LUTAAYA IAN HENRY
169030
JURISTS
SANYU BABIES’ HOME UGANDA
Introduction.
For my service-based learning, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Sanyu
Babies’ home. Sanyu Babies’ home is a Christian organization taking care of
abandoned children.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION.
They care for up to 50 babies and toddlers aged between 1 day
old and 4 years. Many of the children are found abandoned in garbage heaps,
pit latrines, ditches, taxi parks or are left by the side of the road. The
organisation is in Kampala Uganda, along Albert cook road. The property sits
on a large piece of land and consists of different facilities and departments to
ensure the safety and wellbeing of the orphaned and abandoned children. In
my time there, I had the pleasure of working in the kitchen department, the
sanitation department, the teaching department, the laundry department, and
the department in charge of the general welfare of the babies and other
children. The organisation is headed by a director, who overlooks the
day-to-day operations through subordinate ‘Mothers’ who are distributed
among the various fields to ensure proper functions. My role was to assist the
mothers in the various fields of work they partake daily to ensure welfare of
the children.
OBJECTIVE
Through my experiences in these various fields, My objective was
to was to successfully work, with a team, in an unfamiliar environment for the
good of the people in the environment and for the betterment of my
interpersonal, personal skills and Christian moral values. Interpersonal skills
consisting, the ability to effectively communicate, interact, and work with
individuals and teams. Personal skills being adaptability, flexibility, patience,
teaching, teamwork, perseverance, and general childcare skills. Christian
Moral values like helping others, compassion, love, selflessness and
understanding children for they are a gift from God.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology I adopted to be able to adapt to the work
environment was quite simple, I simply observed my colleagues as most of
the work was basic and easy to learn, for example, in the sanitation
department, the compound was swept every morning ,rakes were used in the
grass and brooms on the pavements, Through seeing my colleagues doing
this, I started to emulate them and do the same thing.
Via the more complicated task like teaching the children in class,
the teachers were supportive and gave me instructions per child depending
on their preconceived understanding and learning capacity. Instructions were
given on how to undertake class activities and I easily learnt to follow them
and work with the teachers.
Some tasks involved working together as a team to achieve a certain
goal, for example organizing co curricular activities or the children.one team
member had to prepare the children, either mentally, or physically for the
activity, while the other prepared the activity and the other took a report on
how the children faired for accountability. Activities included basic motor skills
like puzzles, basic self awareness, and environmental awareness skills and
sports skills like swimming or football.
Other activities I partook in included dressing the children and
ensuring good personal hygiene. Feeding the children and making sure they
eat. Supervising nap times and resting hours, Lesson planning with the
teachers and prepping for next day activities or lessons. Attending Bible study
and ensuring that the children know God and pay attention during elementary
bible stories.
LIMITATIONS
The only limitations I encountered were concerned with language
barrier and the location of the organisation from my home.
Most of the mothers speak the local language, Luganda as
opposed to the national language, English, this made it hard for me to
properly take instructions sometimes as I am not very fluent in the local
language.
The other challenge was the fact that the organisation is located in
the city centre, this made it hard to travel daily, and reach work in time,
considering traffic jam and high transport costs in the city centre.
CHAPTER 2
BRIEF HISTORY
The organisation was established by Milnes Winfred walker in
1929. She was a mid wife at Mengo hospital and noticed the overwhelming
number of children abandoned after birth within the hospital. She started
collecting the babies and providing them with much needed care. At Sanyu,
they have the capacity to care for up to 50 children at a time, although during
the busiest time they often operate at over capacity! The children in care
typically are between the ages of 0-4yrs. Sometimes they may care for a child
until they are a little older if it gives them the chance to be reunited or
adopted.
‘Sanyu’ means joy and that is what the children, staff members and
volunteers experience while they are in the organisation. The children must
know that they are deeply loved, have an extended family who care about
them and know that they will always have a place to call home.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The organisation has a board of directors of renown members of
society in different fields of work. The board of directors is headed by a
chairman and board membership is for a term of 8 years. The chairman and
the board are picked by the Archbishop of the Anglican church of Uganda.
There role is to spread awareness of the organisation and source for
donations, to undertake new projects to expand the organisation and its scope
of influence, among others. The Board also picks a director who runs the
general operations of the place, under her are social workers, accountants,
and mothers who directly take care of the children and the general
maintenance staff.
DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES.
The organisation has multiple departments, To break them down;
The Director’s office: This consisted of the director, the accountants and the
Volunteer’s and donations co-Ordinator. The office was in charge of running
the day to day and official activities at the orphanage. It also distributed roles
and instructions to the other departments. On arrival to commence SBL, the
volunteer’s co Ordinator accepted my application and briefed me on my role
as per then, she also gave me the necessary rules and regulations including
laws concerning the children’s rights, the necessary documentation that
needed to be signed for me to commence my SBL.
