The Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda Arch-Bishop Michael August Blume visits OVC households living in abject poverty in Namuwongo slum.

It was a bright afternoon on 5^th of May 2015 and the Apostolic Nuncio Arch-Bishop Michael August Blume; SVD Apostolic Nuncio accompanied by Fr. Fernando arrived at In Need Home fully prepared to go to visit families living in abject poverty.

They were welcomed to In Need Home by Anny Ngoga Bwengye the Executive director of In Need Home together with the staff.

The Apostolic Nuncio in Uganda together with Fr. Fernando and the staff of In Need Home walked to the slums and visited house to house. 

The children and their care givers were free to interact with the Nuncio and he prayed and blessed them. He asked some whether they have ever been visited by a priest or any pastor and one  old grandmother said that she has spent over 30years living in Namuwongo but she has never received a priest or a pastor in her house. She was so happy that she had to say that Jesus has entered in her house that very day.

Of course visiting a slum like Namuwongo, there are risks involved. You have to be prepared to cross sewage channels, muddy areas, if you enter the rooms in the slum they are infested with bedbugs, if you are white you be prepared to be called Muzungu by young and old people….the experience is endless.  To our surprise at In Need Home the Apostolic Nuncio in Uganda thanked In Need Home for arranging the visit. At In Need Home we were very surprised by the passion of Michael August Blume for children and poor people.

 

The orphans and vulnerable children under the care of In Need Home were so happy to have been visited by the Apostolic Nuncio in Uganda and all were in jubilation saying that we have seen the Pope.....the Pope has visited us. They entertained him and took photographs with him.

He addressed the children

He blessed In Need Home and promised to keep in touch with the home.

IN NEED HOME WELCOMES BHALOBASA

In Africa a visitor is treasured so much! This time visitors from Bhalobasa created a smile on the faces of children at In Need Home.

http://www.bhalobasa.it/2014/10/invito-pranzo-annuale-30-novembre/

In Need Home is a non governmental organisation in Uganda that works towards the general well being of Orphans and other vulnerable children(OVCs)living in slums of Kampala who are glossily living a life of denial from full enjoyment of their rights www.inneedhome.org

 These children are living in abject poverty, they are denied food because of fear of going to the toilet which is expensive, are unable to access education, medical care and other basic needs. The typical living room is made of mud and wattle, when it rains, there is no sleeping but only to stand covering themselves with polythene papers.  One of the families visited by Bhalobasa in  Kasanvu zone in Namuwongo slum, the single mother, one Betty, lamented about what the 25 children who lived in one room what they would eat that very night. Though visitors seemed shocked about where the children would sleep because the room was very small to house 25 persons, for her that was not her worry.  She narrates a story about how one of her children had died because of over flooding of Nakivubo channel that swept her house at night after heavy down fall.

Through the help of people like Bhalobasa Onlus from Italy, In Need Home tries to work with the Local councils, opinion  leaders and care givers of these poor children  and work as a team to provide for these children. They are helped to access education, those who are hungry are given food in addition to medical care and psycho social support.

When Bhalobasa visited In Need Home, they visited the families of these vulnerable children and sometimes it is not about material giving but love and care is what these children and their house holds need. The visitors freely talked to the care givers and slum dwellers and shared their experience about life in Namuwongo slum. This seemed not to end. I found out that before you even think of donating to the disadvantaged communities, it is very important first to restore hope which seem to have gone.

Thank you Bhalobasa for restoring hope to the orphans and other vulnerable children living in Namuwongo slum through home visits whenever you visit Uganda and providing education support.

http://www.bhalobasa.it/2014/10/invito-pranzo-annuale-30-novembre/

The Founder of In Need Home Anny Ngoga Bwengye gets a Rotaract Vocational award

The founder of In Need Home;  Anny Ngoga Bwengye who started the child centered organization in 2003, because of her outstanding and exclusive service to Orphans and other vulnerable children, has been recognized by Rotaract Club of  International Health Sciences University (IHSU).

She has a big heart that accommodates the most underprivileged.
 According to people close to her right from childhood in Kisoro district, after work at home, Anny would go to go to fetch water for the elderly in the rural Kisoro. Her passion for the poor and the vulnerable communities dates back from her childhood.

