Educate and Empower Girls and Women of Acholi

RIVER FUND HIV/AIDS FAMILY SUPPORT WOMEN ASSOCIATION is a Community Based organization established in 2006. Its office is situated at Christ the King parish, Kitgum Town Council, Kitgum district, Uganda. It has a total membership of 30 women who have volunteered to help sensitize and restore hope to the traumatized community (orphans, child headed families, people affected with HIV/Aids) as well as improve the nutrition of malnourished children.

Key focus areas of intervention include; Training Women Living With Aids (PLWAs) on long term Survival skills, Care of malnourished children through providing food stuff, Counseling of married couples on coping with the Aids pandemic situation in their families, Home visits of PLWA, Educating mothers on providing proper and balanced nutrition using locally available resources and Initiating livelihood and economic strengthening schemes for PLWA that do not demand too much energy.

This report is on activities carried out 1^st quarter, 2014 in the month of January to March.

1. Support to children in School.

This quarter with the beginning of the new school calendar, the project supported 30 (thirty) disadvantaged children with scholastic materials, and uniforms to contribute to their stay in School. The children most of whom are in their lower primary of education will receive these kinds of support through to term III of the 2014 school calendar.

      2. Training of care givers on Nutrition and HIV/AIDS Long Term Survival Skills.

To empower the women and girls, the project conducted training in Nutrition and HIV/AIDS Long Term Survival Skills (LTSS) to 150 care givers. The training highlighted the key areas of child’s survival amidst HIV/AIDS and poor nutrition. Other important component covered topics of children’s rights and the various roles and responsibilities of parents, care givers and the children.

Lessons learnt.

There are many cases of child abuse and neglect especially of Children with health related problems like HIV/AIDs. Many Parents look at them as children who can never achieve in life. This has also led to some children running away from home to live with other relatives or move from friend and to friends.

With the support for education, many children are keeping out of school due to lack of fees or scholastic materials as most parents are taking to alcohol consumption other than meet the children’s needs.

What did not work well?

There project was not able to support the children in terms of fees payment. With more than three pending activities yet to be carried out the available fund was not enough to cater for fees. The children will be supported in Scholastic materials this school calendar.