JOY FOR CHILDREN-UGANDA

Poverty is fundamental cause of violation of human rights, stretching far beyong material deprivation. UNICEF's state of the world children 2005 report proposes the following work definition of child poverty: Children living in poverty exprience deprevation of the material, spiritual and emortional resources needed to survive, develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential or participate as full or equally members of the society. Poverty is a attribute of the environment in which children live, a situation where the families and communities are unable to nurture and protect children and where children are unable to develop their full potential. These deprivations cause suffering in the short term and hinder development in long term. Lack of adquate nutrition or access to safe water and sanitation makes children vulnerable to sickness and diarrhoea, reducing their resistance to disease. At Joy for children-Uganda strives to ensure that c

Elisabeth, recieving scholatic materials donated by Joy for Children-Uganda Poverty is associated with high risk environment, lack of basic subsistence requirements and shelter etc. People living in poverty have to make life threatening choices as to how their limited resources be allocated against competing demands such as access to food, housing, transport, school fees etc. “I live in kitoru with my parents and two brothers and seven sisters. I have been in katembo primary school since primary 1, but I have often found it difficult because my parents can not give me the things I need for like pens, pencils, school shoes. But I still really like school – I can continue studying without those things. Sometimes my friends give me a pen or a pencil. At the moment none of my brothers and sisters is at school because there isn’t enough money. Two of them completed senior 4 and two other completed primary 4 but the others never went to school money was always the problem. If I do not go to

Schools offer the infrastructure to reach a vast number of young people before they become infected. As the HIV epidemics takes a new dimension so needs the response. There should be increasing understanding that prevention, treatment, care and support are all interrelated. This calls for commitments to moving towards universal access to prevention programmes, treatment, care and support. There is need for the education sector to take responsibility to respond to the changing demands caused by the epidemic among education personnel and students. Each year the epidemic brings new challenges especially in the area of increasing access to treatment. Government in Uganda has not made an effort to provide education to HIV positive children who might be ill and to protect HIV positive teachers from stigma and discrimination. The guiding principle should be protecting the very functioning of the education system and ensuring that teachers continue to teach and the children stay in school and