XMASS 2014.

Merry Xmass and happy new year to all of you!

This Xmass was one of a kind here at FALCCO. Members of Transformation Revival Centre, a local church here, teamed up with us to organise an Xmass service and party for the children. Many thanks to the members for their involvement and contributions.

The children practiced the whole week for their musical presentations. We had some parents and other guests come over for the Xmass morning event.
Ululations and "Jingle Bells" filled the air as the knife touched the edge of the cake. The cake was cut by Justine Cyimpaye (representing the other children) assisted by a FALCCO volunteer, the director, a parent and one other guest.

Some children got a bit scared by the "fire" around the cake but realized later it was actually harmless!
We greatly appreciate our sponsors and friends who have made this year 2014 a memorable one for the children. We look forward to an even greater year 2015.

Tis holiday time again for our children. This is the end of academic year holiday and they will be having more time to help out at home and relax.
Xmas is on and preparations are underway for a children's xmas party on 25th Dec. Song practices are taking place and everyone is getting more and more expectant for the long awaited xmas cake!
Pics will be up as soon as our network is stable.

Hello from all of us here at FALCCO!
It was really great last month when we hosted our friends Thor, Sara, Emma, Sophia and Victor from Sweden. The children enjoyed every bit of the time they had with you. Thanks for giving them and all of us a memorable experience!

More IGPs. Pictured is the mother of Justine Cyimpaye. The family has been supported by FALCCO to start a simple foodstuff retail business. She sits here beside the beans she sells at a small roadside market near their home. This family has no land to cultivate and that makes them much more vulnerable.

However, we believe that with the determination and resilience that this lady has, her business will grow and she will be able to improve the conditions of her family. She has been a single mother to her 3 children for about 8 years.
Empowering households to start their own income generating projects is key to our vision. We believe that anyone can work their way out of poverty if they have the right mindset and are given the right opportunities.

A snapshot of a Kisoro village showing the home (in the middle of the pic) where Richard Manirinde, one of our children, stays with his mother and siblings. It shows the sprawling gardens typical of most villages in Kisoro. The gardens presently contain maize and Irish potatoes. The potatoes are due for harvest but the maize will be harvested in January 2015. Near Richards home is the garden that his mother cultivates. This typifies how strongly the communities rely on agriculture for their livelihood. In the far background are the Virunga ranges which house Mgahinga forest National park. The park is home to the world-famous mountain gorillas. Tourists come from all over the world to see the gorillas.The ranges stretch into Rwanda and D.R Congo on the other side of the mountains.

A NEW GAME TO PLAY!

Gato Jackyline together with friends try out a new and exciting game with her frisbee. Evarist poses with his too. Much thanks to our sponsors who are helping to enrich these young, innocent souls with precious memories of joy instead of dread and misery.

The father of Bridget Mukashema stands beside the garden he cultivated with FALCCO support under the economic empowerment programme. The family is harvesting irish potatoes now from the garden and there is still some maize to be harvested in January. He has told us that it has been a great boost for him because he has a large family and feeding them sometimes is a challenge. he is now grateful for the support because he can feed his family in this season and is selling some of the crops to get money for their welfare, and offcourse he has kept some seed for the next planting season.

It is common here for families that don't have land to hire someone else's land for two or more seasons and cultivate in it. FALCCO seeks to ensure that each family has food security in addition to growing for commercial purposes. We will do this by supporting families to hire land for cultivation beginning with those who don't have at all.

Economic empowerment

Evarist poses with the goat donated to them by FALCCO, but this time its not alone.....it has a kid! We hope to continue this goat rotation until every family has a goat for a start. We have asked the parents to let the goats multiply so that they may offer economic security by enabling them to supplement with other income generating projects without getting a loan or external assistance.

Samuel (3rd right) and Elizabeth (5th right)

Elizabeth Niyobyose (2nd left) enjoys herself during P.E class. She is learning to adapt to new peaple and is making friends very fast. This is boosting her social and psychological development.

FUN AT SCHOOL

Samuel Ihorihoze taps the head of a friend as part of the game they are playing during their physical education time after lunch. He is one of the children who make that class really lively. He is developing really well cognitively thanks to our partners who have made it possible for these children to stay in school...and enjoy it!

Jacky Munezero, who is doing a tailoring course with FALCCO support will be completing her 2-year course end of Nov. 2014. She poses here with a white shirt that she has designed herself. We believe she will be a pillar of hope and support to her family when she finishes.
Our plan for her after school is to assist her get her own tailoring machine so that she gets self-employed. One machine costs about $150. Contributions to that effect would be highly appreciated. In the meantime, we will do our best to get her somewhere to work for another person. Secondly, she obtained some computer skills which she hopes to improve on so that she may be more competitive in the job market.

HELLO THERE

It was another letter writing season full of fun and interaction. The children always look forward to the time when they can write to their sponsors...and hear from them where possible. We shared a snack with them and they set out to write. This communication continues to do wonders to their self esteem because children feel great knowing they have a friend in "Outside countries" as they love to call it!

Parents pay attention as our volunteer stresses a point.

SEPTEMBER ACTIVITIES

We had fruitful discussions with our children's parents and caregivers to get feedback about the children's welfare at home and also to discuss their report cards for last term. Generally the parents told us about the high motivation they see in the children concerning their education and how they are practicing the health habits that we taught them recently. One parent went..."My child asked me to buy him a handkerchief because you taught him that he should always have one and that when you meet him with it he will get a present!"
At the back is Bridget's mum. Left; Niyobyose Elizabeth's mum, 2nd left on front row is the grandmother of Miriam Cyimpaye. Next are the mothers to Geoffrey and Cyimpaye Justine respectively.

Holiday time activities

It was a great feeling for the children to get a month off for holiday. They can now help out at home with grazing, cooking and some gardening for the older ones. Last saturday was fun at office as we received feedback from the children about the last term. We looked through their reports and discussed with them individually about their perfomance and general school experience. Generally, there was improvement in the perfomance of all the children.
They also had time to watch educational music videos, cartoons and drama on the office computer.
We thank all our partners and sponsors for the support. The new school is really making a big difference in their learning experience!

End of term 2

Hello friends. Tis been a busy past few weeks with the children doing 2nd term exams. They are now through and will be getting their report cards end of next week.
We therefore had them come over for a health and sanitation children's workshop over the weekend. Some pics...

New Hope, New Look!

We thank all our friends and sponsors for your continued support. Our children are slowly experiencing a total turn around in their lives. The school authorities tell us there is a marked improvement in perfomance and discipline in them. In this month of July we shall organise a health sensitisation workshop for the parents and guardians to train them on good hygiene practices that will guarantee healthy children and families. Our goal is the holistic development of the child and economic empowerment of the household.
These are some of the children in their new uniforms just behind their school.

Hello friends!
Greetings from Kisoro, Uganda and the children. Our children are catching up well in their new school and studies are progressing well. Updates and pics coming soon.

BACK TO SCHOOL.

The 1st term holiday is finally over and its time to go back to school. These are some of the children after receiving scholastic materials from FALCCO. Thanks all our partners and sponsors for making all this possible. The children are now accessing better quality education due to the support. They can now have break tea and lunch at the school that we've taken them to. Before, they used to walk long distances going home for lunch and then back to school.

Had fun with the children; singing, dancing, playing...