeding schemes is one of the leading causes of poor performance in class for children in rural and slum communities of Uganda and it has not been given attention by the Ugandan authorities. Instead, as a national policy, parents are expected to provide meals even though many, especially in the rural and slum areas cannot afford to provide even the minimal daily bowl of maize porridge.

Nutrition, or the lack of it, has recently been recognized as an important additional factor because studies have identified under-nutrition with poor school achievement.

Several factors including food insecurity, poverty, distance between home and school and lack of commitment make the parents involved unable to provide meals for their children which is a cause of irregular school attendance, particularly in rural areas. Most pupils are unable to take a packed lunch and travel long distances to attend school; and those who stay on at school forgo lunch.

“I am very worried about the next school term; I have not cleared school fees and even worried about what the children will feed on while at school. Times are hard, we bare eat these days”, says Maureen (not real name)

The draft school health policy for Uganda (SHP) gives no clear guidelines on the place and implementation of school feeding as part of the school health program. There has been limited progress in implementing the proposed nutrition education within the SHP.

To alleviate this problem, interventions in the education sector, such as a national school feeding program, is needed not only to help the disadvantaged children to access education but also to uplift educational standards and improve nutritional status. However, Government interventions are not in isolation, there is need for integration of other actors such as Faith Based organizations, individuals and the Private sector.

We are fundraising to feed 300 school going children in rural Ugandan schools with breakfast and lunch time meals. $50 will buy 25kgs of maize flour; $100 will buy 50kgs of beans for a family of 4. Kindly support our cause

While the pandemic affected nations and segments of society around the world, the urban poor living in slums (a total of 1.58 million people to 2.1 million people) were particularly hard hit, with over 90 percent of the COVID-19 cases recorded in cities.

The large majority of the slum households are food insecure and suffer from low dietary quality. Rates of undernourishment are considerably suggesting that slum dwellers deserve more explicit attention in initiatives to improve nutrition. Household-level indicators are significantly correlated with individual-level indicators for women and children. In urban Kampala slums, only one household in five is food-secure, and nearly half of all households are categorized as “food-insecure with both adult and child hunger.” evidence indicates that parents often forego food in order to prioritize their children.

With the escalating prices of commodity prices such as cooking oil, sugar, rice and maize flour, many households in the slum communities often live without food as most of them live on hand to mouth.

In Makerere kivulu, one of Kampala’s largest slums, about 20 % of households go a whole day and night without food.

“Now that children are back home for holidays, I do not have what to feed them, I make maize porridge in the morning that we all feed on during the day”. Says Rose (Not real name).

Her story is just a tip of the iceberg of what most households go through on a daily basis, Children and women are most affected.

Please support our campaign to feed the hungry living in the slum communities in Kampala.

2021 has been a tough year for most families living in the urban slums of Kampala, with lock down restrictions on free movement, closure of schools and practicing social distancing most households have been in despair. Declared as a pandemic by W.H.O in March 2020, COVID-19 has hit much on the economies in the sub-Saharan Africa and Uganda in Particular.

Most Kampala slum dwellers rely on wage labor for example women are involved in domestic work and street vending ,they rely on very low levels of income yet they have to sustain their families as most of them are widows single mothers. Women and children are the most vulnerable to the effects of poor nutrition.

This is Grace (not real name), she is a single mother of two children who lives in a small one roomed temporary house, and one of the children has a hearing defect. Before COVID-19, she was working on a nearby by school as the cleaner and she would earn 5000shs($2) per day to help her take care of the children but that is no longer possible since schools are still closed.

“My older son moves in the community every morning to look for work, sometimes he assists market vendors to transport their merchandise and they pay him little money which he brings back home and we buy charcoal and maize flour, “she says.

The pain in her eyes is so evident as she further explains.

“The money he gets, we buy maize flour and make porridge and we only have one meal, am worried that the situation might even worsen. I also do laundry in the neighborhood whenever I get the opportunity to do so “she adds.

Grace is not alone; most households in the urban slums are in a similar position-bearing the high health costs and poor service delivery. Unlike rural communities where household often grow for food for subsistence consumption, food security in urban slums depends on households ‘income and ability to purchase food.

