One extremely wonderful part of being here in northern Uganda, working on a project like this, is the people i get to meet. As i have mentioned so many times, there are constant opportunities to meet many special individuals and as i have been reminded recently, i can’t loose focus of what an opportunity that really is. Thanks Louise.
Kenneth and i first met sitting in my new managers office – Jolly. Kenneth immediately struck me as being a little more tapped into the bigger picture of the world and i quickly realized why. Chosen as a member of the youth action network http://www.youthactionnet.org/showmultimedia/1061
This is an organization promoting youth development, he was fortunate to be sent to the US for a conference of other youth from all over the world to discuss these issues last year. I can truly see how exposure to western programs such as this can dramatically accelerate ideas in the right people.
Now there are a few things that immediately make Kenneth stand out. At mid 20’s he runs not one but two different NGO’s focused on helping the most vulnerable of people here in the most war affected areas. Children's Chance is his primary NGO http://childrens-chance.org/ started in 2008 with a focus on orphans and other vulnerable children. His projects have concentrated on “child headed families”, which is a baffling concept for us in the west. These are families of children, lead by the eldest (often only 12 themselves) where the parents were killed in LRA raids. They provide basic service support and small funds for these families (500 orphans helped in 2010) so the children can go to school, develop skills and engage in sustenance farming. Although education is considered “free” in Uganda, there are small fees that the most poor can not possibly afford. Uniforms, exam fees and other costs make many village families unable to send their children to school. Many of these families also have no formal skills yet perhaps have inherited land from their families, so support in the way of skills training and tools is also an important leg up for them.
Kenneth also understands the impact of social media, the internet and networking as a whole in creating a support and information sharing system that in one of their success stories re united 82 street children with families. This is one hard working guy.
I have committed myself to work with Kenneth and other NGOs such as his in any way that i can and i believe there may be ways his organization can put me in touch with youth that our program will be looking to assist. Its a sad reflection of the reality here but there are literally hundreds of grass roots NGOs operating on budgets smaller than a 10 year olds allowance and are making some real differences in real peoples lives. They are under the radar of most and don't get the recognition that larger and better funded organizations do. They have no “executive committees”, they don't loose up to 40% of donations to “administrative costs” and they don’t have slick websites ( as many opt for blogs to get their accomplishments and objectives heard). They live to work in what ever small capacity they can to help their fellow Ugandans. I was told once that if you help one Ugandan, their selfless nature probably means you are also helping 50 people behind them, Kenneth is a perfect example of this.
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