Nyaka AIDS Orphans School
Support of Education and Community Awareness Programs
Kanungu District, Southwestern Uganda
Background
According to the UNAIDS fact sheet, the estimated number of AIDS orphans in Uganda is 1.7 million. 4,000 of these orphans live in the Kanungu District. Many of these communities are so acutely affected by the epidemic that their entire social structure is out of whack. Children end up living with their grandparents who have virtually no income or long life expectancy.
Under these conditions, AIDS orphans rarely have the opportunity to attend good schools, if they are able to attend school at all. And their education rarely extends beyond primary school level.
Nyaka AIDS Orphans School, located in the Kanungu District of Southwestern Uganda, is a community driven project addressing the orphan crisis in the country. The school was established as a project of STSAD Inc. with the aim of providing free education to AIDS orphans who represent an increasingly large proportion of the future generation.
Nyaka AIDS Orphans School is a unique response to the consequences of HIV/AIDS. The school was built at the grassroots level, and is strengthening social connections between AIDS orphans and local families. Nyaka's approach is to bring the community together in order to collectively provide personal care and attention to these orphans.
Nyaka AIDS Orphans School assists AIDS orphans by:
- *Providing them with quality free education in a nurturing environment suited to their situations. In addition to primary education, the extracurricular program works to teach these children practical skills such as gardening and handcraft production
- Recruiting teachers to work with these children formally and to serve as their mentors on a daily basis.
- Developing infrastructure to ensure that they stay off the streets and spend their early, formative years in a supervised, caring community.
- Requiring mandatory involvement in chores such as gardening, cooking, and cleaning occurs.
The Project
The Stephen Lewis Foundation is helping to improve the educational component of the school's programs. With funds from the Foundation, the school will obtain one year's supply of educational materials including school uniforms, chalk, pens and pencils, textbooks and exercise books. In addition, the school will expand the community awareness programs presented by the Nyaka Anti-AIDS Club. This will allow them to take an anti-AIDS message to other schools in the District. This expansion requires funds for transportation and upkeep of the club members, venue acquisition, instruments and costumes.
SLF Ref#: Nyaka.05.01