Our work in brief
Talemwa-meaning "God never fails" in the local dialect- is a Christian initiative set up in 2008 by Sahan and Sugi Thalayasingam to provide support to orphans and vulnerable children in the desperately poor area of Kaliro district, in Eastern Uganda.
Since Talemwa started, we have supported 50 vulnerable children, by helping them attend Buyonjo Primary School, in Kaliro. Most of these children are orphans who live with an extended family member (often their grandmother) and prior to the Talemwa Initiative, had no regular access to schooling. We provide them with school uniforms, scholastic material, books, midday meals and health care.
A classroom at Buyonjo Primary School in Kaliro, Uganda 2013.
Sugi with the first 6 pupils who entered Kaliro High School from Buyonjo Primary School, fully supported by the Talemwa Initiative, Kaliro 2012.
Although some children dropped out from the programme for various reasons through the years, some showed great academic interest and we were able to support them into Secondary Education at Kaliro High School and some of them even further on, into Higher Education, either University or Vocational Training.
We are also committed to improving health and hygiene in Kaliro, therefore in 2009, we drilled a borehole in Buyonjo Primary School grounds. This borehole provides clean water to the school and wider community. Before this, the nearest water supply was more than a mile away. This meant that children had to make several long trips every day to get water, missing lessons as a result.
An agricultural programme in partnership with another Christian charity was also made possible by the provision of readily accessible water from the borehole. Produce grown was fed to schoolchildren and cash crops were farmed to raise much-needed funds for the school.
We hope in the future that we will be able to expand and support even more vulnerable children to stand on their feet. We are grateful for all we have achieved so far, however there is still great need to meet.
Sugi with some of the girls supported by Talemwa Initiative through the years. Some are waiting to go to University, while others are already in Higher Education or working. Kaliro, January 2020.
Sahan with some of the boys supported by Talemwa Initiative through the years. Similarly, some are waiting to go to University, while others are already in Higher Education. Kaliro, January 2020.
Our ongoing goals
Working in partnership with the schools, by financing children’s education at both the Buyonjo Primary School, Kaliro High School and into Higher Education we have the following aims:
- We are working with schoolteachers to improve morals and encourage commitment to instil and inspire aspiration in vulnerable children.
- To alleviate immediate need by giving vulnerable children access to healthcare, food and security – provided by the programme through the local schools.
- To reduce responsibility on vulnerable children to carry out hard work at home – they are required to care for younger siblings as well as themselves.
- To offer hope for the future by equipping children with an education, which will help them to support themselves and their community.
