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.
