On January 20th, 2023, we held a launch event in the heart of Kampala, bringing together representatives from various organizations, local leaders, and community members. The event was a huge success and received an overwhelming response from the attendees.

Throughout the event, we shared our vision and mission, as well as the various initiatives and programs that we have planned to implement in the coming months. Our focus will be on education, healthcare, and community development, with a goal to improve the quality of life for the people of Uganda.

We are grateful to all those who supported us in making this launch a success and we look forward to working with you all in achieving our goal. Our team is dedicated to providing the best possible support to the communities we serve, and we are committed to making a positive impact in the lives of those in need.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to making a difference together.

The post Launch of Gigi Mercy Foundation appeared first on Gigi of Mercy Foundation.

Supporting women empowerment programs and fighting domestic violence is Gigi Mercy Foundation’s aim. Below are some of the challenges faced by women.

Discrimination of women

In Uganda, women have a lower social status than men. let’s say decision-making, acquiring education, and finding a lucrative job, women have fewer powers. In the past, women’s rights have been violated from time to time, including the right to own land and the right to marry. Although women make up nearly half of the labor force, they are paid far less than men. As a result, men wage war against women, but no one is calling for a ceasefire or imposing sanctions. Thus limiting women’s empowerment.

Marriage and divorce limit women empowerment.

Secondly, so many communities are still following the cultural norms and beliefs that disrespect women. Am not saying that we should not recognize our cultures but some laws no longer apply in the 21^st century. To begin with, so many women are forced into marriage as long as the partner can pay a bride price. In addition, parents still trade their children (girls) for just a simple small bird price making it open for domestic violence in marriage. At the time of divorce, a girl is supposed to return the bride price that was paid as she was entering the marriage. The parents will force the girl to stay there since they cannot return the price despite what she may be going through in the marriage.

When it comes to inheritance, a widow in some families will be forced to get married to a male relative (brother to the husband) so that his property will stay within his family. Many widows don’t have a say in the husband’s property.

Reproductive and maternal health

Thirdly, so many women are faced with barriers to maternal health and reproductive issues that affect their development. Menstruation greatly affects women’s educational opportunities due to a lack of supplies and sanitary facilities. Many stay home because of the unavailability of sanitary pads and end up missing school. Women become sexually active at a younger age due to coercion by a man or economic necessity. Thus, women have a great risk of HIV/AIDS infection.

According to reports, Uganda has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Uganda currently has a maternal mortality rate of 336 deaths per 100,000 live births. Better access to family planning could prevent 70% of maternity deaths. It is possible to receive antenatal and postnatal care from skilled health care professionals in the same way. Teenagers aged 10-19 years are most likely to become pregnant and have complications during pregnancy at a rate that is five times higher than that of adult women. Therefore, teenage mothers are more likely to experience other negative outcomes.

Gigi of Mercy foundation saw the need to empower women on grounds of the realities of women and girls living in poverty and girl victims of HIV/AIDS, and child marriages. We empower women through our programs namely;

Capacity-building Program

Capacity-building refers to an investment in the effectiveness and future sustainability of an individual or business. In this case, we are talking about capacity building in women. Capacity building can be through training, mentor-ship, and raising public awareness. Gigi Mercy Foundation intends to promote the capacity of women under the program to develop, implement and sustain their solutions to problems. In a way that helps them shape and exercise control over their physical, social, economic, and cultural environments hence women empowerment

Art and craft

Vocational skills and training

Gigi of Mercy foundation intends to provide knowledge and skills that can make the vulnerable women within our outreach areas self-sustainable. Vocational skills and training in arts and crafts, weaving, tailoring, and knowledge on better farming skills. Thus empowering women into women who can speak out.

Business mentoring

Under this program, Gigi Mercy Foundation mentors women in financial literacy, looking at budgeting, investment, and keeping self-reliant within the business.

All things considered, we as Gigi Mercy Foundation befit that with all that said and done women will be empowered and they will be financially independent. Including making decisions for themselves and raising their voices against violence thus women empowerment.

We ask you that in case you have any help you can give to us, we welcome it. It does not matter how big or small, help does not matter. Through donations of money or materials. Thank you.

The post Supporting Women Empowerment Program appeared first on Gigi of Mercy Foundation.

One of Maria Logiel’s youngsters, too weak to sit up, bears telltale skin lesions caused by extreme hunger. The other, strapped to her back, stares gauntly from sunken eyes.

“I came with these two because they were badly off, and going to die,” Logiel told AFP at a hospital in Karamoja, a vast and isolated northeastern border region afflicted by drought, disease, and armed bands. “(But) I left two others home, and I worry that by the time I get back, they’ll be no more,” the 30-year-old mother said.

More than half a million people are going hungry in Karamoja, approximately 40 percent of the population of this neglected, long-suffering rural region between South Sudan and Kenya.

Natural disasters, plagues of locusts and armyworms, and raids by heavily armed cattle thieves have left little to eat.