When she came to Kampala, she served at Nsambya babies home in 1980's as a volunteer night matron. While working with Kampala archdiocese, she led  Mother Theresa of Calcutta to tour Kisenyi slum. She later went to University of Zambia (UNZA) while at the university, she opted to care for the disabled students.

When she returned back to Uganda, she decided to start In Need Home in march 2003.

Anny Ngoga Bwengye addressing the Rotaract club members at the function where she received the vocational award.

She later appeared as the personality of the month of August in the Leadership magazine. Leadership magazine is the premier catholic publication in Uganda that belongs to the Comboni Missionaries.
The full article can be accessed on the following url http://bit.ly/1r19Pbg

Thank you Anny for being there for the underprivileged !!!!!!

In Need Home unleashes a documentary of interventions in Namuwongo slum

As an event of celebration of the 13years of In Need Home (INH) since it opened doors in 2003, INH has unleashed another documentary about it's interventions showing achievements and testimonies from the beneficiaries.

Thanks to the development partners, sponsors of children and the staff of INH.

IT'S RAINY SEASON AND NAMUWONGO SLUM DWELLERS ARE DOWN IN THE DUMPS.

Namuwongo is 2^ne biggest slum in Kampala (Uganda)  that lies along Nakivubo channel.  Life in this slum can become very challenging when it rains and the channel floods to the temporary structures where the dwellers live. It is now September  and the long rainy season according to Griffiths has started. Every one that lives in Namuwongo is worried. This season is characterized of death, floods, outbreak of diseases like cholera, malaria and most families thank God every morning for keeping them alive. A slum of over 20,000 people has only 25 toilets according to the Local Council leader in charge of Hygiene in Soweto.
The time I visited the family of my friend Rebecca of Namuwongo zone A, she shed tears narrating the story of how it rained throughout the night and the entire family had to cover themselves with polythene bags while standing the whole night. This is because their house leaks. While in a literacy class at In Need Home,Rebecca was dosing the whole day and could not concentrate.
 Tears covered Rebecca's care giver’s face as she started explaining to me about the death of her son through the flood after heavy down pour that swept her one roomed wattle made house to Nakivubo channel.

Her living room is flooded and all her property including her medicine soaked

To this child, the right to play is seen as a luxury because the environment is not safe for her to play she  can hurt herself

This slum is divided into seven zones namely: Industrial Area View, Go-Down, Kasanvu, Namuwongo B, Namuwongo A,  Kanyogoga/Masengere and Yoweri Kaguta (YOKA). These zones have over 20,000 people that are living in very confined spaces, averaging a room for a family of at least 5 members.

 A child in Namuwongo is in periphery of child rights, while other children in rich man's suburbs of Muyenga and Bugolobi may access fully their rights , the children in this slum, depend on one meal in 24 hours, they are denied food sometimes because of fear to go to the toilet which costs 200 shillings which may not be there, they have no play time because the area is not safe.Accessing a toilet is almost impossible and the inhabitants resort to the use of flying toilets. 

To visit a toilet one pays 200 Uganda shillings, but most times the slum dwellers do not have the money and for children it is even more worse because they are denied food  for the fear of going to the toilet.

Living amidst heaps of rubbish is taken as the order of life. Public health issues are less addressed and preventable diseases that could be avoided remain the biggest challenge.

 
In Need Home has designed projects at the rescue of the children in adversities that live in Namuwongo slum.  There are many exciting projects which help in empowering the young and single mothers, sponsoring the out of school children, chronically sick children, children with disabilities (CWDs), abused and neglected children, orphaned children and  children off the streets and prepare them for school through provision of psychosocial support. These vulnerable children not only receive food, education and psychosocial support but also they access the facility of a clean toilet at In Need Home.

Play time is very important to every child. Children enjoying play time after a public speaking camp at In Need Home

These children are identified through community mapping and use of a detailed selection criteria (that is referred to as 5 factor selection criteria) that recruits the critically vulnerable children after which they are incorporated into the project. The child sponsorship programme pays school fees and also provides each sponsored child with a school uniform, two meals a day, and school supplies including textbooks. The children are provided with medical support, as well as emotional help to the family. The children become the entry point to the entire family.