Butema Youth Health Care and Development

 BUTEMA RURAL YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND SPORTS ASSOCIATION-(BRYESA)

(Formerly Butema Rural Youth Education and Sports Academy-(BRYESA))

The proposal draws attention to the numerous challenges that the youth of Butema Village, especially children, are faced with, which have negatively affected their opportunity to healthy growth and skills development to become more productive members of the Ugandan society. 

There  exists a large number of orphans and children with nutritional deficiency disease in Butema Village, in rural western Uganda. This is compounded with a high dependency ratio (almost as high as 25 children to one adult). In most cases due to financial constraints, the surviving adults cannot adequately provide for the orphans basic needs such as; Health care, proper feeding, school fees, school uniforms, books, medical care, and parental guidance.

These children/ youth of Butema town face challenges that are a result of social-cultural, economic, and environmental factors. The  growing urbanization of the area has exposed the children/youth to urban vices such as alcoholism, prostitution, teenage pregnancies, childhood marriages, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. The population of Butema village is over 16,000, as per Butema Health Centre records.  Out of these, 1,372 are HIV/AIDS victims, 683 are active in taking ARVs and 95 are under 19 years. In the month of November 2023, Butema health Centre recorded HIV/AIDS positive, children were 28, elders 199 , pregnant 412 and death 211.

BRYESA makes sure the children who are sick and starving  get  access to medical  care  for malnutrition related health issues. BRYESA currently takes care of about 50 vulnerable children including especially orphans with HIV/AIDS, Kwashiorkor, Marasmus and malnutrition. The children are given a balanced diet of different types of food and are also taken to  the Hospital and Health Centres for treatment. As these children grow up, BRYESA trains them in life skills to improve their lives . BRYESA also nurtures and trains over 1,000 disadvantaged  youth (aged 12 to 35 years), in different vocational skills in a bid to enable them be self sufficient.

BRYESA also hires professional personnel to provide  special training to the guardians and young mothers of these children about HIV/AIDS and nutritional related diseases.

BRYESA also promotes farming practices that prioritize  food crops with nutrients and other vocational skills to make the youth job creators ;and small – medium enterprise startup and business management as they generate income which will help them to care for their children and the orphans. 

BRYESA also offers guidance and counseling to the youth and  mothers of children with nutritional deficiency diseases, and those who have been stigmatized due to HIV/AIDS.  

The target population for the solution includes: 

Children aged between 0- 12 years.

This target group are majorly HIV/Aids orphans and the sickly. They lack  basic needs such as; Health care, proper feeding, parental or guardianship guidance and care, clothing, school fees and scholastic materials etc.

Boys and girls/ young women and men (Aged 12 -35 years).

This target group has been exposed to urban vices such as alcoholism, prostitution, teenage pregnancies, childhood marriages, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. 

BRYESA has tried, however it lacks adequate capacity to create a significant impact among its target groups. The organization would like to scale up its operations to take on more children; about 100 children per year especially Children aged between 0 - 12 years, who are are majorly HIV/Aids orphans and the sickly as a result of malnutrition  deficiency diseases.

Currently BRYESA facilitates access to Medical care to these children.

BRYESA also offers milk and food with protein and carbohydrates to children with HIV/AIDS, children  and nutritional deficiency diseases. 

By providing food that makes up a balanced diet like Carbohydrates, proteins, Vitamins, mineral salts, fats and oils, water and roughage, their body immune Systems are strengthened ; a well-nourished body function which can fight off the infections and diseases in their body.

BRYESA also provides support to children with Aids and malnutrition deficiency diseases  with clothes, soap, sugar and scholastic materials.

Providing the opportunity to acquire the education and skills needed to start transforming their lives.

To train, in its fully fledged future, vulnerable children and teenagers in entrepreneurship skills and small – medium enterprise startup and business management.

Nurturing the Entrepreneurship and investments spirit among the youths/children through continuous training with emphasis on financial and risk management.

Equipping the youths with the moral, ethical and the life skills meant to build their capacities to enable their self-sustenance especially in agriculture and handcrafts.

Nurture and support the talents in the youths i.e. sports, music and dance drama

Guidance and counseling to the youths especially those who have been stigmatized due to HIV/AIDS, rape and defilement, early pregnancies, substance abuse and family disintegrations.

Since inception,  BRYESA has assisted at least 50 orphans  and children  living with HIV/AIDS, and children with malnutrition deficiency diseases. 

BRYESA has also registered 1,032 youth/children ;( Girls-738 & Boys-294), to receive special skills training in various vocations to enable them become economically active.

Of the registered youth the institution has so far trained 304 youth, of which 218 have started their own businesses and 86 do not have capital to start up their own businesses.

The programme already has in place the following

The project  has secured 5 acres of land, for  agricultural food production. We do mixed farming in order to get enough food for supplying to children who are sick and starving.

The project is also facilitating the affected children with access to medical care and proper feeding.

The high dependency ratio of approximately 25 children to one adult as a result of HIV/Aids and malnutritional deficiency diseases has been overwhelming to the Butema Village community. BRYESA intervention is an innovation to the community  because the services are free to the beneficiaries, the costs and other related resources are all facilitated by BRYESA.