Children have also become rebellious to their parents because of being idle most part of the day.

“We have tried to confine the children in our homes but they always move in search for food. Majority of the Children eat leftover food dumped on garbage heaps which his so unhealthy” Julius the area chairperson explains.

As we come close to Christmas and end of year, let us remember our friends living in the slums with hardly anything to feast on this festive season. Kindly support our cause and donate so that the vulnerable families can enjoy their Christmas.

We wish you a merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has persisted for almost a year and half and it’s negative impact has continued to affect vulnerable communities alike. As urban slum communities struggle with a shredded economy, loss of jobs and domestic violence among other challenges, lack of food remains one of the aggressive issues faced by underprivileged households in Kampala slums. Urban slums are squalid and overcrowded communities that inhabit poor people who suffer lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities, inadequate living spaces with poor structural quality of housing. The cheap state of slum communities attract people of low earning or no employment since housing and other conditions are affordable. With the COVID19 negative impacts on the economy and stringent measures in place by the government to curb the spread of the virus, many slum dwellers have lost their jobs or their sources of income are no longer productive.

 As the government and other development stakeholders continue to strategize on how they can support vulnerable communities, continuous food supply and sanitary aid is required. The Ugandan government and other stakeholders such as civil society organizations, private sector and religious institutions have provided relief packages for vulnerable communities. However, these endeavors especially from the government have received a lot of criticism from the beneficiaries who indicate that low quality food is supplied and other intended beneficiaries miss out on the relief aid. Even considering recent cash transfers from the government, only about 10% of the intended beneficiaries received leaving many people in despair. Supporting vulnerable communities therefore requires consolidated efforts from all key stakeholders who are capacitated to give, no matter how small; it can make a remarkable difference in someone’s life.

JFCU is committed to continuously ensure that children's rights and welfare are preserved. This is why we have stayed in touch with our community beneficiaries through our programs even in these tough times of the Covid19 pandemic. Some of our beneficiaries are in hard to reach places but our teams in different communities across the country are working tirelessly to ensure children receive the support the JFCU can offer.

On 13^th August 2021, the heavy downpour did not stop us! We visited and supported 20 families in Mulago Katale and Mulimira zones slum communities in Kampala district. This was spear headed by our tireless staff, Charlotte Kusemererwa and Sandra Karungi.

Joy for Children Uganda appreciates the financial support from GlobalGiving to support the children affected the COVID19 pandemic and the current lockdown. The homes of families were identified by group leaders in the communities. Most of the households are headed by single mothers, elderly widows and the sickly. The package given to each family of consisted of 10 kilo grams of maize flour,3 kilo grams of sugar,1 bar of soap,1 liter of cooking oil,5kilo grams of beans and a packet of salt.

Families consume one meal a day that is taken between 4pm to 6pm. This is done to allow the meal to take them throughout the night and day until the next meal. The most consumed food is maize flour commonly termed as posho, which is served with beans. This meal is mostly preferred because it provides high amounts of carbohydrates that give them a good amount of energy. This type of meal does not contain enough protein, vitamins and fat for the proper development of the children hence increasing the risks of malnutrition in the near future. However, the food products are available in their immediate communities and are a bit affordable hence most preferred. In severe cases, some families mentioned that they do not afford the beans for days and hence eat the posho with tomatoes.

Moreover this meal of posho and bean soup (1kg of maize flour (@2,500shs); ¼ kg of beans (@1,000shs) and charcoal to cook is (@1,000shs) 4,500sh about 1.1 dollars but is still hard for the families to afford. This is an indication that if the dietary quality is not improved in these communities, children may suffer health complications as a result if malnutrition.

While we are working together with communities in order to keep a healthy population we have in our strategic plans to provide communities with skilling and financial aid to facilitate production and business transitions in their immediate communities. With economic activities revamped, families will have a source of income to sustain them. And for this to be implemented effectively, urgent issues such as access to medical care services, food and sanitary products should be availed concurrently to those already affected.

Joy for Children Uganda on behalf of the communities sincerely appreciates donations from kind hearted individuals and organizations for their generosity, kindness and support rendered to the people in Uganda. May the God Lord richly bless you.