Hi, my name is Millie, and I'm 14 years old. At the start of 2020, while I was stuck at home in lockdown due to the Covid -19 pandemic, I started to think about how children my age would be coping in less fortunate countries, that didn't have access to the internet and computers. After some research, I contacted a school called, 'The Children Reach Out Program' in Uganda and asked if there was anything I could do to help remotely during the pandemic.

The Children Reach Out Program in Uganda is a registered NGO in Kampala that focuses on empowering children. The organisation tries to help to promote educational life skills, education support, health and wellness campaigns, and events for children. They provide free education, and have helped more than 8,000 children. I emailed one of the teachers there called Edwin, he is the guy you can see in the picture below.

Because of Covid 19, teaching was taking place outdoors where possible. The school didn't have WiFi to hold live lessons on Zoom or Google classrooms for me to assist as I had planned, so I decided to make resources to help teach the children. I created lessons for maths, English, science and geography for children of age ranges 4-15 years old which I emailed to the school regularly. But paper and printing is expensive. In Uganda, the children have been massively impacted by the lockdowns, as they cannot even partake in remote learning. This week the country went into another lockdown, meaning schools will be closed again - so children once again will not have access to an education for another 42 days.

Teachers from the school have been going out into communities to provide lessons where it is possible to. In the picture above, a teacher at the school is teaching the children using some resources that I made. The school desperately needs more basics such as stationary, like pens and pencils and paper and projectors.

Speaking to Edwin about the school I became aware that some of the children could not even afford breakfast before they came to school. This fact made me really sad. Children cannot learn if they they are too hungry to concentrate. I am aiming to fund a free breakfast club, by providing porridge for the children, so they are able to learn, however the school cannot afford it yet.

I want to raise money for the school so they can provide breakfast for the children and provide resources to teach them. It would be great if we could remove some of these barriers preventing these kids from learning.

If you are able to, please donate to help these children in Uganda. No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted :)