PEACE FOR CHILDREN AFRICA

Hello I’m Sarah’s daughter, Rachael Salway, making a guest blog!



I’ve just spent the last month in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, and it really was an eye opener. I originally went to solely volunteer in an orphanage for babies called Sanyu Babies Home.

However on going along to this other organisation as a one-off with a friend who spent a lot of time there last year, I got completely absorbed. The organisation is called Peace for Children Africa and started off as an outreach programme in the slums, founded by two intuitive lovely young men called Paul and Martin who grew up in the slums of Kampala themselves. They luckily received a couple of donations, alongside all their own savings and managed to build a centre to home some of the kids they counsel in the slums that are most in need of an escape.



The centre currently hosts just under 25 children, ranging from 3-21 in age, and despite their age gaps they all just act like family to each other. They could not be more grateful and positive despite the fact their situations are still so far from perfect. Martin and Paul really have changed the lives of so many of these lovely children, and they want to expand the centre even more, and buy a place just outside Kampala so they can help many more children who at present have little chance to achieve their dreams.



Most of the children at PCA are lucky enough to be sponsored to go to school and in the evening and at the weekends Martin and Paul ensure that the children have a lot to keep them going like dance lessons and acrobatic lessons, as well as teaching them skills like wood carving that will help them in later life. It is only thanks to support from kind people that these kids are given these chances, but they are still only just scraping by at the moment.

Martin and Paul’s work doesn’t just stop at the children at PCA. They still continue their outreach programme in the slums every Wednesday and Friday, teaching the children basic lessons and giving them a free meal. They offer counselling to any child that desires this, which is understandably a depressing majority. They’ve also recently decided to set up training sessions with the local police force to educate them on how best to handle the children in the slums, as due to their situation the crime rate is high but the police are not very sympathetic to their situation and can be quite corrupt in their manners. Martin and Paul always welcome any new suggestions and could not have kinder hearts with their only desires being to help these kids in any way possible. PCA isn’t as well known in Kampala as it should be and it still needs as many visitors, volunteers and donations as possible!



They are currently working on the website to make it easier to give donations by Pay Pal but if you find any problems with the website or want to email Martin and Paul regardless, they will be happy to receive it. Giving to these children will be a decision you will never ever forget. Even giving just £10 will buy one mosquito net which could potentially save a child’s life in the prevention of malaria.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read this.