As food has become ever more scarce, Karamoja’s most vulnerable residents are struggling to survive.

“In three months we have lost more than 25 children under five due to malnutrition,” said Doctor Sharif Nalibe, the district health officer in Kaabong, one of Karamoja’s worst-hit districts. “And these were the ones under our care, but (who) were brought at the last minute to the hospital. But there are many who die and (are) not reported in the communities.”

Starvation in Karamoja is going largely unnoticed as higher-profile crises, including looming famine in the Horn of Africa, and the war in Ukraine, compel global attention.

Even in Uganda, the desperation is out of sight, unfolding 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the capital, Kampala, in a part of the country long written off as harsh and volatile.

Across the region, about 91,600 children and 9,500 pregnant or breastfeeding women are suffering from acute malnutrition and need treatment, according to the latest assessment by humanitarian agencies.

“In terms of acute malnutrition … this year we have experienced the worst that we have had in the last 10 years,” said Alex Mokori, a nutrition specialist from UNICEF, which is screening for malnutrition in Karamoja with local authorities.

Logiel said she resorted to foraging to put food on the table, but the wild plants often made her children sicker.

In desperation, she would sometimes buy the mealy dregs from a popular locally made sorghum brew called “malwa”, even if the effect was mildly alcoholic.

Half a litre of this residue goes for about 40 US cents – often more than she could afford.

“Often we failed to raise money and the children sleep hungry,” Logiel said.

With a porous border and thriving illicit trade, Karamoja has endured decades of tit-for-tat armed cattle raids between nomadic clans that wander the lawless frontier between Uganda, South Sudan, and Kenya.

These incursions make life even harder for Karimojong communities entirely reliant on livestock and crops to survive, and government interventions to disarm rustlers have not stopped the cycles of violence.

The erratic effects of a changing climate – Karamoja is experiencing harsh drought, but last year witnessed damaging floods and landslides – have only multiplied the hardships bearing down on the region

The post Hunger killing children in forgotten corner of Uganda appeared first on Gigi of Mercy Foundation.

HIV/AIDS and poverty move hand in hand here in Uganda and Africa. Where there is poverty there is HIV and where there are HIV/AIDS poverty lives.

HIV in full is Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. HIV leads to AIDS. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is AIDS in full.

Amartya Sen defines poverty as a failure to achieve certain minimum capabilities and according to him, the lack of capabilities is absolute. There are two types of poverty namely; Absolute and relative poverty.

Absolute poverty is defined as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs. Including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to social services. However, capabilities are fixed over time or in societies.

NUMBERS

In Uganda, 41% of people live in poverty, and almost have of Uganda’s population is under the age of the youngest population in the world. Uganda hosts a number the largest refugee population in Africa.

At this time, about 1.5 million Ugandans have HIV infection. About 10% acquired HIV infection via the mother-child transmission route and studies show that the rate reached 26%. 400,000- 450,000 Uganda have died from HIV/AIDS. And many get HIV from heterosexual transmission.

• Up to 20% of the continent’s population is disabled, including half of its children.
• Malnutrition challenges are causing an ever-increasing number of children to grow up stunted.
• HIV/AIDS leaves children orphaned and in charge of their households at very young ages. According to estimates, there are 32 million orphans in Africa.

In its most extreme form, poverty is destitution. The struggle to survive without necessities like food, water, and shelter. This is the reality for almost half of the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Without the most basic needs met, African children cannot imagine a way out of poverty – and the cycle continues.

Sustainable Development Goals

In the sustainable development goals, the issue of poverty is talked about as followers.

• First No Poverty, end poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• Second Zero Hunger, end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
• Third Good Health and Well-being, ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

How does HIV/AIDS lead to poverty?

Working-age adults in poverty are left impoverished when they become ill and need treatment. And care due to the loss of income when the earners can no longer work and the increase in expenses due to medical expenses.

Labor force losses are a significant factor in slowing the pace of economic growth at the national level as a result of the epidemic. . Locking some populations, especially in the poorest and least developed countries, into poverty and making them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

HIV-affected households face multiple disadvantages when it comes to school access for children. Several factors may lead to children leaving school early. If a household experiences catastrophic medical expenses or loses income, school fees become too expensive. This forces the child to take on domestic or agricultural duties. They have to take care of the sick adults. To replace lost income, the child enters the labor market prematurely. Even to be the sole breadwinner and head of a household of orphans.

Where we come in.

Focusing on reaching out to people prone to HIV/AIDs and poverty.  Gigi of mercy Foundation trails to reach out. This is through counseling and guidance and encouraging all people to go for HIV testing to know their status.

It won’t be possible to eradicate poverty through anti-poverty programs alone, but rather through democratic participation. And restructuring of economic structures that ensure access to resources, opportunities, and public services for all.

The post Poverty and HIV appeared first on Gigi of Mercy Foundation.