Smile Africa
RESTORING LOVE AND HOPE TO THE HURTING WORLD AND DECLARING CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR OF ALL CREATION
PROGRAMS AND
PROJECTS
Feeding Program
Approximately 350 Karamojong and other children are fed a nutritious meal in the afternoon at Smile Africa six days a week. These include the 107 children registered in Smile Africa Ministries School as well as a few hundred more who come at lunch time from the two closest primary schools, Industrial View Primary School and Aturukuku Primary School. Smile Africa’s ministry partner Hope 4 Kids International ships Smile Africa nutritious meals donated by Feed My Starving Children in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Each meal provides the essential nutrition for a growing child for one day. Smile Africa continues to provide these meals free of charge to these children who are registered in the Smile Africa Feeding Program to provide them nutrition, keep them off the street and help them focus on school.
Provision for Health Care Services
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Smile Africa continues to provide funds for basic health care services for the children registered in Smile Africa programs, as well as other vulnerable children and people in the Tororo community. This includes basic health care services such as treating malaria, typhoid, bacterial and viral infections, de-worming, treating jiggers, scabies and wounds and broken bones. In addition Smile Africa continues to lobby for funds from donors for surgeries on an individual case basis. The goal is to provide professional health care at Tororo clinics, such as Dr. Plus and Specialist Plaza, to vulnerable children and people in need of medical attention who cannot afford it.
Education
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​Smile Africa continues to provide instruction in basic education from baby class through primary 2 on site at SMILE AFRICA MINISTRIES NURSERY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL in Bison, Tororo. In 2022 67 nursery school students were registered and 40 primary school students were registered with the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports. Smile Africa continues to provide education to these children of Tororo free of charge. In addition to the education provided on site Smile Africa continues to provide child education sponsorships that currently provide funds to pay school fees for over 200 children, the majority of whom are in primary and secondary schools in Tororo. Several others are in vocational schools and a few are in university. The aim of this program is to provide the opportunity for vulnerable children in the Tororo area to become literate, stay off the streets, avoid early pregnancy and childhood marriage and to have the best chance at a sustainable future.
Deinstitutionalization of Residential Children
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Smile Africa previously was operating as a babies and children’s home and began resettling children into the community as early as 2013. In 2017 Smile Africa, working with Child’s I Foundation and Probation and Social Welfare Office Tororo, officially began a pilot program of deinstitutionalization. By the end of 2019 all of Smile Africa’s 66 resident babies and children had been resettled into the community with family, foster or adoptive parents. All together over 100 children have been resettled from the Smile Africa institution back into family homes within the community. Since completing the deinstitutionalization process Smile Africa has advocated and promoted deinstitutionalization at meetings and conferences. In addition to this so far Smile Africa has hosted 4 different teams on site for study tours of an organization that has transitioned from a babies and children’s home through the deinstitutionalization process. These teams included 2 teams of individuals from local governments from other parts of Uganda, 1 team from Ugandan Parliament and other Ugandan institutions, and 1 team from institutions in Malawi. Smile Africa continues to advocate and promote for deinstitutionalization with the aim that all children will grow up in family homes within the community instead of in institutions.
Food Distributions
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Recently during the COVID lockdowns Smile Africa, through the generous donations of various partners in the US, was able to provide tens of thousands of meals of posho, beans and rice to families in the Tororo community (our main aim was to provide food for the children of these families). This was accomplished with the approval of local government and with the assistance of the local authorities following the COVID guidelines. Smile Africa continues to provide meals of posho, beans and rice to families in the Tororo community, as well as items such as blankets and mosquito nets, with the aim of providing relief in times of economic difficulty.
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Evangelism and Church Planting
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​Through the generous donations of partners over the years Smile Africa has been able to help local pastors buy land and build churches, as well as host conferences. Smile Africa continues in this endeavor with the goal of promoting living a life following Christian values, having good character and sharing the love and gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Women Empowerment Programs
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Smile Africa has women’s groups on site twice a week. These women meet to praise and worship Jesus and also receive instruction in a study aimed at developing character and integrity. They also are taught some basic agriculture, baking and crafts techniques. They receive 65,000 Ugandan Shillings per month for 1 year and are encouraged to save this capital so that they can start an income generating activity upon their completion of the group. Smile Africa continues with these women empowerment groups in order to provide spiritual, psychosocial and material support to them with the goal of transforming their lives.
Agricultural Projects
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Smile Africa assists the community with training and financial and material support for agricultural projects. Many members of the Tororo community have been trained in starting seedbeds for vegetable gardens and given seeds, hoes and backpack sprayers for applying pesticides and fertilizers. Several pastors’ wives have been given capital to start their own chicken rearing projects and other members of the community have benefited from the donation of funds for cows and pigs. Smile Africa continues to support these agricultural projects in order to empower the community to help with food insecurity and promote self-sustainability.
Vocational Training
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Smile Africa is in the process of transitioning from the babies and children’s home to a community hub with an emphasis on vocational training programs. Smile Africa currently has welding, hairdressing, tailoring and baking vocational training programs. Smile Africa is in the first steps of registering the vocational training programs and plans to eventually add a computer lab. Many of the children of Smile Africa have a very poor educational background in their early childhood and therefore many of them struggle academically. The goal of the vocational training programs is therefore to provide this category of children with an income generating life skill free of charge.
Community Based Care/ Alternative Care Framework
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Smile Africa continues to provide food and material support for vulnerable children in the community instead of institutionalizing children. Babies who are abandoned or have been orphaned can be placed with relatives or foster parents and given support in the form of formula, diapers, blankets, food, milk, clothes, etc… The aim is to prevent the placement of vulnerable children into orphanages and institutions by supporting their needs and providing care for them in the community.
Support for People with Disabilities
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Smile Africa has often received mobility devices, such as crutches, walkers and wheel chairs from donors and ministry partners. Smile Africa continues to provide these mobility devices to people with disabilities. In addition to this Smile Africa has a vision to transform the building which was formerly the babies home into a meeting area for people with disabilities. The aim is to provide a social environment for people with disabilities to be encouraged and also where they can exercise and undergo physical therapy.
