Nourishing Bodies and Strengthening Communities
We believe that proper nutrition is the foundation of health and learning.
In refugee settlements and local schools, we provide support to improve daily nutrition. From distributing food staples to adding harvests from school gardens, our goal is for young children to have the nutrition they need to focus, grow, and succeed.
We also work with communities to support better food practices, introducing new crops, offering education about nutrition, and ensuring that what’s grown is not only plentiful but also nourishing.
The food served is often basic - posho and bean - but when enhanced with garden harvests, it becomes a source of real sustenance. Every improvement in a meal is an investment in health, development, and learning.
Our Nutrition Program is dedicated to ensuring that vulnerable children and families receive nutritious meals as often as possible. We understand that good nutrition is vital for learning, growth, and the overall well-being of our communities.
We provide meals to children who would otherwise go hungry.
Our program is integrated with our educational and community initiatives, ensuring that nourishment is part of a broader support system.
Help us continue our vital work.
Your support ensures that more children receive the meals they need to grow, learn, and thrive.
Join us in our mission to create a healthier, stronger future for our communities.
Please meet three members of our Team.
They are indispensable to the success of our programs.
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Francis
Francis is the Project Coordinator for our Nutrition program. As a child, he lived for years in the ghettos of Mbarara, among hundreds of other abandoned, orphaned, and abused children. A local pastor rescued several of the street children, Francis among them, and provided them with food, shelter, clothing, education, and safety. After graduating from university, Francis committed himself to following the pastor’s example, and he now has 47 children directly under his care. The homeless children in the ghettos know him, respect him, and trust him, and with Francis overseeing our Nutrition program, we are feeding hundreds of children each week. Our longer-term goal is to return as many of these children as possible to a place of safety and to provide them with stable housing and a good education.
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Josseline
Josseline is our Nutrition Program cook. From lighting the fires to slicing the vegetables to cooking the massive pots full of rice and beans, she works with skill and equanimity. It doesn’t end there. She oversees the distribution of the food for the hundreds of homeless children who receive her delicious and nutritious food. And when the feeding is done, she helps with the cleanup and the preparation for the next feeding. She does this with a perpetual smile and positive attitude. We could not ask for a better person to be a member of the team.
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Patience
My name is Patience and I am 17 years old. I voluntarily pledged myself to be part of the Nutrition Program and the work at the Kajaho Refugee School so that I can see the impact that we—Smart Initiatives Uganda—have on the people we are able to help with our efforts. I love working with the children because they are always truly thankful for the little they are able to receive, and I truly hope we can help as many children as possible so that we can see as many smiles as possible. I believe a simple smile today could change something for the better tomorrow!
Distributing nutritious food to local homeless children is a core mission for Smart Initiatives Uganda. Below are some photos that give a glimpse of the feedings. Notice the small boy towards the end of the photos, with the bemused look on his face. It is unlikely that he has ever seen so much food at one time. In the next photo, the young woman in red pants—the boy’s mother—is transferring her food into a plastic bag. She will not eat this later, but instead she will feed it to her child.
