Could you help a family find peace of mind this Christmas?

11th December 2015: In the face of the urgent needs described below, we’re delighted that one of Advantage Africa’s supporters has pledged to double donations received towards this appeal so that your kind gift has twice the impact.  Please give generously to release this matched funding!

For many vulnerable families in Uganda, Christmas celebrations will be constrained by chronic problems that won’t go away on the 25th of December.

HIV, conflict and social breakdown mean that millions of parents and grandparents in Uganda bring up children and adopted orphans alone. Most are widows who struggle to provide for their children and can fall into despair because of poverty, malnutrition, ill health and isolation.

Advantage Africa works with the Single Parents’ Association of Uganda (SPAU) to help such families turn their lives around. We support them to learn new skills so they can earn an income from livestock rearing or making shoes and candles. We help them to build community water points and use mosquito nets so they’re no longer afflicted by water-borne diseases and malaria. We assist those living with HIV to acknowledge their status, access medication and plan for the future. We provide children with health kits so they can avoid parasitic infections and sleep off the floor on proper mattresses. Crucially, we bring single parents together so they’re no longer alone and can make new supportive friendships.

Elizabeth is a widow caring for her two daughters Eileen and Julia in Nanziga, southern Uganda. She has fragile health, Eileen struggles with a heart condition and Julia has Down’s syndrome. When we first met them in 2014 (see picture left), they were in deep despair and all ill with malaria. They had no reliable income or access to safe water and their faces spoke volumes about the hopelessness they felt.

Throughout 2015, people like you supported Elizabeth’s family along with 40 more in Nanziga. Their village now has a borehole and all the families are rearing pigs or poultry for income and food. They’ve received mosquito nets and training to prevent malaria, support to cope with HIV, health kits and mattresses for the children. How different (see picture, right) Eileen and Julia look now! This Christmas, they can expect a good night’s sleep and that most precious gift - peace of mind.

Their story shows how Advantage Africa helps vulnerable people to turn their lives around. Our comprehensive approach helps single parents to improve their prospects, grow in confidence, become self-reliant - and not look back.

There are many more single parent families like Elizabeth’s in urgent need of your support.

Please will you make a donation today to help them leave despair behind for good?

Your gift will release matched funding of the same amount so that it has twice the impact!

Thank you for your generous support.