CHRISTMAS IS HERE!

 As we enter the month of December, we are excited that Christmas is around the corner. Its been an eventful year as we shall be reminding ourselves in the coming weeks.

However, this is to inform all our friends and sponsors that we shall not have a Christmas party this year because of the Covid situation. We prefer to keep the children safe by not exposing them to large gatherings. Its easier for adults to gather because they can keep distance, wear masks etc but its hard to enforce these protective measures with children.

However, we encourage sponsors to go ahead and send a Christmas gift to their children so that they may celebrate it with wonderful memories.

We will keep you updated as the weeks go on.

(PHOTO: Colin Kibasumba stands with his gift, given to him by his sponsor.)

 

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM OF WATER SHORTAGE

 For a long time the peaple in the villages we serve have suffered with the problem of water scarcity. 

Homes in these villages don't have piped water in their houses and have to move out to get it. Most times they buy it from those who have water tanks at their homes or the community taps which serve many peaple.

 However, during the dry season (June-August), the problem is worse because families mainly depend on harvesting rain water. So when there is little rain, peaple walk for up to 5km or more to the main water source in town. 

We and the supported families are so grateful to one of our sponsors who funded us to construct a water tank for our families to use. We also thank the family that allowed it to be put in their secure compound within reach of our children.

They now have access to safe water within a short walking distance from their homes! The availability of clean water will help to improve on the hygiene and general health of our supported families.

God bless you so much!

RESCUING THE GIRL CHILD

 As we mentioned earlier, we have been giving special attention to the needs of our female teenagers in this period. The reason is the high risks they are exposed to because of finding themselves at home for a long period (7 months now). Covid 19 restrictions are beginning to be eased now and cases are reducing. Schools have been allowed to reopen but for candidate(final year students) only.

The problem of child abuse, defilement and teenage pregnancy during the lockdown has been widely discussed in the media here of late. 

Over 6,000 teenage girls have gotten pregnant in the last 6 months of lockdown here in Uganda.This presents a very serious challenge to their health (some are as young as 14) and their education, as many are denied a chance to continue with their studies and in some cases forced to get married prematurely.

We want to intervene and empower more young girls in our community to protect themselves in this period. We have decided to go beyond our own sponsored girls and organise a monthly workshop for atleast 70 teens for the next three months.

Each monthly workshop will cost 5,000 SEK to organise. This money will facilitate us to hire a hall that is spacious, get a public address system, sanitory towels to distribute, plus several conditions for prevention of Covid 19 like masks, sanitizers, etc.

We want the first one to be held on 12th November 2020.

This can only be possible through our generous contributions. Please consider making a contribution towards this noble cause too. You may email us at: falccokisoro@hotmail.com for more details.

Thanks always!!

 

LADIES WORKSHOP

Since March 2020 when schools were closed in Uganda as a measure to curb the spread of Covid 19, students have had a hard time adjusting to a seemingly indefinite holiday. Girls have particularly been hit hard, with reports of teenage pregnancies on the rise in many rural districts. We decided to start a program to sensitize and protect our teenage girls in this period. In this mini workshop they are taught on matters of sexual and reproductive health, values and career choices. Interactive discussions are also held with their facilitators. They will be supported every month with sanitary towels and a female volunteer is always on standby to attend to their queries. We pray the situation normalizes soon. Thanks for your material and moral support as we walk with our youth through this difficult season.

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT JOURNEY

 Today Uganda celebrated international youth day under the theme "Youth engagement for global action". For the last 5 years FALCO has been engaging with youth to empower them in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, leadership training, Christian discipleship and life skills.

 Along the way we have been blest to partner with organizations that are experts in the field of youth development particularly #SoarAway, led by Megga Nalutaaya and Kyusa Uganda, led by Noeline Kirabo. To commemorate this day, we take you through a pictorial journey of our engagements. Enjoy.

 

 

REFRESHING THE MIND DURING LOCKDOWN

As we await the resumption of schools here, we decided that our children will not stay idle for all this time. So we designed a small group study program where supported children get assistance in terms of reading materials, revision exercises and some bit of computer basics for the older children.

We've hired a teacher to assist in some areas to help the children reminded of what they studied. This program is carried on both from the homes of the children and some groups come to office.

We are grateful for the volunteers that are giving their time to help out especially going to homes to assist the children.

We are using this method because for now large gatherings are still prohibited.

Thanks dear friends for making all this happen!

Together in crisis

To stand together as one human family and minimize injustice and inequality is a most noble thing to do.
We greatly appreciate our partners who made it possible for us to do this agriculture project and were able to feed our supported families during the period of lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Together we shall make a big difference!

TRANSFORMATION OF FAMILIES

Erina Nyirahafasha was an innocent 6 year old who had just lost her mum and was staying with her step mum and two siblings. The family later grew to 6 siblings. She wasn't ready for the fierce storms that life would throw at her at a young age. However, God the Father knew her. We are grateful for the grace to walk with this family to this point when Erina is in S2 and hoping to pursue a career in Nursing. They recently received their goat from the project. We continue to support families with their small businesses and the children with home study as we are still in lock down.

SHARING IS CARING: THANKS FOR YOUR BIG HEARTS!

Here in Uganda the lock down to prevent the spread of Covid 19 still stands. We are hoping that the government may relax the restrictions slightly next week.
As the stocks of food continue to decrease in most families, FALCO was enabled by you our friends to reach out with some food relief and soap to all our supported families.THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It may take a few more weeks before peaple are fully back to work, so the need is still on. Lets continue to join hands and support our children and their families in this hard time.

We hope to do another round of distributions starting next week.