Slum Kids Uganda (SIKUG) is a Community Based Organization that reaches out to street kids in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. SIKUG was founded in 2008 by Trevor Trevis, a former street kid. In uganda there are over 8000 street children, 4000 of them in Kampala. These youths live in the various slums of Kampala, with no supervision by responsible adults, no schools, no food and no roof. They have
nothing to do apart from surviving and nowhere to go apart from the streets of the slums. Many of them have been and are still involved in criminal activities, they are drug addicts, many are severely ill, but most importantly; they are kids. SIKUG believes that that not only do these youths have a right to live in a home, to go to school and to live a dignified life but they also have the potential to become great citizens and successful adults. Working with us means that you will be directly involved in our efforts to bring these kids back to the kind of life they deserve. Our work involves many different activities. First of all you will be given responsibilities in the daily management of the CBO (updating our various social media accounts, administration work, public relations etc...). Secondly we carry out frequent slum outreaches, this means you will be spending one or two days a week in the slum. Assisted by former street children you will be spending time with the youths, get to know them and carry out activities such as arts and crafts, dancing, acrobatics and sports (through SUG sports academy). It is also during the slum outreaches you will assist the former street children in counseling and advising the youths. Whenever we have enough funds we also assist the children with medical care and HIV/AIDS testing. Besides from that, you have the option to teach English part time in a primary school we have a partnership with. It is a school for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and many or our kids are there. However, our work goes far beyond slum outreaches. It is a wonderful thing to spend time with these kids, give them hope and let them know we care about them but we also have to provide for them (schooling, vocational training, find foster families etc..), which requires funds. This is why one of the tasks our volunteers focus on is fund-raising. SIKUG is a rather small/medium sized organisation with few monetary resources but many contacts which greatly facilitate setting up projects of all kinds. That is the reason why, working with SIKUG, you will be given the freedom to fulfil any projects you believe can provide the CBO with funds, clothing, food or other resources. If you have no experience in the area but you are motivated, this is a great opportunity for you to occupy an important position in an CBO and learn a lot. Former volunteers have for exemple set up internet fund-raising campaigns, they have worked with their contacts in their home countries, they have produced documentaries and songs to promote our work online and applied for grants of all sorts.This kind of work really strengthens your entrepreneurship skills and your ability to set up and fulfil projects. Our volunteers leave Uganda with a heart for children, the feeling they have had brought a change and new skills they will make good use of later in their careers.
