Jennifer is a little girl in her primary one. She lives with her mother in one of the Kampala suburbs. Jennifer live with other 7 children in her home – four of these are orphans whose parents died during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war. Since the family moved from Northern Uganda, it has not been easy for them to afford food, education or medical care. Most often the family relies on leftovers from restaurant or children go to the market to pick food left in the market by the traders.
When the school term started in February this year, apart from Jennifer, the six other children couldn’t go to school because they lacked school fees and other requirements. Jennifer is luck to have go a sponsor through Joy for Children Uganda. The sponsor meets her school requirement and also gives her other gifts to support her. Her latest gift is a brand-new dress.
She was very excited about her gift that she could not stop laughing and jumping in excitement. She never wanted to put it off, in fact she wanted to with it in school instead of her school uniform.
On asking the mother why she was so excited, the mother said that she has never received a new dress but she used to put on old clothes. To Jennifer, not being able to afford a dress made her feel bad. And just like many other children that have received gifts from their sponsors, Jennifer felt loved, happy and cared.
Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda
According to the situation Analysis of child poverty and deprivation in Uganda report by UNICEF in 2014, 55% of children 0 to 4 in Uganda live in poverty and 24% or 1 in 5 live in extreme poverty. 38% of children aged 6 to 17 in Uganda live in poverty and 28% live in extreme poverty. Child poverty is higher for boys in the o to 4 age group but higher for girls in the 6 to 17 age group.
Income is not the best way of measuring child poverty; there are experiences which income does not capture. For children poverty is about more than just income, it is about growing up with good health care, education, a strong family and community environment of love and happiness so that a child is able to fully enjoy their childhood and associated rights.
Thank you, our sponsors, for putting a smile on children that live in the slum areas of Uganda.
