The Children's House - Kalagi

TFCM houses a total of 16 orphaned boys and girls, in the care of our partners in Kalagi.

Some of our supporters raised the funds for us to buy a small house near our school.

Work is in progress to extend and adapt the house to provide separate dormitories, bathrooms & toilets for the boys and girls, plus a kitchen and dining area.

The children are being housed in temporary accommodation until the dormitories are completed, when they will be able to move into the house pending completion of the remaining building work.

The 16 residents of the Children's House together with the house matrons, Evelyn (left)  and Martha (right)

Over the last few years we have improved the buildings according to priorities and provision. We installed a steel gate and perimeter security wall, including a hut for the security guard. During 2020 we had to divert some extra funds to support families during local lockdowns due to covid-19. This has meant that further funds are needed to complete this much needed project.

The Training Centre–Kawempe

We have a small training centre attached to The TFCM office in Kawempe where we run training and education programmes for family guardians and young adults from within the local community.

Currently, our regular training sessions fall into 2 categories:

1. Skills empowerment courses

These are for family guardians and jobless young adults to equip them with the necessary skills for generating a regular income. Up to now we have focused on training in dressmaking and tailoring skills and employ a permanent trainer. As of September 2020, a focus has been on making and distributing face masks to the local community due to coronovirus.

For many of the older family guardians we provide a small starter fund for them to purchase materials to make craft items at home, especially baskets, mats, hats and jewellery items. These items are then displayed for sale in the craft display area outside the TFCM office.

From 2021 we hope to expand the training space in the same location and plan to introduce additional programmes. These will include computer skills.... as well as practical training in liquid soap-making and knitwear design (an unusual combination perhaps, but with a good market locally for the products!)

2. Training and counselling in family care, personal rights and parenting skills

A range of training and counselling sessions are held at the training centre, mainly for the family guardians directly supported by TFCM. Increasingly, we are extending the training sessions to include younger parents within the local  community, especially those who have previously failed to complete primary or secondary schooling.

The Father’s Children School–Kalagi

The Nursery and Primary School had 150 pupils in 2020, but not all children have sponsors. Our aim is to secure sponsors for all of the remaining children, to enable them to complete their primary education and for the school to have sufficient funds to maintain the necessary operating standards.

(Schooling sponsorship and how monthly funds from sponsors are allocated is covered on our child sponsorship page)