SASCU’s team of social workers hits the streets of Kampala every Tuesdays and Thursdays, meeting with the hundreds of children who sleep in gutters, bathe in polluted streams and beg and work on the street for food.
The purpose is to connect with homeless children and let them know that SASCU is a viable -and much improved- alternative to living in the streets.
One way our social workers meet homeless children is through their connections with shopkeepers, taxi and bus drivers and older homeless people known as street uncles: “informants” who update them when a child has just arrived in the streets. The sooner we can identify and talk to a child who recently arrived in the streets, the greater the chance that child can be rescued from the physical and emotional suffering of life in the streets and returned to a normal childhood.
A major part of a street social worker’s job is to build trust and an atmosphere of understanding with the children, many of whom have come from places where the adults in their lives abused their trust and hurt them. They do this by playing games, telling stories and taking the children places where they can wash their clothes and themselves.
Also, because SASCU has been helping street children for years, the SASCU Social workers have a lot of credibility there, and the children hear from others that they are their friends, and this makes it easy for us to have homeless children rescued.
REHABILITATION OF RESCUED CHILDREN
SASCU operates a Transitional Centre and approved Children’s Home in Kampala and at providence farm in Luwero Districts where it provides a safe and loving home, nutritious meals, medical care and counselling and spiritual discipleship to rescued homeless children. SASCU’s trained caregivers make sure that each child rescued from the streets is given love and attention as well as important life skills, and other relevant support needed, restoring hope to their lives.
Many children arrive at SASCU malnourished from living on the streets. The children receive three healthy meals a day. With good, nutritious food, they quickly become healthy and active. Medical care is an important service that SASCU provides to the children. SASCU has a full-time nurse who cares for all the children’s medical needs, from bandaging scrapes and bruises to treating more serious illnesses like malaria, Bacterial infections, TB and other health complications. She gives weekly health lessons to the children on topics such as personal hygiene, and nutrition. While the rehabilitation process is ongoing, home tracing is conducted to aid reunification and reintegration of children with their families and communities. SASCU’s Rehabilitation takes between a period of three (3) to six (6) months depending on the needs of a particular child. It also depends on the progress registered in tracing the child’s home or extended family.
There’s a real family atmosphere at SASCU, with the older children taking care of the younger ones. SASCU caregivers have created a cheerful, happy place that warmly welcomes children who have faced many hardships in their lives.
REUNIFICATION & REINTEGRATION OF CHILDREN
SASCU is not an orphanage – it is SASCU’s belief that the best place for a child to grow up is in a safe and loving family and not in an institution. We understand the vital role that families play in a child’s life, and we actively work to rebuild those precious bonds. We believe that every child deserves to grow up in a home filled with love and stability.
Our efforts focus on creating an environment where children can not only feel safe but also experience the warmth of family connections and that is why Reunification isn’t just a goal at SASCU, but our unwavering commitment.