Additionally BRYESA is works with the guardians and parents  of the affected  children.

In a rural community where poverty levels are high and the care of such affected  children and youth is usually shunned, BRYESA intervention is a good innovation which has bee embraced by the community.

The prize will help BRYESA scale up the number of children who are orphaned and affected by HIV/Aids and malnutritional deficiency diseases, improve  their health care, set up a better child care parenting home, class rooms and a perimeter wall.

Board of Directors, Management and staff

The Organization is governed by a seven member Board of Directors who oversee the management of the  Project. 

BRYESA staff

The management and staff comprise of a ten member team of skilled and experienced individuals in various fields pertaining to youth and child development. BRYESA also has voluntary staff as well as part time workers. 

This is a project of great outreach and perspective that will have produce an impact that should be felt in the way the community it will deal with will feel the effect. The expected output will be:

BRYESA's impact goal is to reach out and support 100 children affected  by HIV/AIDS and Malnutrition deficiency diseases for the next one year and at least 500 such children in the next five years.

There will be regular and continuous monitoring and evaluation of the project.

The impact will be measured by the number of children reached out to and supported and the statuses or improvements in these children throughout the years they will be under BRYESA Support and after.

The journeys of each of these children will be documented throughout and success stories shared.

BRYESA will also document and share a balanced optimization of lessons learnt,  best practices and emerging issues together with recommendations  in supporting its target population.

BRYESA will also seek for partners who share the same vision to support this noble cause.

BRYESA  is already addressing this problem , though on a small scale. The number of requests to BRYESA for support of these children is bigger than what the organisation has so far taken on, due to inadequate capacity by the organisation to support more children in terms of resources, given that the services are free to the beneficiaries. With improved resources capacity BRYESA is assured of a significant impact on its community.

BRYESA’s foundation is the focus on preparations of these children with rare disease to formal education and vocation skills empowerment with income generating activities which are meant to help them earn a basic living with their children.

BRYESA staff

BRYESA has 5 full time staff who have acquired basic qualifications necessary to conduct the Project programs. 

The  association has 2 voluntary staff as well as 5 part time workers. 

BRYESA has been in existence for  now 13 years .  started as  NGO  it later changed it's legal status to a Community Based Organisation(CBO). 

It provides a holistic approach to the development of the children/ youth.  Programs are designed to build a new generation of youth that is self-sustaining . BRYESA  builds the capacity of the children/youth by imparting in them knowledge to meet their needs which are relevant to their local environment.  BRYESA employ wide range training methods that are adaptive to the unique situations of the children/youth in their different age groups and literacy levels. 

The BRYESA team is composed of well-versed and relevantly experienced personnel in child care and participatory approach models. A medical staff on consultation basis, nutritionist, HR and administration, Accountability and management, agro-economics, monitoring and evaluation, Guidance and Counselling are skills that the team also boasts of. 

BRYESA supports feeds and cares for the vulnerable children especially orphans children with nutritional diseases deficiency,  and those with HIV/AIDS. Most of these children/ youth come from very poor families and don’t have sufficient health care. BRYESA offers first aid health care and where possible takes them to the health Centre for further treatment

BRYESA built up a platform with the Doctors and nurse in case of any emergencies , an alarm can be done as soon as possible

BRYESA carried out in a bid to safe guard the children/ youth and our experience shows that one problem often sets off another problem. So sensitizing the community on the linkages neglecting children of Kwashakow, marasmus, HIV to drug abuse, early marriages, and prostitution has enabled parents and youth make wiser decisions. Sensitization sessions, counseling and guidance are all ongoing initiatives at the Organisation. With time we hope to see a change in how the youth respond to the problems affecting their households and the community.

BRYESA Provides  opportunities to the youth to acquire the education and skills needed to start transforming their lives.

BRYESA  also trains the young on how to generate income from hand work . It encourages them to grow into strong women and men and our main focus is  on supporting vulnerable children and teenagers.

The Organisation's  operations are funded by money received from donations as well as its programing.

Bryesa has individual who gives between $ 50--$300 per month to buy milk  to children in bad condition.

The organisation has an arm of training the youth in Agriculture, vocational skills, Sports , Music dance and drama and earns some income from these sources as well which helps in supporting the children.

However, these current income sources to run project are currently not very sustainable. The Academy requires a significant investment in inputs to Agriculture and  training programs which will in the long run become self-funding.

Scaling up of the youth numbers trained will help take care of all registered youth engaged in various income generating activities. This is expected to have a multiplier effect in terms of job creation in Butema village as well as improvement in the social and economic wellbeing of the Butema village community.

BRYESA program over time has built a minimum level of sustainability through the sale of products and services provided by the organisation. Agriculture produce, Arts and crafts, beautician services, MDD concerts, all bring in money that is to fund support of the sick children and orphans and to purchase training materials as a means for continuity of the project.

 The project is also supported by well-wishers who are majorly individuals & a few corporates. This support is usually in form of cash donations, books, training materials and second hand clothes. 

Our future  to sustain the program is scaling up our Agricultural activities,   construction of the sports ground. This ground will be hired for different type of activities and the income will help these children with education and feeding. The Organisation will also seek partnerships with other organizations with a shared vision to support orphans and sick children.