Food for children in refugee settlement Uganda

To make ends meet, a number of refugees, particularly in south western Uganda, work as casual labourers on farms while some lease or borrow land to grow food. Others sell vegetables at market stalls. A few volunteer with NGOs in the settlements. 

 Everyday, as they go out to the community to meet refugee families and hear what they need, our staff and volunteers in Bidi Bidi see small ways that they could make a big difference. Here are some examples of the small projects they’ve completed that have really made an impact for the people who’ve found a haven at Bidi Bidi settlement.

In addition to all of our formal work with the refugee community in Bidi Bidi, we’ll continue looking for and doing small, doable projects like these that can make a huge difference in people’s lives.

Thank you for your generousity our team worked tiredly to see the beneficiaries receive each 25kg of maize flour, 10kgs of bean and 2 bars of soap.

This was made possible with the funds from people like you to make their lives easy and enjoyable. Currently about 25% of the refugees in the settlements are supplied with sufficient food. But the situation in the host communities is also precarious.

We want to say thank you!

We know there are a lot of other ways you could have spent this money, so we feel privileged that you chose to invest in our work. You are now part of our community and we're honored to have you. Help us continue to feed these families in need

With your kind and generous support towards making life better for a child in a refuge camp, residents there could meet basic food needs preventing further damage arising from malnutrition.

 The dollars you gave are untouched, reason being we are planning for end of year/Xmass camp visit. Our camp visit is sheduled for the end of Decemenber 2022 where we shall be handing over  most of the items purchased to the beficiaries as we wait for the rains to start well. This willnot be possible without your support, we thank you for your generosity we pledge that every dollar shall be spent in the righful manner as per the project description and donation purpose only 12% of your dollars will be used on administrative basis to reach the camp.

SCOEN's multipronged approach after realizing provision of food relief is not sustainable and requires continues funding which is not easy to secure.

Creating a better sustainable way to deal with hunger by establishing and strengthening the self-groups with the host communities, refugees and create perspectives. Train them in effective, ecologically sustainable agricultural techniques in horticulture adapted to the new climatic conditions specifically horticulture. Fighting malnutrition from the vegetable garden around the camp; helping the families grow food for themselves.

Supporting agriculture among refugee populations makes an especially meaningful difference. When refugees, host communities and displaced people can grow their own food, they do not have to rely on food aid. This helps them rebuild their lives and have sustainable access to nutritious food. We instance intend toset up a program in the Bidi-Bidi refugee camp to distribute tools and teach participants about growing food, helping them to break the cycle of hunger and conflict; use gardening to fight hunger in their communities.

Vegetables in Human Nutrition and Disease Prevention; vegetables are important for human health because of their vitamins, minerals, phytochemical compounds, and dietary fiber content. Especially antioxidant vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E) and dietary fiber content have important roles in human health. Adequate vegetable consumption can be protective some chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, as well as improve risk factors related with these diseases.

With the generous support of people like you, our emergency teams are helping save lives, providing lifesaving treatment to malnourished children and delivering urgent food and other rebuild activities.Together, we can take urgent action to prevent children from sliding even deeper into tragedy. Now is the time to act and help children survive.

You can probably stretch your dollars through the Food for children in refugee settlement Uganda fundraiser we created on GlobalGiving platform link that we created recently on the same or even do bank wire which ever way you find suitable for you.

We know there are a lot of other ways you could have spent this money, so we feel privileged that you chose to invest in our work. You are now part of our community and we're honored to have you.

Thank you in advance

SCOEN fundraising Team

Enhancing livelihood to 100 poor women has yield huge impact in the lives of vulnarable women in the camp

The women are continuing to revolve the fund provided among themselves and return to the group after a grace period of three months.

The fund has realised its intended purpose and continue to contribute imensly towards the livelihoods of the selected women.

However; in the last three month, the project did not raise fund so as to expand to more women. This could be becuse of the current emerging intermational crisis.

We are always thankful. We call upon our most generous donors to continue stretching their supporting hands to our cause.

Thank you for your generousity our team worked tiredly to see the beneficiaries as well receive each 10 kg of maize flour, 5kgs of bean and 2 bars of soap.

This was made possible with the funds from people like you to make their lives easy and enjoyable. Currently about 25% of the refugees in the settlements are supplied with sufficient food. But the situation in the host communities is also precarious.

