Breakfast Project
NFSC started the breakfast project to help feed the children who were otherwise going to school hungry. Because resources of most families have been over extended in an attempt to care for the big numbers of orphaned children, some homes are able to provide only one meal a day which is usually in the evening. Many children were going to school hungry, forcing some of them to skip school in search of food. This project started in May 2000 with 60 children.
There are seven breakfast centers serving over 1,500 children. The children receive breakfast every school day before they go to school. The breakfast consists of porridge made from maize meal & soy bean and a daily multivitamin.
Each center has a volunteer cook who takes roll-call and checks the general health of the children.
Each center also has a community committee that helps in verification of need for recruited children.
Clinic
The clinic situated in Kyaliwajjala, serves the children and their guardians. It is run by two licensed nurses who are also in charge of procurement of medical supplies. They see patients at the clinic and make house calls to follow up or see those who are too sick to travel to the clinic. The nurses also hold community outreach health clinics in the villages that are too far away from the clinic in Kyaliwajjala.
The JCRC/NFSC joint HIV/AIDS clinic is held every other Wednesday in Kimbejja at a house which Patrick (Rosette’s brother) built but never lived in. The clinic is open to everyone including individuals who are not NFSC clients. This clinic is staffed by NFSC & JCRC
Scholarships
NFSC provides scholarships to help out guardians who cannot pay school fees due to family tragedy or hardship.
Sponsorship Program
NFSC looks for sponsors in Uganda and abroad to help families pay school fees. We seek for long-term commitments (four or more years).
Uniforms and other School Requirements
The Ugandan Government in conjunction with the Ministry of Education provides free Universal Basic Education for primary one through seven; however Uniforms, Books and other school requirements are the responsibility of individual students and their guardians. NFSC tries to help out those children whose guardians cannot afford to pay for those requirements.
After School Program
NFSC After School Program (ASP) was set up primarily to help the children with homework every afternoon on their way home from school. Now the program also provides counseling, cultural training, reading, life skills, dancing, drama, singing etc. The program is run by an ASP-Coordinator, who is usually a teacher from a local school, supported by the Breakfast volunteer; supervised by the center coordinator in conjunction with the Program Manager – ASP.
Buddy System
This system was established as a way of providing NFSC with information about the children’s daily challenges/obstacles at home and school.
Because of limited resources NFSC in not able to monitor the children as frequently as it would like to, so it divided the children into groups of fives according to proximity of each others residences. The oldest of the five becomes the team leader, and his/her role is to look out for the team members and report any needs they may have to the NFSC staff. Things they report include but not limited to:
- Sickness of team member or guardian
- Absence at breakfast center
- Absence at school
- Neglect/abuse at home
- And other needs a team member may have
Income Generating Activities
An Income Generating Activity (IGA) has been initiated to help families supplement lost income due to illness or death of the house hold income earner. It is hoped that families which will participate in this venture will be able to afford to take care of the infected and affected family members including ARVs treatment support. Income will also be generated to support the scholarship fund.