I heard about Invisible Children several years ago and have always admired their work. Invisible Children uses film, creativity, and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore Northern Uganda to peace and prosperity. A few years ago my little sister even worked on their Schools for Schools program as a ” roadie” raising money to rebuild schools in Northern Uganda, Africa. I recently came across a new program they have called the Legacy Scholarship Program. What is compelling to me about the program is that I can help spend a child to school for a year, for the price of 84 Subway $5.00 footlong (or $35.00 a month). Click this link to find out more about this great program and watch the video below. Join me is supporting this great program and great organization.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” Helen Keller
Invisible Children: WHO WE ARE from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.
WHO THE PROGRAM HELPS
Acceptance into the program is based on a combination of academic performance and level of vulnerability, with special consideration given to children who are total orphans, heads of household, formerly abducted returnees, those living positively with HIV/AIDS, or child mothers. Vulnerability is something that is considered for program inclusion because vulnerable youth are at a higher risk of academic failure. When students are coping with the birth of their own children or the death of their parents, they need mentoring assistance in order to keep their studies a top priority. Although many students in the region are affected with post-conflict trauma and would benefit from scholarships and mentoring, LSP chooses to work with the students who need the most individualized support.
After vulnerable and talented youth are identified throughout northern Uganda, they undergo a selection process that evaluates both their vulnerability and past academic performance. These children are then evaluated through a series of assessments at home and school before they are officially accepted into the program.
Once accepted, each student receives two things from LSP:
1. A full-ride, merit-based scholarship 2. Mentoring from one of Invisible Children’s mentorsSECONDARY STUDENT STATS*
• 45% of students are girls; 55% are boys • 91% of students are orphans—44.9% being partial orphans and 46.1% beingtotal orphans
• 26.1% of students are orphans because of HIV/AIDS
• 23.9% of students are orphans due to war
• 5.5% of students are members of child-headed families
• 4.3% of students are child mothers
• 13.7% of students have been abducted by the LRA at least once
*as of 2008
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
A LSP mentor is an employed community leader whose objective is to build a personal relationship with the student and provide professional follow up for each child. Through this interaction, LSP mentors ensure academic accountability, encourage scholastic success, foster leadership skills, and provide parental and career-oriented guidance for each student in the program.
LSP mentors receive extensive training prior to working with students. IC Uganda provides mentors with professional development training in areas of psychosocial support, child protection, and trauma counseling. We currently employ 24 mentors, and, on average, each mentor works with roughly 30 students. Monthly visits are made to every student’s home and school to ensure that the student receives the full support needed for their personal and academic success. When problems arise at home or school, mentors respond immediately and help students cope. When students achieve accomplishments—big or small—mentors are there to take notice, congratulate students, and offer up words of encouragement.
In addition to scholarships and mentoring, LSP also holds sensitization seminars that educate school administrators, parents and guardians, and the community about the program and the need to support post-primary education. These sensitization programs take place through planned community meetings and radio programs.
Mentors help not only students, but they help parents and teachers as well. In addition to giving one-on-one student advice, mentors provide parents and teachers with information and ways to serve as positive role models for the students. Without vital current information about a student’s status at school, a parent cannot effectively support a student at home; without inside information about what a student is struggling with at home, a teacher cannot cater to a student’s needs. Mentors bind the parent-teacher-student relationship and ensure its strength by utilizing open communication and regular school and home visits.
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENTS
In 2007, IC Uganda launched a pilot program to provide university scholarships to students who had successfully completed secondary school with the help of LSP support. Similar to the application process for secondary school, students who wished to receive scholarships for university needed to meet the same level of academic performance and vulnerability. Originally, only four full scholarships were given to the recent graduates of LSP. In 2008, the number of scholarships provided to national universities jumped to fifty-five, forty of which were offered to girls. In August of 2009, LSP was proud to offer one hundred new scholarships to girls not just included in LSP, but any female graduating from secondary institutions in the eleven districts across northern Uganda. In addition to the one hundred new scholarships for girls, twenty-one additional university scholarships were offered to boys in the region.
Currently 181 students are receiving scholarships to pursue either a diploma or a bachelor’s degree. The majority of these students are attending Gulu University and other institutions in northern Uganda, but some attend Makerere University and various universities in southern Uganda, as well. In 2008, one remarkable student in the program was awarded a four-year scholarship to Boise State University in the United States.
Mentoring for LSP doesn’t stop at the secondary level. Two mentors with extensive training in psychosocial and educational support meet with LSP university students throughout the year to address any personal or academic issues that may arise.
With the rise in popularity of program-specific recurring donations for LSP, and with the progress continually being made by LSP students transitioning from secondary school to university and beyond, the program is slated to spark exciting change in lives of its students in the coming year.
