Children's Sponsorship Program

Please Consider Sponsoring One of Our Children

Volunteering:

Dear friends! It gives us much joy to invite you to consider coming to spend a few weeks or even months, of your life volunteering your time towards improving the lives of a Ugandan family or a child. As a young organization, we are flexible and work to adjust your experience to be the best possible. You have options of jumping into one of our current projects or designing your own. 

Volunteering Opportunities 
OCT urgently needs volunteers in the following positions;

• Teachers
• Child care workers
• Counselors
• Social workers
• Doctors, nurse and pharmacists
• Sports, music and drummer
• Painters

Why volunteer for OCT?
As a volunteer you will;

• Impact on children’s life
• Provide encouragement and support to those who need it most.
• Play a vital role in the growing of our organization.
• Share your life skills and experiences with the children and other volunteers
• Make friends with children and volunteers from around the world
• Live in and experience foreign culture
• Improve on your local language skills

Basic benefits of volunteering with OCT

• Unlike most international volunteer programs, your only expenses are your flight to and from your country, meals and transport expenses within all the OCT projects.
• Volunteers are provided with a free accommodation room at New Moon Children’s House.
• Free time to explore your host country, Visit beautiful places like the source of the Nile Bajagali falls, Lake Victoria, kitagata hot spring, National parks and also to part take in activities like bungee jumping, swimming, horseback riding and whitewater rafting or kayaking.

How to apply?
Please contact us at martinwalwas@gmail.com for more information.

Help Us We know that it’s a task we could never accomplish without the helping hand of friends like you. We indeed pray that you will be encouraged to partner with us to give these children the future they deserve.
These are the areas with the greatest needs in the short run -

Widows Economic Empowerment Projects
It is women who assume much of the responsibility for orphaned children ultimately. The income generation capacity of these households is profoundly constrained by numerous dependent children, lack of opportunity to accumulate productive resources like cattle, goats and faming implements. They are further constrained by limited education and training which limits employability. To encounter this OCT plans;

1. To start a goat’s cooperative to benefit 80 needy families at the cost of $1200
Widow groups of 20 members each will be formed. Training on how to care for the goats will be offered to them whereby after successful completion participates will receive a dairy goat. From the first 20 female goats, the first kid produced from each comes back to OCT. We then gift it to another woman, who forms a new group with other women. The rest of the kids will remain the property of the women’s from the first group. This will be a long term asset inform of food at the same time a source of income for the women and their families.

2. We plan to start a chicken cooperative to benefit over 40 families at a cost of $ 1800
We will work with widows and guardians of orphans to create chicken cooperatives in order to teach them business skills so as to increase their income. Once the woman become financially literate, it will allow them to remain business owners so that their children can receive the education they deserve and families obtain sufficient access to food and nutrition. Two chicken cooperatives will be formed and each group will rear an average of 300 chickens.

3. We also plan to supply farming supplies to benefit over 60 needy families at a cost of $1400. This will help these women to grow apple food for their families and possibly income.

Child Care and Education:
Give your generous gift of
$15 to provide a girl’s package for a year (12 parks of sanitary pads, 4 pairs of underwear and soap)
$25 to provide a sleeping packet for a child (Form mattress, blanket and mosquito net) 
$100 to provide an education packet for a primary and nursery child, Including a full uniform, school fees, lunch and school supplies like books, pens, geometrical sets, school bag and shoes
$250 to provide tuition for a secondary school child, including tutoring, lunch and exam fee
$1500 for promotion of AIDS awareness campaigns for a period of one year.
$1600 for buying one motor cycle to be used as a mean of transport in the monitoring process
$2600 for proper record keeping including (a computer, record files, word ropes, photocopying machine, stationery and a printer) 

Appeal
1. We need to buy a van for transportation.
2. Undesignated funds are needed for emergencies,-Staff salary, deficits, sickness, transportation and unexpected deaths (which is common in Africa). Many times OCT staff doesn’t have extra funds to be helpful in very difficult situations! Any contribution to this fund will be highly appreciated.

