Sammy Children's Centre conducts a wide range of community development initiatives, and would like to continue to expand in a number of areas. We recognize that caring for children and their communities is a complex task, with many interrelated components. If we, for example, pay a child's school fees through a sponsorship program, yet her grandmother has no money to buy soap, no access to safe water, and no source of food, the child's education will not be very effective. We want to work with community members, to lift the villages around SCCI out of cycles of poverty, unemployment, violence, disease, lack of education, and hopelessness. The need is great.

• Child Sponsorship Program: click here for more info.
• Clean Water Project: In 2007, we raised money to install a hand pump well in Migadde. The lack of clean, safe, reliable water sources is a huge problem in rural Uganda. Previous to installing SCCI's community well, the water source was pools of rainwater - a source that is unsafe if not treated properly and a source that is inconsistently available. While our community well is a life-giving village resource, we would like to install additional wells throughout the community. The cost is approximately $3,000 per well.
• Widows' Empowerment: Widows often face desperate situations and have trouble caring for their children. In our community, SCCI targets the widows who are in the most dire need of help and takes steps to empower them to care for themselves and their children. In 2007, SCCI built a home for Mama Mpisekubo and her son. Members of the local church and some neighbors pitched in to construct a safe and comfortable home for this little family.
• Bible Distribution & Evangelism: SCCI partners with local village churches to distribute Bibles, conduct outreach, and offer teaching in Christian parenting principles.
• Pastor Sponsorship: In rural Uganda, pastors are selfless resources serving their villages. Pastors are not paid from their congregations, yet they devote their lives to caring for the people in their churches. We have two pastors and their families that we would like to sponsor, at $50 per month per family.
• Building Relationships: We desire to be not only a formal community resource, but a powerful informal means of support. SCCI staff intentionally builds supportive relationships with village residents, regularly visiting with neighbors and opening their home to community members.
• Generating Local Income: SCCI operates a small farm on its land. Growing maize, cassava, peanuts, fruits and vegetables supports the Sennyonjo family, provides meals for guests, provides a source from which to give food to those in need, and also provides small jobs for village residents in need of work.
  

Guests over for a Christmas meal

Robert teaching in a local village church

Robert visiting village homes

Mama Mpisekubo and her son by their previous home

The beginning of construction on Mama Mpisekubo's now finished home

Maize harvest

Water source, before

The new community well