Who we are
Mercy Alive Africa was started in 2013 by a group of youth in Kampala city, Uganda, with the intention to alleviate the extreme vulnerability.
Mercy Alive Africa is a religious charitable organization committed to the rescues, helping, rehabilitating and reconnecting of street and other vulnerable children in Uganda back to their families. We do our best to find ways of addressing the problems faced by the street children and come up with possible solutions.
Many of these children are talented in a number of things and can do so much with their live. We try help them discover their abilities in many ways such as equipping them with vocational skills (This includes farming mechanics, tailoring among others) that will enable them to start up something for sustainability when they are resettled back to their families / communities.
Over 3500 children are living on the streets of Kampala of whom 210 are females. The streetkids lack what society refers to appropriate behaviours with major instructions of childhood such as family, education and health. We work hard to tackle the reasons why children end up on streets.
Mission and vision
Our mission
Initiating a purposeful meaning into the lives of streetkids and orphans inform of equipping them with a realistic approach wherever they are to show them love, care and encourage them to realise their dreams.
Vision
Communities graced with equality, care and love in order to see former streetkids testify and involve themselves in building the world.
Our goals
- To openly share and administer the gospel of Jesus Christ to street children.
- To take children from the streets into a safe and loving, secure, and supportive environment that helps them to develop each child's social, spiritually, emotional and intellectual features.
- To ensure that street children realize the importance of a family. (Resettlement)
- To provide children with their basic needs in whatever way possible.
- To gain the trust of the children and build up relationships with them
- To create awareness and problems faced by street kids and orphans.
- To educate, rehabilitate and resettle the boys in a favourable environment.
- To see street children turn from their old way of living and realize that they can achieve their ambitions in life.
- To enable children get involved, share their talents with us and see a youth free from HIV/AIDS.
Our activities include
- Reintegrating children to their families
- Advocacy
- Talents/sports
- Education and Vocational skills
- Feeding and medical care
- Skills Training (in Art craft, music, drama among others)
- Street outreaches (Day and Night outreaches)
- HIV/AIDS counselling and sensitization
Summary
Mercy Alive Africa is a registered charitable Organization under the National NGO board of Uganda registration number s.5914/12019 and is based in Kampala Uganda.
The idea of Mercy Alive Africa was started in 2013 by a youth group in Kampala city with the intention to alleviate the extreme vulnerability and destitution among children and orphans living on the streets.
The main aim of the organization is build and restore confidence, educate ,resettle street children and other vulnerable children by spreading love , equip them with skills and talents and then re unite them with their families. After various studies carried out on the ever increasing number of street children in Kampala, we found out that even after these children are reintegrated with their families, they only manage to stay for a short time then return to the streets for lack of means of survival.
At Mercy Alive Africa, we are trying to address this issue by equipping these children with life long skills and encouraging them to develop their existing talents so they can use such skills and talents to better their lives when they return home. We believe that everyone is good at something and.
We try to discover these special talents by engaging them in different activities like, farming, sports, music, Art and photography among others. We talk to them one on one basis to know what each person’s interests are, then help them develop those skills. We also enlist mentors who serve as role models. These are normally former successful street persons who help them develop the various talents so they too, can become responsible and committed members of society. Equipped with practical knowledge and skills, we then help these children start small scale sustaining businesses thus reducing the level of unemployment that is a major issue in Uganda today.
Problem statement
The plight of street children in Uganda is a major concern among Ugandans. The number of children who end up on streets is immensely alarming, many of whom come from the village to make a better living in the city only to be hit hard the realities that are on these streets. The major attribute of this problem has been linked to a number of issues ranging from HIV/AIDS, poverty, death of parents/guardians, laziness among others. While on the Streets, these children are vulnerable and face a number of challenges ranging from diseases, malnutrition, lack of accommodation, physical and mental abuses and above all permanent blow on their self-esteem.
As a result, end up using drugs to help them cope with everyday life.
Keeping Alive project.
An Idea, we believe and hope can help the communities where the children come from to join the streets.
Through Mercy Alive Africa, We managed to come up with "Keeping Alive project" which centres on the vulnerable mothers and elders where these children come from to join the streets.
Many of these children leave their homes because of poverty and failure of their parents to put them in school.
Most of the poor villages in Uganda today many fathers have left the responsibility of children only to the mothers who are usually housewives and have no jobs to do. It is sad that a few of the parents we have managed to meet and talk to have HIV/AIDS and have lost hope and this has left many children to suffer on their own in a number of ways. We hope that through "Keeping Alive project" we can reach out to various parents and see how best to help them that way we can reduce on the number of children joining the streets every day.
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