The Peace Center is a Ugandan-based organization that aims to provide shelter, education and safety for some of the country’s neediest and most vulnerable orphaned children. Since its inception in 2015, The Peace Center has helped dozens of children by providing them with a safe home, an education and, above all, a family.

Empowering Bukinda’s Children Through Education

The Peace Center is situated in Bukinda, a town in southwest Uganda, where limited access to education is one of the most pressing challenges residents face. Without proper schooling, many children struggle to escape the cycle of poverty that has affected their families for generations.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the actual fertility rate in the country at large is more than twice the desired rate, suggesting unmet contraceptive needs. This, in turn, contributes to ongoing poverty and educational barriers. The Peace Center’s core mission is to educate children in need, helping break this cycle.

The PEACE Program

To accommodate the children’s varying needs in its program, the organization has implemented two distinct programs. The PEACE (Providing Education and Community Empowerment) program focuses on orphaned children who may have relatives to live with but do not have the resources to provide for the children’s schooling.

The PEACE program provides these children with school attendance fees and a uniform to help them gain an education. In return, these children must maintain a minimum attendance record and grade score each semester.

1-To-1 Sponsorship

For children without immediate family who require full-time support and care, The Peace Center offers a 1-to-1 sponsorship program. The nonprofit provides children in this program with “housing, schooling, three meals a day, school uniform as well as basic health and sanitary care.”

Through this program, the organization encourages families in other countries to provide both financial and emotional support to the child. This sponsorship fosters a connection between the child and the sponsor’s family through letters, photos and other forms of correspondence.

Impact

In the past 10 years, The Peace Center has worked tirelessly to provide the neediest children in Uganda with stability, safety and a place to call home. Indeed, several current and former program students have provided testimonies, expressing their gratitude to the organization.

Some children have attributed their college success to The Peace Center, sharing how the organization helped them with leadership, communication and other essential life skills. Furthermore, The Peace Center provides these children with a lifelong sense of belonging, with many students saying they have kept in touch with the staff and other students years after leaving the program.

Summary

Since its founding, The Peace Center has offered holistic care to those in greatest need, supporting orphaned children in Uganda with nowhere else to turn. It has two programs oriented toward empowering children to break generational cycles of poverty and gaining education and emotional support throughout their lives.

The Peace Center is always looking for more opportunities to help children in need and is looking toward the future and more chances to provide this much-needed support.

– Lizzie Mazzola

Lizzie is based in Raleigh, NC, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr