Rebuilding the lives of street children in Uganda

'Thank you Retrak for supporting me in school!'

One of our key aims here at Retrak is to encourage children to embrace education in order for them to be better prepared for adult life. In order to do so, we facilitate life skills training and catch-up lessons in order to inspire children to rejoin formal education once they are reintegrated into a family environment.

The life principles imparted during the life skills training are centered on the 3 Cs: challenges, choices, and consequences. The 3 Cs aim at equipping young people with the necessary skills for them to understand who they are, where they are going, what challenges they might face along the way, and how to adopt positive behaviours when faced with these challenges in order to enable them to find joy in their lives as they mature. Using this approach, the children discover how to think critically before making decisions about critical issues in life such as staying in school.

The catch-up lessons have made a great change in the lives of children. Last year, a good number of reintegrated children passed their Primary Leaving Exam. Upon returning to visit Retrak, Nico, a former beneficiary who now attends one of the best secondary schools in Uganda, said the following: 'Retrak rescued me from rubbish and instilled good behaviours in me that enabled me to return to school. I am doing well in school because I have stuck to the life principles I received while I stayed here.'

This is the kind of strategic, long-term investment in young people made by our many wonderful donors that is now really paying off for these children and the community as a whole. None of this would be possible without you, so we extend our sincere gratitude. Thank you for making a difference!