CENTRE DAY STORIES

Centre day is the day that we meet with the children for various activities as we monitor their overall development. Last weekend we held a centre day and we bring you the stories and images from our fun filled moments.
As some of you know, we recently registered new children as we seek to increase our outreach and impact in the community. This was the first time that the new children were interacting with the older ones in the project and it was such fun and interesting. The joy of making new friends could be seen all over their faces.

In these centre days we have interactive learning and counselling sessions, have fun and play activities and share a snack especially when we keep the children for two hours or more.
These days give us opportunity to get updated about the welfare of the children and their families, we get an opportunity to know any issues in their lives that need our attention and we intervene.

Our target is to have 50 sponsored children by the end of this year. Right now, only 21 are sponsored. Please let us know if you or a friend can take up a child for sponsorship. It takes 30 Usd per month to be a sponsor. That support helps us to provide fees, uniform and school lunch to your sponsored child. It also includes a medical contribution to the child in case of sickness plus facilitating activities like the ones below for the physical, social, cognitive and spiritual development of the child. You may contact us at falccokisoro@hotmail.com for more details.

And now the games.....

LEARNING TIME

This is now study time. We had one of our new volunteers, Aphia Nyiramuco, a lady who loves children and works with an NGO that promotes nature conservation in schools targeting communities that live around the national parks of Kisoro.

Among the activities we had was the study and interactive session pictured below.
We discussed with the children about their career aspirations, gave them counsel about the upcoming holiday and how to utilise it well, and the newly registered children got to introduce themselves and get assimilated into the group.
Though most of the new children have not yet got sponsors, we shall be involving them in these joint centre days of interaction, fun and learning.

These days, we are holding our centre days in the community, at a home that has always been glad to host us. Previously we used to have all the children come to town; we found that taxing especially for the youngest ones in the group. So we shall be interchanging between town and the villages.

It is among our strategic plans to get a central place for our office which has enough space for the childrens' activities also.
Pray with us in that line.

TIS LUNCH TIME

After the various activities, the children were certainly hungry and so it was time to share a snack as FALCCO family. It was a moment when the new children got to know the older ones in the project.

A BETTER AND SAFER HOUSE FOR THIS OLD COUPLE AND THEIR GRANDCHILD MIRIAM

Construction has begun of a new house for one of the FALCCO supported families. Like we had explained earlier, one of our children, MIRIAM CYIMPAYE, lives with her grandparents (pictured below) in a very old and dilapidated house and FALCCO is partnering with the family to have them build a new one. The cost for the complete house is 2,500Usd. Falcco has received a contribution of 490Usd from some of our sponsors and with that the family is working hard on the foundation of the new house.

We greatly appreciate the commitment of our sponsors to improve the lives of these families and give hope to the disadvantaged children of Uganda.

We had a chat with the family (see picture below) and they told us the progress. They are doing their best to mobilise resources from friends and relatives. We will appreciate more support for the family so that the work that has started doesn't stop.

Greetings all the way from Kisoro, Uganda and from our FALCCO family.
We have been having good times with our children lately. Reviewing their previous terms perfomance, getting updated on their general welfare at home and empowering them with tips on how to get ahead, not just at school but at home and in the community.

We are now in the third and last term of the year, the promotional term. Last term was quite good with most children registering great improvement in their perfomance.

It has been quite dry here with the rains delaying to fall by more than a month. This normally has a negative impact on the harvest at the end of the year but we are just praying all goes well.
The rains have now started, the farmers are happy, and its pretty cold as usual.

Snapshots coming up very soon...

JACKY FINALLY ACHIEVES HER DREAM

When FALCCO first interacted with Jackyline Munezero, it was a tale of sorrow and despair. Envisioning a bright future for her was not easy. She lost both her parents about 7 years ago. She lives in a home without a caring adult figure to give her care and guidance in life. Only her younger brother was in school. She had dropped out of school about 6 years ago, having attended only six classes.
All hope seemed to be gone. We asked her for her plans for the future and there was nothing much she could talk about.
However, after more discussions with her, she agreed that if she could get tailoring skills, she could use them to take herself forward in life. So we enrolled her for a two year tailoring course which she completed successfully. We really are thankful for her loving and caring sponsor who has supported her through her journey.
She was supported with the tailoring machine pictured here and has now started off her own tailoring business. Her family is so grateful because their sister is now living with a sense of purpose and self esteem.

