Uganda is home to over 1million orphaned children who have lost their parents to aids, disease, wars and
refugee displacement. For many of these children, their option is to live with an elderly grandmother with
no resources to provide care or fend for themselves on the streets.

Orphan hood is difficult to define. It is not an absolute state of development and also has cultural, legal
and political dimensions. Generally an orphan is defined as a child who has experienced the death of both
parents. The following are the types of orphans we have,
Maternal orphan this is an orphan whose mother has died, paternal orphan this is an orphan whose father
has died and double orphan this one is a child teen who has lost both parents. One of the major causes of
children’s are being orphaned is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. A child becomes an orphan when one parent
dies from the virus hence the child may or may not have also contracted the virus hence suffering.

Beyond suffering and the ultimate tragedy of death, the children that do survive often do so in ways that
demeans and criminalizes themselves and brings suffering to others as well. The sad reality though, is
that if a good and caring person is no their to provide what they need, who is? Pimps child labor bosses,
terrorists, rebel armies with child soldiers, child traffickers, even less than good willed relatives who want
a personal slave.

The end result is truly heartbreaking as many of the orphan children out there will die at starvation and
issues related to malnutrition. They will die from preventable diseases. They will die at the hands of
others and by themselves. They will spend much of their time in jail .they will do harm to others and
impact the world in a negative fashion.

Many children do not complete their schooling nor have the competences needed to do well in life. Only
1in 4 children who starts primary school makes it to secondary school. Less than half (40%) of the
children are literate at the end of primary school, causing them to be vulnerable to child lab our to
survive. Children need various types of support ranging from those things necessary for survival to those
interventions that provide a better quality of life in the future such as education, psychosocial support and
economic self sufficiency. In an ideal world all children would have access to all types of high quality
services but many children orphaned are malnourished sick and without shelter.

Many religious texts including the bible and Quran contain the idea that helping and defending orphans is
very important and God pleasing matter because even some religious leaders where orphaned .We can
make a difference I believe we all know how to turn a tragedy into triumph….we just need more help
doing it! Every child deserves a family our help provides family based care for those without families.
Your support for an orphan will provide the love, resources and security for them to be on the path to
having a successful future and providing care back to the community. This includes school fees where
they exit, funds required for uniforms, books, beddings, clothes, shoes, healthcare and many other
essentials.

When you help the children you are doing a wonderful thing, but the good you have done doesn’t stop
there. It spreads! And instead of harming themselves and others, they grow up to be responsible, healthy,
adults that give back to the community they live in instead of taking away from it. The good that is done,
is generational.