We want to say thank you!

We know there are a lot of other ways you could have spent this money, so we feel privileged that you chose to invest in our work. You are now part of our community and we're honored to have you. Help us continue to feed these families in need

Dear supporters,

Thank you for your generousity our team worked tiredly to see the beneficiaries receive each 25kg of maize flour, 10kgs of bean and 2 bars of soap.

This was made possible with the funds from people like you to make their lives easy and enjoyable. Currently about 25% of the refugees in the settlements are supplied with sufficient food. But the situation in the host communities is also precarious.

We want to say thank you!

We know there are a lot of other ways you could have spent this money, so we feel privileged that you chose to invest in our work. You are now part of our community and we're honored to have you. Help us continue to  feed these families in need

Living Conditions of Refugees in Uganda May Become ‘Untenable

Refugees in Uganda have had their rations slashed as aid agencies face a 70% shortfall in resources to support the largest refugee population in Africa. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) needs a total of US$220 million this year for refugees but has received only 30% of this so far, according to WFP Uganda Country Director. Refugees in Uganda currently receive only 60 percent of a full ration, or the equivalent in cash, due to reduced funding.

Uganda hosts the largest refugee population in Africa according to the UNHCR 2020 Global Trends Report, with some 1.4 million people mainly from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and over 860,000 of these are children. 

Despite pandemic-related border closures since March 2020, Uganda applied several exceptions, allowing thousands of asylum seekers to cross the border and receive protection and humanitarian assistance in line with COVID-19 screenings and protocols.

Nearly 90 percent of the refugees or 1.26 million live in 13 rural settlements and they are heavily dependent on the WFP’s continued assistance.

The WFP office is worried about the reduced support and calls for more efforts to ensure the refugees survive, especially in the second wave of Covid-19.

“We cannot play down the threat of hunger that still looms over refugees. “It is important that donors continue to fund Uganda’s refugee response. If refugees are battling hunger daily, this undermines moves toward self-reliance under the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework.”

“While the pandemic has affected all communities, refugees have been hit particularly hard. With a second COVID-19 wave in full swing in Uganda, I am very concerned that the living conditions of refugees may not only deteriorate but become untenable,” said UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) Representative to Uganda.

Cutting Down on Meals

COVID-19 has exacerbated food insecurity among refugees who have been forced to reduce the amount and frequency of meals eaten in a day, while others effects include survival sex and child marriages.

The refugee agencies are increasingly finding it harder to raise funds for the refugees as donor countries reduce their contributions due to their own economic challenges arising from the pandemic. 

 The refugees say that the cut in their fod aid rations by WFP has left most of them helplessly surviving on one meal a day. Initially the refugees would wait for enough free food to be distributed, but now most of them have been forced into planting food crops like cassava, sorghum, maize and vegetables as alternative means of feeding themselves and to supplement the reduced food ration. 

Bidi-bidi hosts 270,000 South Sudan rugees, but they are struggling to access land to grow food.

Also with closed schools and bad cultural norms that depict girls as a source of wealth, parents are selling off their children and defilement cases are on the rise.r

One 32, a refugee in Bidibidi sttlement and a mother of four children told a local news agency that she is struggling to feed her household on the reduced food rations. She had opted to farm in a neighborhood in the settlement but her efforts are being frustrated due to the lack of available land.

Bidibidi refugee leader chairperson of one of the internal ‘villages’, said that the refugees are vulnerable and lack the power to negotiate for themselves and permanently acquire farmlands.

According to our staff in Bidibidi base camp in Yumbe district, some parents are trying to marry off their young daughters to get access to money, and cases of sexual abuse are also high in the camps.

To make ends meet, a number of refugees, particularly in south western Uganda, work as casual labourers on farms while some lease or borrow land to grow food. Others sell vegetables at market stalls. A few volunteer with NGOs in the settlements. 

 Everyday, as they go out to the community to meet refugee families and hear what they need, our staff and volunteers in Bidi Bidi see small ways that they could make a big difference. Here are some examples of the small projects they’ve completed that have really made an impact for the people who’ve found a haven at Bidi Bidi settlement.

In addition to all of our formal work with the refugee community in Bidi Bidi, we’ll continue looking for and doing small, doable projects like these that can make a huge difference in people’s lives.