The Idea of our Association

 A family as the basic unit in our natural process of development is always ideal. There are times when this ideal condition is far from being a reality for some. This is what happened to the orphans now in our care. At the moment, we have seventeen children on the list. Two hundred more are lined up. These are orphans whose natural family settings were disrupted by war-genocide in Rwanda, and HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda. In the past the settings of most of our African cultures never allowed anyone to feel orphaned. The extended family members always came to the rescue of any child caught up in the unfortunate situation of losing one or both parents. This was always possible because death of both parents was then rare.

Now we are faced with an epidemic, HIV/AIDS, and the results of genocide in Rwanda. Death in both cases has produced huge numbers of orphans on a wider scale. In the case of Uganda, we are talking about 1 million children whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS. The extended family settings of these kids have been overstretched these past years now.  Unlike in the past, children of the deceased have come to know what it means to be an orphan.  This epidemic, which has devastated families, started in 1980.

Come to the Rescue Association has come to assist and rescue the situation which otherwise would be unbearable to these children. The Association would be in place to act as the new arms and the hands of the old extended family setting where no one felt orphaned. It will be, for these children, a family where emotional, social, psychological, financial and health care needs would be progressively taken care of. In order to do this effectively, we are to work hand in hand with a few remaining relatives. To do this, the Association will supply the logistics needed to care for the orphans. For example, locating the boarding schools where children shall continue with their studies, getting house keepers for some of the old grandmothers unable to handle big numbers of children in their care, and fund the health needs of these children. One thing we shall not do is to build orphanages. The children have to feel connected with the remaining members of their family. We believe in creating a link or a bond between the children and their extended members of the clan or family.

The idea of having these orphans in boarding schools is to serve as a new way for them to feel as a family with other kids. It will serve as a way of socializing, creating new friends beyond the village setting, getting new experiences from other kids for a continued period of time, and on the emotional level; to serve as a catalyst to look at life differently. In these boarding schools, there are matrons who keenly play a role of mother to a group of kids in their care. Family values are instilled in a child during their stay at school. This is important for our Association because in Uganda the education system divides the year in three parts or terms. Each term takes three months, then one month’s vacation. This means that children spend nine months in school and three months at home in the whole year. During each vacation, the Association shall locate a willing relative who can take on an extra child or two. These relatives shall be assisted with some funds to supplement their meager resources.

The Association is to run as a family. We are not going to be an agency of adoption. And no particular child is to be singled out at the expense of the others. Every one of the children under our care shall be treated equally depending on their needs. Here again, we shall be fostering the value of an extended family as we take care of their needs.