In the south of Uganda, AIDS has struck hard. Ten to thirty percent of the people are infected by HIV (reference: UNAIDS). Because parents die of this lethal disease, there are many orphans. Canadian missionaries recognized the need, and started a home for these children.

Currently about 700 children are helped. They live in extended families, with an Uncle or other relative who volunteered to take care of the orphan. These people are very poor. KCC makes sure the children get the basic needs, and makes it possible for them to go to school.

The key to solving the problems in this war-suffered country is education. We don't intend to help forever, there must come a time that they can take care of themselves. Therefore all sponsored children attend school. At the centre there is an example school, which gives support to teachers in and around Kibaale. The school is supervised by Kuwasha, connected to Pacific Academy in Vancouver, Canada. More information can be found on their website.

Other children are visiting schools near their homes. Many of these schools have very little means for education. One book for ten children. A tiny blackboard. A roof with holes. Most of the school fees are used to improve this. There is a teacher resource centre at KCC, where people from other schools are helped to improve their teaching. Occasionally we help a school with a new roof, blackboards, etc.

Medical help is also needed. There is a small clinic at the project. A nurse takes care of the basic medical care. Serious cases are taken to a hospital. Vaccination programs are carried out to protect the children for contagious diseases and to prevent epidemics.

Prevention is the best help we can give. Now and then people go out to the villages to do AIDS education. Family planning is also a subject of interest. The parents should consider limiting the size of the family, to be able to take better care of their children.

Water is a problem in Kibaale. There is a river, and there are several water holes. But the water is polluted. In other areas boreholes have been made to provide clean water. But in Kibaale the underground water contains iron, which makes boreholes unusable without an extra filtration system.

At the project rain water harvesting is used. In the rainy season water from the roofs is collected in big tanks. This is a good solution for schools. We have built water tanks at several schools. But it is too expensive for a Ugandan family. We have tried digging wells, but that doesn't provide water of good quality.

Another method would be slow sand filtration. The river provides a steady stream of water that can be used for this. But we lack the funds and the knowledge to do this. Hopefully we will be able to do this some day.