Literacy

Exciting Update on the Literacy Class

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When we started the Literacy program in January, we were starting from scratch. We weren’t teaching little kids, we were teaching teen girls. We also wanted to make it FUN, something that Ugandan schools aren’t exactly known for. We weren’t even sure exactly how long each term would last!

As with all our entry-level vocational classes, after a couple of weeks of assessment, we divided the class into two classes, morning and afternoon. The girls who had already had some amount of early schooling were in one class, those who were illiterate due to lack of school were in another.

We had an enthusiastic teacher and teacher’s assistant, some ESL and early primary “western”-style curricula, and enthusiasm. And a VERY motivated student body!

Three months later (yes, just three months!), we have girls getting ready to move on to a vocational skill in Skills for Life. This means they can read, write, do basic math, and speak basic English!

IN.THREE.MONTHS.

We have incorporated games, puzzles, songs, poetry, reading aloud and all sorts of other things to make it fun. And they are THRIVING!

We do have some girls who haven’t progressed as quickly, of course, and they will continue on until they have achieved functional literacy. When I’m there in May, I will do several training sessions with the teachers on learning styles and learning disabilities (odds are good we have at least one girl with some learning difficulties). I’ll also be bringing a few board games and decks of cards. And we’ll use this first term’s successes and struggles to map out a more formal curriculum.

Suffice it to say, our girls are taking full advantage of the opportunities presented to them, and we couldn’t be more proud!

If you’d like to support this important work by becoming a MONTHLY DONOR, it would be a huge blessing to us. (Just like everywhere in the world, Uganda is suffering from rising prices on food and other necessities.) Just click the button and sign up – 100% goes to our programs!

YES, I want to be a monthly donor!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

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15 Years Old and a New Mom – Kalunji

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Kalunji came to our program when she was 5-months pregnant. She was living with her grandmother (jaja) in a terrible wooden shack in the slum. They didn’t have enough food, but her jaja insisted that Kalunji eat to nurture the baby.

Our team, with help from our donors at DonorSee, provided food, a mattress, bedding, a mosquito net, and a water filter for this small family. Kalunji began spending her days at the compound, even though she wasn’t enrolled in any of our programs. We fed her two meals a day and got her enrolled with Amani, an organization that helps teen moms with prenatal care and childbirth.

In January, Kalunji began learning reading, writing, basic math, and English in our new Literacy Program.

A month ago, Kalunji presented to our nurse at the Haven Clinic with severe malaria. She began an IV treatment and went into labor (about 3 weeks early) that evening.

Unfortunately, Amani was completely full! We also hadn’t purchased the required birthing kit yet. But our nurse, Sherry, called all around Kampala and finally found Kalunji space at the KCCA Hospital, where she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Kareem.

Kalunji moved into the Ross House, our residential program for teen moms in crisis, from the hospital. Two weeks later, her jaja died.

Raheem is a month old now, and doing really well! Sherry gives him all his regular checkups, as well as Mama. Kalunji is now back in Lit class, and she’s even rejoined dancing in Teen Talk on Fridays.

Next term, Kalunji will join one of the vocational classes in Skills for Life.

THIS IS WHAT WE DO, AND WHY WE ARE HERE

Girls like Kalunji, forced to trade sex just to have food or sanitary pads, are forgotten, shunned, ignored. Illiterate, desperately impoverished, and with no living family to help, her chances of even surviving childbirth were low.

But now she is safe, healthy, cared for, and learning.

There are thousands like Kalunji in the Namuwongo slum, and we can’t help them all. But those we can bring into our program are given sustainable skills, counseling, mentoring, and the life skills needed to not just survive but thrive.

These are hard stories… But they are stories of HOPE. OPPORTUNITY. CHANGE. And they are possible because of you.

Webele nyo!

Jennings

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