*vim_kcc.txt* *uganda* *copying* Vim is Charityware. There are no restrictions on using or copying Vim, but I encourage you to make a donation to charity, see below. If you include Vim on a CD-ROM you should send me a copy. If you are happy with Vim, please express that by reading the rest of this file. Summer 1993 I spent my holidays in Uganda, working for Kibaale Children's Centre (KCC) with a Dutch team. I was very impressed with what I experienced there. Of course I knew Africa from books and television, but actually being there and talking and working with the people is very different. January 1994 I spent another month there, which made me realize that I could be of help to these people. Summer 1994 to summer 1995 I spent a whole year at the centre, working as a volunteer. I have helped to expand the centre and worked in the area of water and sanitation. KCC is located in Kibaale, a small town in the south of Uganda, near Tanzania. The area is known as Rakai District. The population is mostly farmers. Although people are poor, there is enough food. But this district is suffering from AIDS more than any other part of the world. Some say that it started there. Estimations are that 10 to 30% of the Ugandans are infected with HIV. Because parents die, there are many orphans. In this district about 60.000 children have lost one or both parents, out of a population of 350.000. And this is still continuing. The children need a lot of help. The Kibaale Children Centre is working hard to provide the needy with food, medical care and education. Food and medical care to keep them healthy now, and education so that they can take care of themselves in the future. KCC works on a Christian base, but help is given to children of any religion. The key to solving the problems in this area is education. This has been neglected in the past years with president Idi Amin and the following civil wars. Now that the government is stable again the children and parents have to learn how to take care of themselves and how to avoid infections. There is also help for people who are ill and hungry, but the primary goal is to prevent people from getting ill and to learn how to grow healthy food. Most of the orphans are living in an extended family. An uncle or older sister is taking care of them. Because these families are big and the income (if any) is low, a child is lucky if it gets healthy food. Clothes, medical care and schooling is beyond its reach. To help these needy children a sponsorship program was put into place. A child can be financially adopted. For a few dollars a month KCC sees to it that the child gets indispensable items, is healthy, goes to school and KCC takes care of anything else that needs to be done for the child and the family that supports him. Besides helping the child directly, the environment where the child grows up needs to be improved. KCC helps schools to improve their teaching methods. There is a demonstration school at the centre and teacher trainings are given. Health workers are being trained, hygiene education is carried out and households are stimulated to build a proper latrine. I helped setting up a production site for cement slabs. These are used to built a good latrine. They are sold at a very low price. A few times a week a health team goes out into small villages to do immunization, treatment and education. KCC is the only organization in the area that can provide the transport for this. Patients would otherwise have to travel hours by bicycle, if they have one. There is no ambulance in the area and they don't have money to hire a taxi (if there is one). For most people KCC is the only help they can get. Now that I'm back in Holland, I would like to continue supporting KCC. To do this I'm raising funds and organizing the sponsorship program. Please consider one of these options: 1. Sponsor a child: $15 a month. (Holland: fl 25) 2. Sponsor a child and the improvement of its environment: $25 a month (Holland: fl 40) 3. Sponsor the health team: Any amount a month or per quarter 4. A one-time donation Compared with other organizations that do child sponsorship the amounts are very low. This is because the money goes directly to the centre. Less than 5% is used for administration. This is possible because this is a small organization that works with volunteers. If you would like to sponsor a child, you should have the intention to do this for at least a year. How do you know that the money will be spent right? First of all you have my personal guarantee as the author of Vim. Further the centre is co-sponsored and inspected by World Vision, Save the Children Fund and International Child Care Fund. I have worked with the centre as a volunteer from September 1994 to August 1995. I trust the people that are working there. If you have any further questions, send me e-mail: mool@oce.nl. The director of the centre is: Sekaran Vellasamy p.o. box 1658 Masaka, Uganda, East Africa Sending money: USA and Canada: Contact ICCF in Vancouver. You can send them a one time donation directly. Ask for information about sponsorship. International Child Care Fund 3456 Fraser street Vancouver, B.C. V5V 4C4 Canada Fax: 604-8761448 Holland: Use one of my accounts: Rabobank Venlo, nr. 3765.05.117 Postbank, nr. 1644503 Europe: To avoid banking costs the best thing is to send me a Eurocheque, written out to "Bram Moolenaar" in Dutch Guilders (fl). But any other method should work. Ask for information about sponsorship. stichting ICCF Holland Bram Moolenaar Clematisstraat 30 5925 BE Venlo The Netherlands. Others: Transfer the money to one of my accounts if possible. Otherwise, send a cheque in US dollars to the above address. Minimal amount: $70 (my bank does not accept smaller amounts for foreign cheques) Bram Moolenaar