Givology - give to learn, learn to give

Global Peace Exchange (GPE) is a student-run international development organization. Throughout the summer of 2012 a team of 5 Florida State University students will be partnering with Bright Kids Uganda to better improve the orphanage's health education, services, and sustainability efforts. The team will conduct public health workshops and assist in the expansion of an on-site health clinic. Currently, the clinic does not have the capacity to provide even base health services to the children. Thus there exists vast potential to improve the quality of the clinic and increase its size, impact, and services rendered for the children and the community.
According to the founder and director of Bright Kids Uganda, a local Ugandan, Victoria Namusisi, “the security of the children is an essential aspect in the success of BKU, and at the most fundamental level, providing adequate health care to the children is a measure of their security.” GPE recognizes, however, that although adequate health care is vital, without an education to support it we cannot trust it will be sustainable. For this reason the GPE team will focus on providing public health workshops for both the children and adults in the community to serve as a backbone for further progress and sustainable use of the health services. Culturally appropriate hand-outs will be distributed and local nurses and health professionals shall co-facilitate the lessons, which will take place roughly five times each week.

In 2000, Victoria Nalongo Namusisi began Bright Kids Orphanage in hopes of making the lives better for children in Uganda. Victoria’s background prepared her for a life of service. She was born to a peasant fisherman and early in her media career she served as a presidential and parliamentary reporter up to 1991 when the president of Uganda appointed her Resident District Commissioner; she later became Head of Administration and Logistics for the President of Uganda’s Office. It wasn’t until 2000 when she was serving as Chief Commissioner for Scouts in Uganda when through taking scouting to the streets of Kampala she came face to face with the reality that actually most street kids longed for what they would call HOME and loving arms to run into. Victoria saw that her role could be more effective if she began her own orphanage to care for the children of Uganda and as a result she started Bright Kids Uganda, then called Sunrise Children’s Village, in April 2000.

The goals of the project revolve around providing adequate health education to ensure that the increased services will continually meet the needs of the children and the local community long after the team has left. In the future, the clinic’s operation may generate enough income to provide the salary for a full-time nurse on-site. Until this time, however, it is essential that the children and community have the opportunity to attend public health workshops so that they may increase their knowledge of health, sanitation, and self-care, among other things. Locals may possibly use their gained comprehension to volunteer at the BKU clinic, if they so choose. While GPE’s overall aim is to foster a long-term relationship with BKU and Kisbui at large, we also value the power of the local community and their level of independent sustainability. By providing on-site health education awareness workshops, GPE hopes to supplement the growth and revitalization of BKU’s clinic to last long into the future.

Throughout the months preceding the project, the team has invested numerous hours building relationships with health professionals on Florida State University’s Campus and at a non-profit neighborhood health organization. The team’s relationships with the campus nutrition coordinator, a former public health educator, and a professional nurse, have also served as excellent reference points for understanding effective methods of health education and awareness. The team has since been able to examine new ways of looking at public health access, education, and awareness, especially in developing communities given their unique needs, abilities, and economies. In addition to this thought process, the team will foster relationships with Entebbe’s local nurses and health professionals to ensure that workshops are culturally competent and the information provided will be relevant to the community.