KID'S HOME

For years mass orphanages have been breaking down the family unit by enticing parents to give up their children rather than encouraging them to try to survive as a family. Family empowerment means getting to the root of the orphan cycle and providing families with the support and tools they need to PREVENT the next generation from abandoning their children to the streets.

Partnering with Mercy Childcare Ministries, a home for orphaned, neglected, or abandoned children, Come Let’s Dance comes alongside the Ugandan leaders of MCM to be a part of this ministry’s vision. In November 2007, the dream to provide a safe and accommodating house for this large family came true with the purchase of a permanent home in Wakiso village. The Kids’ Home has become more than just a program, it is our heart, our life, the inspiration for all of our other projects — it is why we do what we do!

Food and Health
First and foremost, we believe everyone should have access to basic needs and basic medical attention.  As of Summer 2008, the Taxi Micro-business has helped create financial self-sustainability in this area at the Kids’ Home. We opened a Mercy Childcare Ministries account at the International Hospital of Kampala so now no child under our care can be denied medical attention.

We have seen that health education significantly decreases the medical bills. Over the past few years, we have developed projects, gone on retreats, and started programs for the leaders, house parents, and kids, teaching and educating them in areas like first aid, disease, a balanced diet/menu planning and hygiene.  It’s another step we take to move away from treating the problem and toward preventing the problem.

Also we have huge plans for our farm that will be a perpetual food resource for the home and elsewhere in the community!

Education
If we’ve learned anything in Africa it’s that education is empowerment. Education truly provides hope and a real opportunity for the next generation of Ugandans. For this reason, a sponsorship program is currently supporting all of our kids who are old enough to attend elementary through high school. But we don’t want this to end after high school! Come Let’s Dance helps fund or find sponsorship for our local leaders and extraordinary young adults to go on to University.

Beyond education in the classroom, we love to expose our kids to new opportunities of all kinds. Nothing is more amazing than to watch these captivated faces discover their individuality, creativity, and talents through after school programs and Saturday activity days including swim lessons, art and craft days, field trips, soccer camps, and movie nights.

“From the time we are five we are asked what we want to be when we grow up, and you ask that question to our kids in Africa, and they can’t comprehend what you’re saying.  We want these kids to dream for the first time, and we want to make those dreams a reality, we want Ugandan fashion designers, Ugandan filmmakers, Ugandan lawyers, Ugandan athletes, and Ugandan doctors… With love, attention, encouragement, and some financial help we want to motivate these kids to work hard for worthwhile goals.”
- Nicole Galovski

Family Empowerment
We believe that growing up in a real family is always better than in an institutional setting. At any given time, we support between 60-80 orphans and street kids, but our main goal is to make sure that it doesn’t stop there. Every family is different, each with their unique story of how they came to be destitute, our goal is to target the remaining family of the kids we support, and hear these stories.  We want to build relationships and work with each of these families, helping them toward education, employment, and a better life, lived WITH their children.

As funds have allowed we have begun returning the children, with accessible families, home on school holidays. Family reintegration needs to begin somewhere and we think school holidays are a good time to start! It’s a long road, but we continue to persevere traveling to the different destitute places our kids have come from. We have people developing ideas, researching strategies, and discovering resources so we can further effectively reinstate the children with their mom, dad, or extended family members.

“Who, being loved, is poor?” - Oscar Wilde