For some children breakfast is a privilege

Line village is a slum in Kajjansi Zone A. At dawn, the stench of people doing their toilet business hits you. Time check; 6.20 am. My colleague and I go to the centre of the slum. We park at a makeshift market and walk the narrow path littered with rubbish. We walk gingerly, skipping puddles of water reeking of urine. We are wary of the mud, as well – it had rained heavily the previous day.

People stumble out of rooms. In front of a vegetable stall, a woman hastily places a newspaper on the ground and a young boy squats on it. We turn the other way. Drunkards loiter seemingly surprised by dawn. Some congregate at a shop to light their cigarettes from their friend’s burning one. A mentally ill man passes by for the second time greeting everyone he meets.

We pass by a door where a mother lifts her hand to beat a child for brushing her teeth while crouching, but she stops when she see us. Life is gloomy, probably the reason residents welcomed Bridging A Gap Community Initiative (BAGCI) 10 years ago.

Background
BAGCI started in 2005 as a community based organisation after assessing the pressing needs of children in Kajjansi. A small shelter was rented in Line slum to act as a feeding centre and the organisation started with forty children and twelve members.

With time, the organisation recruited a coordinator who is in charge of its day-to-day running.
Members of BAGCI collectively come up with the money that buys the breakfast ingredients, and the parents of the children take turns to to cook the breakfast.

Besides feeding children, through different organisations such as Uganda Clays Limited and St Anthony Nursery Day and Boarding Primary School, BAGCI has educated some of the children through scholarship programmes.

The miracle of breakfast
The din coming from a single room takes you by surprise because it is more common to a school dining hall. Seated on 12 benches, close to 30 children of various age groups are drinking from cups. They converse before they rush off to school.
Sitting alone in a corner is Arnold Kyambadde, a Primary Six pupil.

“I have been coming here since baby class,” he says. “I have never gone to school on an empty stomach.”The 16-year-old goes to St Gyavira Primary School in Lweza. “The porridge has enough sugar, and we are given bread or doughnuts occasionally.” On the stone counter across from the doorway, the cooks place multicoloured plastic cups. Whoever walks in heads straight to the counter to pick one. Raymond Galiwango, BAGCI coordinator, who is also our guide stops to greet several students and ask about their relatives who have not yet appeared.

“The attendance of the children fluctuates, but we have 147 registered,” he says. “They come in, drink, and leave.” To every 100 kilogrammes sack of maize flour, Galiwango adds 38 kilogrammes of sugar and 26 kilogrammes of soya. Everyday, the cooks get seven kilogrammes of this mixture to prepare for the children’s breakfast.

“We do not add milk because some children may not like it. Whatever nutrients the milk would have given them, the soya flour compensates. I have never seen any of them reacting to it.” Three of 65 parents on the BAGCI rota volunteer to cook daily from 4am.

The beneficiaries say...
As we walk towards a group of spirited boys at the back on the room, a newcomer, Charles Kibuuka Junior demands that we interview him.

“My grandmother used to work here,” says the 10-year-old pupil of Kawotto Saviour’s Primary School. “Now she works at the clay factory and does not have the time to come here.” Kajjansi has Uganda Clays Limited and Pan Kajjansi Bricks and Tile Works Limited. Junior is not sure which one his grandmother works for. He has been having his breakfast from the centre for five years now and he says on lucky days, they get bread, cakes or doughnuts.
“They take us for outings. Going out as a group four times. We have been to Nabinoonya Resort Beach, Dreams Guest House, and to the Nnabagereka Development Foundation where we were given gifts.”

There is water below the benches on which the boys are sitting – a tribute to yesterday’s heavy downpour.
Stephano Lumu looks out of place, because while the rest are wearing uniforms, he has ghetto clothes, with a skullcap.

“This is my day off between the examinations (Senior Four),” he explains. “It is now four years since I came here. Two years ago, we had very small space and we used to drink porridge in a hurry so that other children could sit. Now you can drink and even chat.”

A crowd of pupils surrounds us. This must be the liveliest breakfast in Wakiso District. The childish banter is contagious but Galiwango reminds the boys that they have to go to school. Within seconds, the room is almost empty.
Anne Nakayiza and her sister Provtila Nakubulwa walk in. Anne, a baby class student, takes her time drinking half a cup of porridge, which her big sister has given her. “We bought our eats as we were walking here,” she says shyly, lifting a half-eaten rice samosa for inspection. The two eat in silence and leave. Beyond the doors, the slum is coming to life. The doors on a row of rooms facing the centre are opening. A few feet away, a woman is scouring saucepans.

A few years ago, Line housed workers of Uganda Clays Limited. Nowadays, though, as long as you can pay the rent, you can get yourself a room.

At 7.20am, two toddlers walk in. They look to be no more than two years old. One of them struggles to sit on the high benches; first, standing on tiptoe, then putting part of the buttocks against the bench and hoisting herself up. They are not pupils but since their elder siblings come to the centre, their mother sends them there as well. These two are slow drinkers, but they are the last at the centre, which closes its doors at 7.30am.

QUICK NOTES
Winnie Seruma, Founder, BAGCI

I grew up in Kajjansi, though I work for International Development in the UK. Overtime, I studied how good projects work in communities. I wanted to give back to my community. One of my friends has a breakfast centre in Namugongo, so we learnt a lot from her. Line, being a slum needs our services.

We talked to the area chairman and he was convinced that this would benefit residents whose children went to school hungry. Some of these children could not go to school others would not concentrate because of hunger pangs. He helped us to find a place to rent. It only had a few wooden boards nailed on four poles, and iron sheets. We worked in it for eight years. Two years ago, with the chairman’s help, we bought a plot of land and put up a building.

Activities; Although providing breakfast is our core, we also care for children’s health needs. The only criteria for coming to this centre is the child must be in school. Bringing these children together has helped us identify other needs. We provide clothes and pay school fees for some who are in boarding school. We also managed to get scholarships for others. Members of BAGCI donate the funds that have kept us going.

We plan to add two more storeys to the building which will house an internet café and library. These will help the children do their homework. In other words, we are bridging the gap between what the parents can provide and what the schools cannot.
Challenges
The community expects us to provide more than we are able to at the moment. Parents want us to provide lunch as well, which is expensive right now. Most times, we are unable to provide breakfast accompaniments.

Edward Kurubaija,
LC 1 Chairman,
Line slum
This place was disadvantaged because parents are poor and children cannot have enough to eat. Those who had the opportunity to study did so on empty stomachs.

People live by hand-to-mouth. When they are sick, they starve. I move from room to room with a basket, collecting money for the sick, to take them to hospital, or, if their condition is worse, to their villages.

They come with about Shs 80,000 as capital; pay rent of Shs 20,000 and with the rest, hire a shack with a bench and table, buy a few glasses and open a waragi (local gin) bar. Others vend food on the streets.

When BAGCI had just started, a sickly child, born with HIV/Aids, was among the first to be attended to. I went to the US for two months and when I returned, this child was running around energetically. They not only feed our children, but they take the sick ones to hospital.

I believe God touched Madam’s (Winnie Seruma) heart to do this work because none of them live here and there was no way they could have known our problems.
Their work benefits us and I decided to support them.