Police, CSOs serve Christmas to street children in Kampala
The Police Directorate of Interpol in collaboration with Make a Child Smile and Project Rescue Children have fed and offered Christmas gifts to over 450 street children in Kampala.
Apart from the lunch party held at the Nsambya playgrounds in Kampala, the children were counselled by police and partner organisations.
Commissioner of Police Alison Agaba spoke at the luncheon, expressing concern about the growing number of street children in Kampala, urging the government to take action through continuous engagement with civil society and non-government organisations to reduce the number.
Commissioner of Police Alison Agaba
“Instead of us enjoying alone, We have decided to organize this party for street children to put a smile on their faces and also seize this as an opportunity to counsel them against engaging in criminality fueled by bad influence,” she told the press.
According to Adam Whittington, founder of Project Rescue Children, this year's Christmas luncheon with street children was organised following his trip to Uganda, where he discovered a large number of street children in Nsambya.
“The children fed today were met in September 2023. It touched my heart to see the volume of poverty and homelessness in this area. So we just wanted to do for them something on Christmas that they could remember,” he said.
Adam also revealed that his organization is planning to set up a rehabilitation facility in Nsambya to help the street children.
“We are in the process of building our first rehabilitation and medical centre in coordinating with Make a Child Smile and this will assist children who are rescued from child trafficking and exploitation as well as help the community with medical assistance for children,” he added.
The increasing number of street children in Uganda has been majorly attributed to poverty, although other factors are of equally high importance. These include: parental deaths, parental neglect and other social factors such as violence and abuse of children at home or within communities.
