We give hope to children who had no future.
The AIDS pandemic and the conflict in the north has devastated whole regions of Uganda, amplifying poverty and despair. 1.9 million orphans saw their parents die of AIDS. An insurgency waged by the Lords Resistance Army has created 1.6 million Internally Displaced People (IDP) in northern Uganda, of whom 1 million are children. 28,000 children - some as young as nine -have been abducted and forced to become child soldiers or sex slaves by the rebel Lords Resistance Army.
Most Aid Fails Short
Most aid to Africa is geared to barely keeping people alive or bringing them one step above abject poverty. We give Africa things, but we do not give them skills. If we do not re-direct a greater portion of our aid to capacity building, Africa will remain dependent.
We provided assistance to northern Uganda for decades. Yet, when peace broke out in 2008, the United Nations news agency IRIN wrote: “GULU, 25 November 2008 – “Some 11,123 children below 15 years of age had dropped out of primary education in Gulu alone. Most were girls – of whom many had been married off to older men…”
Educating leaders lifts people out of poverty
The United Nations has called education the most effective poverty alleviator. President Obama in his 2010 State of the Union Address said, “In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education.”
In the United States, education is the highway to success for millions of immigrants. Thus far, the digital age has benefited countries such as India that made a concerted effort to train leaders and harness their energies. Africa is worse off.
Educating leaders in sub-Saharan Africa is especially important because the AIDS pandemic devastated the educated and managerial classes: teachers, civil servants, army commanders. Insecurity in northern Uganda has affected two generations while devastating the region’s infrastructure. The loss of leaders and productivity in the caretaker generation is the gravest challenge facing Uganda.
Education is the solution, but it must be quality education
The Millennium Goal of Universal Primary Education by 2015 is simply not good enough for the children of Africa. Even if every child has a 7th grade certificate, what will they be equipped to do in our computer-oriented economy? Uganda has achieved Universal Primary Education; yet, more than half of its’ children drop out by 7th grade. An even smaller percentage graduate from high school. And only a handful make it to college. Those who suffer most are girls.
We give children a first-rate education because the HIV-positive women and village elders who helped create L.E.A.D Uganda were dissatisfied with the dependency fostered by many charities. They told us, “We don’t want to just receive a chicken from somebody. We want our children to have the skills we never got.”
The problem is lack of opportunity for millions of children living in poverty
What keeps Africa from emulating India’s success is not brain power: “African college students are doing exceptionally well….In 2000, Africans averaged the highest educational attainments of any group in the United States – higher even than whites and Asians.”
That is why L.E.A.D Uganda is needed
Our mission is to save Uganda’s future by finding “excluded” youngsters with talent and drive and training them to be world class leaders. We locate smart, motivated youngsters affected by AIDS, war, and poverty. The children we serve are disposed. They live in child-headed families. They are former child-soldiers, children living in IDP camps, night commuters, and orphans. Unfortunately most of our children are touched be two or three of these tragedies. Our typical student-member is a is a former-solder who lives in a refugee camp. Our students were out of school. They did not eat every day. Their parents died from AIDS or war
We educate these excluded youngsters in the top schools, help them climb to the top of their class, and propel them to university. Our dynamic, transformational education program is unique. L.E.A.D Uganda’s educational leadership initiative for abandoned children will enable East Africa to follow Asia’s path and achieve technological and economic growth.
Educating leaders is transformational
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote, “Africa’s poor because of its leaders, not its people. Westerners sometimes think that Africa’s problem is a lack of initiative or hard work. Africa’s failure has been one of leadership.”
We believe it is possible to end poverty in Africa and create a safer world by raising up today’s generation of forgotten African children to be leaders. The solutions to Africa’s problems exist in the hearts and minds of the continent’s neglected children. They can do the job if given the education and skills.
But they can’t do it without your help. Join the movement. Sponsor a child.