During the 4 years that she has been in the project, she has not only got the vocational skills to make her economically independent but she has experienced a great transformation of mind and behavior. We connected her to mother figures who continue to mentor her and walk with her through life. She is more confident and makes positive decisions. 

Thanks Linn and all our sponsors for your dedication that is creating success stories like this one!

Miriam makes dinner

Here is MIRIAM CYIMPAYE also preparing dinner for herself and her grandmother. Our field team caught up with her in the evening and the excitement to see us could not be hidden. She smiled broadly when we complimented her for being a good cook!
In our workshops with the parents, we advise them to prepare the children for adulthood by giving time to them and imparting values and skills to them.

THE GIRLS AT HOME

As we have been visiting our beneficiary families, we thought we should bring you some images of what our children do when they are at home. Its holiday time now and the children get to assist at home with a number of chores. We encourage the care givers to allow the children time to rest and play, but its also an opportunity for more parent-child contact. Through that the child learns several life skills which prepare them for adult life.
The boys normally help in fetching water(most families dont have running water at home and have to fetch from a common source some metres or a kilometre from home), grazing the animals esp goats and cows if any and fetching firewood for cooking.
The girls normally assist with taking care of younger children at home, preparing and cooking food and some light chores around the house.
Below is DEBORAH MANIRIHO peeling potatoes for dinner at her home. She is a hard working girl and the mother has only praises for her...

MIRIAMS HOUSE

Greetings from all of us here at FALCCO!

We are in mid term here and our children are reading hard. They have recently written to their sponsors and we hope your letters should soon be at your door.

In this time, we have set ourselves to intervene in a housing emergency of one of our families.
Our girl MIRIAM CYIMPAYE stays with her grandmother (pictured here) in a house that has been there since the eighties. The house has grown old and has started to bend over, threatening to fall down.
The old lady told us the roof leaks whenever it rains.
FALCCO doesn't build houses for our beneficiaries, but we consider this an emergency situation that recquires urgent attention. We are trying to talk to friends locally for contributions towards the construction of a new house for Miriam and the old lady.They have told us the house would cost about $2000.

Anyone interested in making a contribution will be highly appreciated. Please send us a mail at falccokisoro@hotmail.com and we will guide you on how to proceed.
Thanks.

Field fellowship

Had a good time interacting with our children after a hectic first term. They are now in holidays and we caught up with them in their community to discuss their term and know how its going at the school. Each child shared their story of how the term went and we discovered that there is transformation taking place not just in their academics but also in their behaviour. Some are now better able to state their ambitions for the future. There was a general improvement though some need to improve in some subjects.
Generally, they reported that the teachers are good and they care for each of them individually. We will follow up on the areas that need improvement with their parents/guardians and the school.

Testimony Time

We are doing a series of home visitations with some of our new volunteers. In these visits, we have tried to interview the families about the impact that FALCCO has had on their lives so far.
We first headed to the home of RICHARD MANIRINDE and spoke to his mother.

She gave us a picture of how she and her son Richard, together with the whole family have benefited from the program. Here is a translation of her testimony:

" I thank God who brought this program to us! I had lived a desperate life trying to sustain my children single handedly. Though my husband is working in the city, he doesnt send us any support. However, i have been greatly encouraged by the parental care and advice i have got through FALCCO since 2009.
My son Richard had almost dropped out of school because of very poor study conditions. He would go early on an empty stomach and sometimes return home for lunch and find no food. This had demoralised him and his perfomance had dropped considerably.
However, through the support of FALCCO to him, he regained interest because of the assurance of school fees. His perfomance has also greatly improved. He now takes lunch at school and is able to concentrate.

