History
CORE stands for “Creating Opportunities through Reaching Out and Education.” It is a North-South initiative to create opportunities for vulnerable children in Uganda through outreach and basic education, skills development, and support. It also aims at providing Ongutoi Village, where the majority of the children originate, with support activities that will enable them to have meaningful lives in society. Uganda went through a civil war for over 20 years which drastically affected many areas of the Country especially the North and Eastern parts of the country.
Although there is relative peace now the impact of the years of war and conflict have left some parts of the population traumatized and suffering from lack of basic resources. The changing weather patterns have also affected agricultural productivity that is key to people’s livelihoods. The most affected in the population are the children and the women.
The Need
The challenges facing developing countries, including Uganda, are complex, and there have been many different solutions and interventions initiated in the recent past. Our work with the children and communities in Ongutoi village for over 20 years has taught us that there is a need to focus on the core of the issues facing the people.
Government and many non-governmental organizations have done tremendous work but most of them have dealt with the symptoms of the problems. We have come to the conclusion that people are primarily the axis of their own development. They are the origin and end of their development.
This is core to our undertaking as we try to create opportunities through reaching out and education for the people of Ongutoi village. We shall pursue this as central and foundational in all our activities.
Among the many diverse needs of the community are:
Access to educational opportunitie
Sustainable access to food and clean water
Psycho-social needs for former LRA abductees and HIV+ children
Psychologically moving beyond trauma
Reducing stigma and successfully integrating children back into community
The learning of life skills and income generating activities to establish foundational capacity for the children to sustain themselves