Samaritans For Children is found in Mityana District, Uganda
Mityana, is a town in the Central Region of Uganda, approximately 70km to the west of the capital city of Uganda – Kampala. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Mityana District, and the district headquarters are located there.
Mityana has a population of 328,964 (2020)
Total Population by Age group of Mityana
| Age group | Male | Female | Total |
| 0-9 Years | 56,610 | 50,593 | 107,203 |
| 10 – 19 Years | 43,862 | 41,904 | 85,766 |
| 20 – 39 Years | 40,678 | 42,974 | 83,652 |
| 40 – 59 Years | 17,074 | 18,504 | 35,578 |
| 60 Years & above | 7,493 | 9,272 | 16,765 |
| Totals | 165,717 | 163,247 | 328,964 |
The need for social protection is motivated by two factors: poverty and vulnerability. Poverty describes a low level of income or consumption, while vulnerability refers to the risk of falling into poverty. The extent of poverty – headcount numbers, severity and trends – indicates the extent of the need for social protection; unfortunately, poverty also restricts the tax base and limits the potential for formal social protection measures to be extended to all poor citizens.
Our target groups are the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) between the ages of 1 to 19 within Mityana district and widows and vulnerable women
Problems in the district
The problem areas assessed: education, nutrition, Health, spiritual & moral wellbeing.
Rising numbers of orphans
One of the biggest challenges of our day is a growing number of orphaned children in and around Mityana district because of civil wars, diseases and poverty in particular Uganda has been and still holds the biggest orphan population per capita of any district in Uganda yet the number is continuing to grow due to lower mortality rate of parents especially men due to diseases and poverty.
It is estimated that Mityana has over 70,000 orphans
Education
Coupled with the growing numbers of orphans and widows is the rising numbers of school drop outs due to lack of school fees and study aids like books, uniforms school bags etc
Malnutrition
This problem statement about Mityana can never be considered complete without talking about the low standards of nutrituion of children in Mityana. Most people in the surrounding areas of Mityana are peasant farmers. They depend farm harvest when due. The harvests are always not sufficient. This contributes negatively to the nutrion needs in this district. This directly impacts the children.
On average many families earn less than $1 per day. This compounds the problem of malnutrition.
Sanitation
This problem statement about Mityana can never be considered complete without talking about the sanitation standards in Mityana. The levels of sanitation in Mityana are low. As you move from the main town towards rural areas, you will notice the rise in levels of poor sanitation
HIV/AIDS
The coming of COVID-19 has overshadowed the prevalence of HIV-AIDS in Mityana. HIV-AIDS is still spreading in the district especially among the youths of the district. HIV has been one of the main causes of the rising numbers of orphans and widows in the district
The level of HIV/AIDS infection is 6.2% of the total population of Mityana District
Spiritual Environment
A healthy spiritual environment in any region will always give birth to a vibrant economic-social and moral well-being of a place. Mityana is no exception.
Mityana has the following denominations: Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostal, Moslems and spiritualists. The percentage of genuine Christians is as low as 5%. Truth be told. The message has been spread but a lot more has be done
Economic activity has been on a sharp steady decline since 2019 not just the Mityana district but the whole country at large due to COVID-19 due to a domestic lockdowns, border closures for all but essential cargo, and the spillover effects of disruptions to global demand and supply chains.
The orphans and vulnerable who were already in terrible economic conditions have been affected more deeply
It is with all the above in mind that Samaritans For Children was birthed. Currently we have 40 orphans and vulnerable children, 8 widows and 15 vulnerable. If you compare these numbers with district statistics presented above, you will realize that the need is great. It’s like a drop in the ocean
It’s on this basis that we call upon individuals and organizations to stand with us spiritually, morally, practically and financially to alleviate the above anomalies in Mityana District.
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