His behaviour has also changed positively. He is now focussed and the advice he gets from the project staff is guiding him towards a more disciplined life.
Furthermore, i was in the first group that got a goat through this project. It has boosted my income since then because it produced and i have more goats now. I also sold off one and added the money into my small business which is helping me to take care of my family.
Thanks a lot our sponsors"

CLASS TIME

It was great hosting our Swedish coordinators, Linn Hultin and Linnea Larsson, for 5 days. We visited some families, our office and the school where our children study. The school is a private school in the village where most of the children live. It targets low income earners and offers a package of improved educational services while keeping it affordable for the poor families that cant afford the more affluent private schools in town.

When we first met our children, they were studying in government schools whose standard is very low. They offer no lunch at school and most of the children would study on an empty stomach as their families could not afford a daily lunch for them. Additionally, it was exhausting for them to walk the long distance home for lunch and come back to school for the afternoon classes. Most of them also did not have school uniforms. However, as a result of this sponsorship programme, they now are getting a better quality education, they all have school uniforms and get lunch and break porridge at school. This has greatly increased their morale to study.

This term, as we continue to invest in the holistic development of the children that are presently in the programme, we have started on an expansion programme to enable us reach more OVC households and increase our impact in the community. Our work is now acknowledged by the local leaders who have appreciated the transformation in the children's lives.

We continue to greatly appreciate our sponsors and partners that have enabled us to reach this far. We believe that alone we can do something but together we can do great things.
We are now seeking sponsors for the new children that are being registered in the programme. Their photos and profiles will be posted here in a few days. With $30 per month you can sponsor a child and give them a better education to secure a better future. The package also includes empowering the household with an income generating project; health improvement, and spiritual/social development programmes for the children.

Here are some class time images from our visit at the school.

TOWARDS SELF-SUSTAINABILITY.

As we have mentioned before, we don't focus only on the individual child in our child development strategy. We do our best to encourage, and not diminish, the role of the parents/guardians in the holistic development of their children. We believe that the ability of the parent/guardian to provide care, guidance and protection to the child is key to the success of our efforts and the sustainability of our achievements in the child's life. Hence, boosting that ability is an integral part of our child development model.
This month, one of the families we have focused on is that of our boy GODSON NSABIMANA. His mother, pictured below, has recently undergone an operation which has left her weak and unable to carry on the strenuous work that she does to take care of her five children. She can no longer dig to earn income until she fully recovers. Hence, we thought it necessary to support her to do a simple home business which does not recquire much physical effort. After discussing with her, we settled for what is pictured below. She sits at the small market near her home and sells foodstuff. Sometimes she gets someone to sell for her. This is just the beginning. We hope, as she gets stronger, to help her strengthen and enlarge the business.
This will benefit not only the registered child but the whole family hence an improved domestic environment for the child to grow and develop.
We continue to pray and plan for bigger income generating enterprises but we just have to start somewhere.....

A NEW START FOR A NEW HOPE

Welcome to yet another season of study and labor here at Falcco. The children are back to school for the 1st term of the academic year.

We are glad to report that last year was a landmark year because one of our teenagers, Munezero Jackyline, completed her two year tailoring course and is now in the process of getting self-employed. We met her as a school drop out without any hope of a better life. Now her transformation is undeniable. She is happy, more outgoing, and is making meaning of her life with the skills and exposure she has acquired. More of her story will be coming up soon.

Below pictured is another transformation story in the making. Geoffrey Nizeyimana started school quite late and somehow failed to fit in with the much younger class mates in primary school. This led to low morale and a general loss of interest in studying. However, after much patience and counselling, together with consultations with his mother and family, we discovered that he was interested in acquiring vocational skills. We have now put him in a vocational training institution and we are amazed at the change of attitude towards studying. His attendance is regular unlike in the past. He is studying carpentry, which was the course of his choice. In the pic, he is captured doing some practicals.
Many thanks to his new found sponsor and to all that are sacrificing your resources to create these transformation stories.