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Tigers Club
P.O. Box 38882 London W12 0WR simon@tigersclub.org Uganda email : andy@retrak.org P.O. Box 7737 Kampala, Uganda P.O. Box 25740 Nairobi 00603, Kenya Tel. + 254 20 387 2235 UK Registered Charity No. 1063025 Ugandan Registered NGO No. S.5914/2046 |
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| Prepared by iD © Tigers Club 2006 |
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Homeless children
realising their potential
Once street boys have been drawn into the programme through football or other outreach activities, the Tigers Club Project offers them specific support in realising their potential. In order to help them deal emotionally with their sometimes traumatic past and the harsh realities of street life, the boys are offered counselling sessions. The Tigers Club Project also provides them with a unique chance of returning to regular education and of benefiting from the S.T.A.R.T. programme, which, according to their age and skills, will enable them to enter mainstream education, vocational training college or support them with setting up small businesses.
Counselling
Many homeless children have experienced considerable trauma in their lives. The psychological, emotional and social impact of this can be huge and needs to be dealt with before any effective rehabilitation can take place.
Some children are the victims of mental and/or physical violence and abuse and have run away from their homes to seek a better life and safety. Others are the orphaned victims of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, or have suffered the trauma of seeing parents and other relatives killed during years of violent civil strife. The harsh realities of life on the streets of Kampala, where the boys may face violence, hunger and other emotional and physical hazards, does little to strengthen the scope for emotional well-being.
Improving and safeguarding the mental health of these young boys is thus a prime concern for the Tigers Club team. A team of qualified and highly skilled social workers is in charge of reaching out to the boys in the Tigers Clubhouse and on the streets, and helps the boys overcome the emotional consequences of their sometimes dramatic past. The social work team may also engage in trouble-shooting, dealing with immediate welfare needs or providing focused career guidance.
A sensitive understanding of each individual child’s background is also pivotal in preparing the boys for resettlement with relatives or with foster families. The qualified social workers at Tigers Club meet boys individually to deal with welfare issues and, together with the boys and their (prospective) families, develop a strategy for providing the best permanent alternative to life on the streets.
Follow-up of all boys who have been resettled or fostered is regarded as a priority area by the social work team and is often the key to a successful outcome of attempts to reintegrate boys into society.
Real Lives : Milo Milo was a street kid for nine years following some terrifying ordeals as a young child, caught between two sides of a broken family. Like many other Tigers he was a victim of abuse in the course of witchcraft practices which left him a damaged child who felt unwanted and unloved. After a series of episodes in prison he came to Tiger’s for help and has since learnt to read and write at the Learning Centre, in addition to training in panel beating. Milo is an active member of a local church and has been a tremendous support as one of Tiger’s junior management team. |
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The Learning Centre
When street children run away from their homes, they leave behind not only their families and friends, but also the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills required for full integration into their social, economic and political environment. The link between lack of education, lack of income generation, ill health, social vulnerability and poverty is a frightening one, particularly since education provides not only skills and knowledge required for securing income generation opportunities and for exercising one’s right as a citizen, but also a forum for building friendships and relationships and for gaining invaluable social and relational skills.
The Tigers Club project therefore seeks to give street boys an opportunity to return to regular education. Basic literacy, numeracy, business and health care skills are imparted and general catch- up classes held at the Clubhouse, in the hope that the boys may be able to re-enter mainstream schools. But the boys’ studies go far beyond the three R’s: apart from academic work, strong emphasis is given to discipline, sharing and cooperation, language, group and team work, and to the exploration of health and environmental issues. For those boys who are interested in finding out more about Christianity, there is an optional “Bible Club” which is held every Thursday. Through drama, music, games and story-telling, basic biblical truths are taught.
Attendance and commitment are always strongly encouraged, and recreational outings away from the city are organised from time to time to reward Learning Centre students for their enthusiasm and hard work.
Careful monitoring of the boys’ abilities and commitment allows the staff team to assess the boys’ suitability for entry onto the “S.T.A.R.T.” programme, which, if selected, provides them with additional learning opportunities.
The S. T. A. R. T. Programme
(Specially Targeted and Resourced Tigers)
Reuniting children with their families or integrating them into caring foster homes is the most desirable outcome of the interventions offered by the Tigers Club Project. The S.T.A.R.T. programme was initiated to give a fresh chance in life to boys who cannot be resettled. ‘S.T.A.R.T.S.’ are selected on the basis of background, determination, attitude and behaviour, and the type of support to be provided is carefully chosen on a case-by-case basis. Some boys are fully supported through mainstream school and/or vocational training while others receive immediate support with setting up small businesses, such as mechanics and hardware stores, shoe making and repair facilities, graphic design, hairdressing, charcoal selling, or grocery shops.
Throughout the programme, S.T.A.R.T.S. are accommodated and fully supported, both financially and emotionally, until they are able to be independent.
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| Real Lives : John Kalungi* John Kalungi has, like many of the Tigers boys, shown great determination despite a difficult start in life. Following the death of his father, his mother remarried and her new husband threw John out at the age of 13. That was in 1997. John was well known at the football stadium in the heart of town, so convinced a Coca Cola kiosk owner to allow him to sleep there - and did so for two and a half years. Fellow football loving street kids introduced him to Tigers Club where he was subsequently accepted on to the S.T.A.R.T programme. He studied Electrical Installation and has impressed potential employers throughout his industrial training. In 2003, he gained his first contract for a company in Entebbe, 25 miles from Kampala, where he has found a room and hopes to settle. * name has been changed to protect his identity |
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| Real Lives : Junior Junior never imagined he would end up living on the streets. He was like any other schoolboy until his father died in 1993 after which his family fell apart. He had to run to the streets of Kampala and slept at the edge of the golf course until the authorities ordered the removal of the children living there. He spent three months in prison. Determined never to go back, he appealed for help from the Tigers Club project. He became a S.T.A.R.T and studied Art and Design. He has now graduated and runs a small business producing signs, T-shirts and artwork. |
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