Why and how to sponsor a child?

Our programs are designed to try to make a difference in local Ugandan communities by ensuring that children have access to education. The children we work with come from very poor families living in small Ugandan farming villages. These families can only afford one meal a day. There are children who are being raised by single parents and their chances of accessing education are very low as they don’t have enough income to pay for their children’s schooling. Many parents support at least five children at home. The majority of these children are being raised by single mothers. Some children do not have any immediate family members and live with extended family members who were not financially expecting to raise additional children.

You can help to change the lives of these children by offering them the chance to take part in our football academy where we help them obtain a new path towards a better lifestyle with increased opportunities for future successes. From as little as $15 a year you can purchase a child’s football boots which allows him/her to join the academy team. For $285 a year ($0.78 a day) you can sponsor one child’s entire academy fees. For $340 you can sponsor an entire team for our intensive team training camp with expert football coaches from Uganda. We can coordinate this camp up to four times a year during the children’s school holidays. This one week training camp will help the children master their football skills so they can apply for sports bursaries (scholarships) to high-level primary and secondary schools. Below you will learn about several other options to help improve a Ugandan child’s life through football.

Why is our football/soccer academy so important?

Our academy provides children with an organized forum to learn the skills of football while they build up their own self-esteem, learn how to communicate in a group setting and learn that teamwork is a foundation towards success. These skills are vital to helping them achieve a bursary from one of the schools who offer them to football players. In 2017, seven children from our academy received bursaries to further their education in a high-level, private secondary school which they would not have been exposed to or able to afford otherwise. Without our academy experience five boys would have stayed in the village to work on farms for the rest of their lives making only enough money to feed their families once a day. Two girls who earned a sports bursary would have ended up with even less opportunities than the boys and had a very difficult life living in a village. Young girls who do not go to school can be led into marriage as young as 12 years old if the parents agree to a potential husband’s offer. Marriage offers can include money, land, furniture, crops, household items, livestock, and other items necessary to survive life in a small farming village. This is a common practice as it is a chance for the girl’s family to improve their financial situation to care for other family members.

In Uganda there is very little culture of girls playing sports and those who choose to play are role models to other girls in the village to join the team. It’s not commonly accepted in farming villages for girls to play organized sports in Uganda. Girls who persevere and become skilled at the game are awarded the chance to earn a bursary to a school outside of their village. One of our player’s, Rose, was 12 years old when she joined our academy in March 2017 without any prior football experience. In January 2018 she tried out and passed the test to earn a bursary for an education to a private secondary school where she is continuing her education and playing for the school’s football club. Rose later found out her family had received a man’s offer to marry her if she did not earn the bursary. Due to her becoming a skilled footballer through training at our academy and earning a bursary for free education her family chose to decline the man’s offer to marry her. The family has allowed her to follow her dreams of playing football and becoming further educated. Thanks to football she was saved from being married to a man she did not know at the age of 12. Rose is currently the only person in her family who is being educated at such a high level. With hard work, a great education and determination she will be able to provide a better life for her entire family in the future.

Recently another girl, Nampijja, stood at the side of the football pitch where she lives in a small one room mud hut with her pregnant mother and two brothers. One of our volunteer coaches asked why she wasn’t playing on the academy’s team. Nampijja told our volunteer coach she did not have football shoes and could not afford them in order to join the team. The volunteer bought the football shoes for Nampijja and she joined the team in July 2018. Now she is working towards earning the opportunity for a free education and a better life.

The school’s bursary for a child includes free tuition, housing accommodation and three meals a day. There are other costs to attend the school in which our academy pays for the child because the parents are unable to afford them. The bursary does not include the school uniform, school shoes, school supplies, vaccinations and other medical needs. Sponsoring a child will help change a child’s life.

Sponsor Options

1. Football Boots/Socks (1 child) $15 per year
2. Football Kit/Jersey (1 child) $25 per year
3. Shin guards and football ball $25 per year
4. School Supplies (books, pencils, rulers, etc.) $25 per year
5. School Uniform & Shoes $45 per year
6. Medical Bills and Vaccinations (1 child) $50 per year
7. Food and Water after practice (1 child, 3 times a week) $100 per year
8. One Child Sponsor (Options 1-7) $285 per year
9. Team Training Camp (up to 16 players for 1 week) $340 per session
10. Full Team Sponsor (16 children) $4600 per year

Staying in Touch

When you choose to fully sponsor one child you will receive postcards, pictures, school reports and at least three letters a year about his/her progress.

BANK DETAILS

Account name: Balamu Community Outreach Program.

Account number: 06582870006

Bank name: Bank of Africa

SWIFT code (BIC): AFRIUGKA