Important news from Uganda

Dear Forget Me Not friends and supporters,

Greetings from the children and the team of Forget Me Not Children’s Home.
 
A lot has happened in the past 2 months in Nepal and Ugandan. In this newsletter we wish to focus on our Forget Me Not Ugandan Project.

Our Ugandan children are all enjoying an improvement in wellbeing due to sponsor and fundraising support.

This support has enabled Forget Me Not to provide daily care, regular meals, medical attention, clothing, mosquito nets, increased vitality and hope where 16 short month ago there was none.

The children are now sporting their first school uniforms and shoes and enjoy regular attendance at school. They are no longer subject to the humiliation of being ejected from school due to fees being constantly in arrears. Your support and sponsorship is having a direct effect on bringing a smile to a young life. On their behalf, we are so very grateful to all our Ugandan supporters.

The current situation

Over the last 16 months, Forget Me Not has been closely monitoring the funding situation. Each funding installment was sent monthly following a full reconciliation from the previous month. Where it was necessary to pay large bills (such as school fees), we sought an invoice and receipt for payment. Over the course of this time, we had four visits to Uganda by the Ugandan Sub-Committee. The first of these was to assess the situation and decide whether Forget Me Not should take on the project; the second was to check on the progression of the project; the third and fourth were to assist with record keeping practices and to initiate file management systems to ensure more thorough reporting mechanisms.

Jo Heath, our Ugandan project manager, is currently on the ground and has been there since May 1st 2011. She has been joined this week by Kate van Doore, our FMNCH management representative and legal advisor. Kate is assisting Jo with the current operations requiring our urgent attention.
 
Jo Heath’s assignment to Uganda was to check and report on the welfare of the children in our care along with particulars of each child’s legal status. She was also to assist with the registration requirements of the children’s home with the government. Further responsibilities of the appointment were to check on administration of the home, the accountability practices, their progress in general and also verify and address their first annual audit outcomes. As a standard of accountability, if these registrations and checks are not achieved, Forget Me Not is unable to continue funding the children’s home.

On behalf of Forget Me Not, Jo received the audit report from our partnering organization three weeks ago. After reviewing the audit and several other transactions, Jo suggested that we initiate an independent investigative audit to provide a true and accurate financial snap shot of accountability of our funding.
 
The investigative audit report indicated that there were issues with financial accountability within the partnering organisation.

We have pushed both the Police and Government to take serious action in this regard. The concept of Forget Me Not Children’s Home was born of desire to challenge corruption and child profiteering, and as such we strive to deliver the highest level accountability and transparency.  

Fortunately, we can report that sponsors money has reached its intended recipients. The children’s school fees are all paid and the children themselves are in very good condition compared with 16 months ago. It seems that the majority of the accountability issues stem from money that was sent separate to sponsorship – that is, money for specific items that were required.

These facts coupled with the standard of living for the children that FMNCH aspires to, dictates the necessity for us to rethink how best we can benefit the children’s lives.  These challenges highlighted the need to re-structure our operations in Uganda.

The way forward

The process of closing the children’s home and removing the children has begun. This is being facilitated by Jo and Kate on the ground in Uganda. Our mission and goals remains unchanged: to provide a safe, secure and loving home where children are protected, nurtured and encouraged with kindness.  

Through this process and working with the local social workers, it has become clear that some of the children have extended families that are willing to take them.

We are currently looking at several options for best outcomes for the futures of your sponsored children in our care.
 
With our mission in mind we have devised the following plans.

Where it is identified that a child has family that have the capacity to raise them, we are launching the Forget Me Not Families Program.

After each child has been assessed on an individual basis, we will then be in a position to reunify them with their immediate or extended families. Being with family (if the family is stable and willing) is always the best possible option for a child and is in line with the ethos and charter of FMNCH, as well as the UNICEF guidelines. It is considered best practice by reputable charitable organisations worldwide.
 
The Forget Me Not Families Program will be offering support to the child within their families via nutritional, educational and medical funding. A visit from a trained social worker and counselor will oversee the children and FMNCH will handle the funding of the program providing continued financial assurance for our child sponsors and donors.

This FMNCH initiative will provide a fantastic option for some of these precious children who have had to endure so much in their young lives.

This project will be a model that we will offer as a feature of the FMNCH child sponsorship program in future planning.

Where no family is able to be identified for a child, or a family is unwilling to take the child back, we will be placing them with another children’s home. It is envisaged that each one will be placed in the most culturally appropriate area (according to their tribe) – usually as close to their birthplace as possible. Forget Me Not will maintain the funding of these children and they will also be monitored by our team.

Each of the 39 children will be individually assessed and each ones’ situation carefully considered for the most beneficial outcome.  We have already employed a Resettlement Manager to take charge of this process. As news comes to hand of your sponsor child, we will contact you.
 
It truly is exciting news for furthering the reach of FMNCH in assisting the children of our world to find places of peace and security. These children have now been rescued twice – once from the perils of hunger and starvation, when you first became sponsors; and now from the claws of profiteering. They will no longer be victims, but will be able to be children. Forget Me Not is proud that through your support we are able to remove children from situations like this and give them a better life where kids can just be kids.    

Through your continued and generous support for these children Forget Me Not Children’s Home is able mend the parts of the world within our reach, child by child.

The Forget Me Not Starfish

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water. He came closer still and called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean." The old man smiled, and said, "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die." Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

Paraphrased from "The Star Thrower” (Loren Eiseley, 1907 -1977.)

Thank you for supporting us to make a positive difference for these 39 children in Uganda.

Warm regards,

The team at Forget Me Not Children’s Home