Supporting Africans

It becomes generational unless there is an intervention and these children are plucked out and educated, not only in the things any grammar student needs to learn, but educated in life skills so as to survive.  From soap and water to the ability to say no to someone, simple things such as that may mean a big difference in the life of a child.

We love for you to come and join us for a week or two working with some of the most grateful children you will ever meet and not only will they be touched, you will never be the same.

1. WHAT IS THE % OF RESIDENTS LIVING IN SLUMS IN EAST AFRICA?

The proportions of residents living in slums in Eastern Africa, using the Millennium Development Goals definition of slums are as follows: Kenya (70.9 per cent), Rwanda (90.1 per cent); Burundi (90.6 per cent); Tanzania (89.6 per cent); and Uganda (92.7 per cent).

2. WHAT IS THE % OF RESIDENTS LIVING IN SLUMS IN SUB Sahara AFRICA?

If you think that Africa's problems are mainly rural, think again. According to a UN-Habitat publication launched on World Habitat Day (6 October), sub-Saharan Africa hosts the largest proportion of the urban population residing in slums (71.9 percent); 166 million out of a total urban population of 231 million are classified as slum dwellers. The region has the second largest slum population in the world after South-central Asia, which has 262 million, making up 58 per cent of the global urban population. UN-Habitat estimates that 924 million people worldwide, or 31.6 per cent of the global urban population, lived in slums in 2001 In the next thirty years, this figure is projected to double to almost 2 billion, unless substantial policy changes are put in place.

3. AND WHAT EXACTLY IS A SLUM?

UN-HABITAT attempts at a definition by describing a slum household as "a group of individuals living under the same roof that lack one or more of the following conditions: access to clean water; access to sanitation; secure tenure; durability of housing; and sufficient living area".

4. WHAT IS POVERTY?

The state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions.

The condition of being without adequate food and money and is officially considered to be very poor and in need of help. This is where people are poor, have no savings, own very little and often have low living standards and living in a family with income below the federally defined poverty line.

E.A LOCAL PERCEPTIONS OF POVERTY

Poverty was defined as lack of basic necessities of life especially consumables relating to household welfare. Such consumables include food, paraffin, matchboxes, firewood, medical care for child and self, basic clothing and beddings, eating and cooking utensils, leaking roof, poor housing, lack of farmland and basic farming tools. Lack of basic assets such as a bicycle, radio, protective gear for plantation workers etc, it also constitutes material poverty especially for men. This definition however, differs for men and women according to the roles each plays in sustaining the household.

Poverty is Powerlessness and lack of Voice.

“It is only the chairman whose voice can be heard.. In meetings I can’t speak because I don’t have money. I am thinking about money, I can’t concentrate/talk. …. the voices of women are down.. Women cannot talk in front of men…w hen I am poor I cannot speak among the middle class, they shut you down.

Man in FGD, Kakira

How Can I Help? 

What Can I do to help a Child in Africa?