Please donate to us by NET BANKING at: 
Organisation for Community Transformation Uganda.
Account No: 61636660006.
Swift Code: AFRIUGKA
Bank of Africa Uganda Ltd, Jinja Branch

Thanks for your interest in donating to OCT.
 

Organization for Community Transformation Uganda here in also abbreviated as “OCT” is an independent, indigenous, faith based, non-profit organization established in 2008 in a vision by Mr. Walwasa Martin later on joined by a team of passionate and devoted members after recognizing the need for urgent action in supporting children, families and communities who are affected by Poverty, HIV/AIDS and other health related illnesses. 

Though started as a community based organization, OCT soon upgraded to a non-governmental organization to better handle the anticipated future characterized by abject poverty and the unending spread of HIV/AIDS. However, it wasn't a walk over until the year 2012 that OCT officially registered as an independent Community Based Organization with its headquarters in Wakitaka 10 kilometers from Jinja, a town in Eastern Uganda; about 84.0 Kilometers from Kampala the capital of Uganda. OCT works in;

• Assessing child welfare needs for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children and coordinating resources for their care.
• Providing formal education for orphans and vulnerable children whose families are affected by AIDS
• Empowering widows economically through pursuing income generating activities and vocational training.
• Providing psychosocial care to widows and children whose lives have been affected by AIDS
• Sensitizing and educating communities about HIV/AIDS.
• Providing mobile palliative care for people living with AIDS.
• Providing spiritual care and support

OCT’s Statement of Non Discrimination:
OCT is a non segregative organization serving all needy children and widows with equal opportunity regardless of their skin color, sex, tribe or religious background. 

Our Vision:
To ensure that the children we care for are in an environment that empowers and builds them up to reach their God given potential. We believe that every life matters and our passion are for these children to follow their heart, run after their passion, pursue their dreams and live life with a purpose. 

Mission Statement:
The mission of OCT is to bring up orphaned and needy children by ways and means of meeting their spiritual, physical and social needs and reaching out to all widows facing welfare problems in both rural and urban communities.

The Objectives of OCT are;
i. To support Orphans and other vulnerable children to access education and other basic needs.
ii. To equip Orphans and Vulnerable children with life and leadership skills, and educate them to have healthy, productive and responsible lives.
iii. To improve the socio-economic status of families of children benefiting from the OCT supported programs.
iv. To create opportunities for Orphans and vulnerable children to access self or gainful employments. 
v. Provision of information to the rural and urban communities about HIV/AIDS.

Strategies:
The objectives will be achieved by using various mean and ways of reaching out to these children.

• Establishing foster homes for children who are homeless and have nowhere else to go.
• Recruit and link sponsors to children through the OCT website.
• Build and run nursery, primary, secondary and vocational schools in Uganda.
• Training in different skills like tailoring, computer studies, strategic planning, income generating activities, monitoring and evaluation.
• Strengthen local and international partnership so as build a strong resource base for program sustainability

Target Beneficiaries: 
The organization’s main focus is the orphaned child and needy widows.

Project Coverage Area:
This project is intended to cover the whole country (Uganda) because needy children are all over and come from different districts. However we are currently working in two districts due to limited financial resources. These districts are Luuka districts and Jinja District in the communities of Mafubira Sub County.

OCT’s Executive Committee Team Includes;
Chairman - Walwasa Martin
Vice chairman - Namungoya Eunice
Secretary - Namatende Esther
Treasure - Kagobe Nelson 

Members: 
Isabirye Pius
Kitabulwa James
Kagoye Tony

OCT Staff:
OCT staff is headed by seven members who sit at the Board of Directors. The Executive Director is the overall managing officer responsible for the three major departments that are guided by department heads. The Executive director is assisted by the program Administrator who runs the day to day daily activities of the organization with the help of staff members / volunteer team with different professional backgrounds; social workers, teachers, counselors, administrative and logistical staff.

OCT is non denominational and has no formal relationship with any one church but seeks to interact with all churches as well as bodies and individuals who share the same vision. 

OCT Active Programs 

Permanent Foster Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children
UNICEF estimates that twelve million children and adolescents in Sub- Saharan Africa are orphans, having lost one or both parents to AIDS (UNICEF, 2011) specifically in Uganda, 6.5 percent of adult population lived with HIV and 1.2 million children and adolescents were orphaned due to AIDS in 2009 (UNAIDS, 2010). Orphan hood does not only affect a child or adolescent who grows up without a parent, but it also exerts additional economic pressure on the family.

Given this context, as we identify children that have lost their parents, we trace the next of kin to try and place them there, so as to keep that unique semblance of ancestral attachment going. In the absence of relatives, we identify homes with the ability to take in an extra child and then place them there. These homes are expected to treat the orphans as though they are their own children, by providing them with whatever their families would: food, shelter, medical care, education, clothing, but above all, love without peripheral qualifications. OCT now visits these homes after every two weeks to supervise and ascertain compliance to OCT’s child foster standards.

New Moon Children’s House:
In the absence of a suitable home for orphaned and vulnerable children, OCT provides a family environment where children can grow and get the necessary skills in order to be independent and valuable contributors to their communities and largely to the country’s economic and social development. Children’s needs are complex and require physical, social, developmental, and spiritual care to raise them with a sense of self confidence and self-worth.

New Moon Pre-School:
Nelson Mandela is quoted to have said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world; our pre- school program provides a safe child care environment for working mothers and an enriching early childhood education curriculum that prepares young children for formal education. The school enrolls 25 orphans and vulnerable children annually who are either living at New moon children’s house or children who come from our community that meet OCT’s qualifications as needy Children. As we are able to meet the needs, we intend to add a class as time goes should resources for construction and sustainability of day to day activities become available.

As the child progresses to middle primary to secondary level of education, we partner with public schools to make education possible for orphans and vulnerable children who would otherwise find it difficult as OCT pays school fees with support from our international sponsors and the community members.
The majority of sponsored children are children who lost either one or both parents and girls who are disproportional denied access to education.

Mentoring Program:
Our mentoring program works to support and keep secondary students in school. At a time when they are more at- risk of dropping out of school. Working with our partner schools, this monthly course covers topics on building strong self- esteem and leadership, making healthy decisions and creating a bright future. To date, this program has benefited over hundreds of young people in secondary schools. 

Achievements:
OCT as an organization has been relatively successful in mobilizing and motivating the community members, churches and schools to practically meet the critical needs of people living with Aids in their midst. To date, over 12 families have been cared for by our Social care groups by providing them with practical home based care, encouraging their families most especially children and giving them counsel about their critical needs for example; Economic empowerment of the widows and orphans, Counseling support and Aids education, Development and advocacy programs for the orphans, Educating the community to reduce stigma among people living with HIV /AIDS.

OCT’s Social care groups in partnership with local believers walk to the sick and the affected offering spiritual help and comfort, through this outreach we have seen many people give their lives to the Lord, and we have had total behavioral turn around. We are convinced that a God fearing population will develop mechanisms that will inevitably curtail the further spread of this epidemic and save the future generation from this horrible pandemic plus the incidence of orphaning and vulnerability. Actually OCT is overwhelmed, due to the magnitude of the problem and the resources at its disposal so we seek to interact with all churches as well as bodies and individuals who share the same vision. 

Long Term Plans:
1. Moving forward, we seek to expand our preschool program from nursery level to primary level. Our organization strongly needs donations for purposes such as; educational materials, uniforms and after school clothing, Boarding facilities, classrooms, pit latrines and text books 
2. We need School dropouts (orphans) to train in trade skills like tailoring, cosmetology and computer studies.
3. We have plan to initiate an AIDS care center for treatment of HIV/AIDS patients 

About Us   Activities   Please Help

The mission of OCT is to bring up orphaned and needy children by ways and means of meeting their spiritual, physical and social needs and reaching out to all widows facing welfare problems in both rural and urban communities of Uganda.

 

Contact us

Organisation for Community Transformation 
P.O. Box 1828, Jinja, UGANDA.
Phone: +256785328349 or +256702838033
Email: orgforcommunitytransformation@gmail.com