The social workers: Basically, the social workers’ role was to find families for
the babies, whether new families through adoption or locating and reuniting
them with there families.
The Mothers; I spent a huge amount of time working under the mothers, they
basically had to ensure the general well being of the children, providing them
with all the care that they would get if they were in their own homes. We
bathed the kids in before and after, school, picked out clothes for them to
wear, laid their beds, changed their clothes and dirty diapers, for the infants,
picked them from school and fed them, lunch and evening tea in the evening.
There was also laundry and participation in the cooking and serving of food.
The mothers also assisted in sanitation, we swept the compound in the
morning to make sure the children had a sae play time in the evening, did the
dirty dishes after the children ate and ensured cleanliness of their eating
areas. All this was done while making sure that the children feel loved and
cared for.
The school: The management of the place established an education system
for the kids starting rom the age of 1 to ensure that their brains remained
sharp, and to study their behaviours and thinking habits. I happened to also
spend a huge amount o time in the education sector of the orphanage. The
children are divided according to age, the really young ones, one year, are in
‘Joy class’. Here, we basically sing for the kids and talk to them in English so
that they get familiar with the language. We also call them by their names so
that they get familiar with their names. The kids have toys which we
encourage them to share and play together so that they learn to live with each
other.
The next group is two years, ‘Peace class’, Here the kids are old enough to
talk and to speak basic English and to sing along to songs, we teach the kids
basics, like colours, how to count to ten, their full name, where they live and
whether they are a boy or a girl. The kids also participate in activities
organised by the teachers, simple motor activities to gauge the children’s
focus and basic ability to take instructions, swimming, small puzzles, building
blocks, painting activities, washing a car, and so many more. This class also
undertakes initial potty training to make sure the kids have toilet discipline.
The third group is three years and above ‘Faith Class’, the kids here, as the
year progresses learn to colour, then to write, they can speak and understand
a fair amount of English and can construct simple English sentences, they
also partake in more complicated activities than the previous class and are
engaged in Bible study to ensure they know God. The kids have reached the
final stage of potty training and can even ask for permission to go out and use
the toilet.
WORK SCHEDULE.
At Sanyu Babies' Home, the day begins at 5am with the smallest babies being
fed, changed, and put back to bed for their morning sleep. At 6am, toddlers
and older children are woken up, taken to the potty or toilet, wash their faces,
and have a cup of porridge before brushing their teeth, bathing, and dressing
for the early morning devotion at 7:30am, which includes praise, worship,
sharing the word of God, and prayer. At 8am, it's bath time for both toddlers
and babies; the smallest babies are bottle-fed and put back to bed, while
toddlers go to class, and the oldest children head to school. By 8:30am,
school time begins,A snack break follows from 9 to 10am. At 12pm,
school-going children return home, and all children have lunch before potty or
toilet time, after which they change into clean clothes for their nap. At 1pm,
naptime begins, giving the caregivers a chance to catch up on work, have
lunch, and take a break. If any children wake up early, they are quietly brought
out of bed. By 3pm, babies take another bath while toddlers have potty time
and older children use the toilet; everyone enjoys a drink and snack, with
babies having milk or porridge and older children having porridge, chai, or
juice with fruit. This is followed by guided playtime and an 'outing' within the
home's compounds. At 6pm, after playtime, children return for dinner, with
both day and night shift caregivers assisting. Post-dinner, babies are changed
and put to bed, while toddlers and older children have potty or toilet time,
bathe, and go to bed. The oldest children can stay up a bit longer, watching
TV, saying prayers, having a snack, and using the potty or toilet before bed.
Finally, at 12am, babies are woken up for the last feeding and a change of
nappies or clothes before being put back to bed.
CHAPTER 3
Personal contribution to the organisation; In my opinion, I managed to be
a valuable member of this organisation as i assisted in all departments, i
managed to develop a connection with the staff, and the children too. I also
came up with new activities for children to participate in to develop their basic
skills and physicality as children during class time or example, I created an
academic activity where the kids had to complete simple puzzles and tasks
using building blocks. The workload seemed to overload the teachers and
mothers at times and my presence made it easier for them to do their job.
Each child needed some extra attention, and my being there made this
possible.
The skills i managed to get include Patience; dealing with children is a lot of
work and it involves a lot of patience, one needs to calm down and control
one’s emotions in order not to offend or upset them.
Teaching: From working with the teachers in class, i managed to gain a lot of
teaching skills and knowledge on how to go about teaching young children.
The composure and calmness one need to go about their emotions while
making sure they are learning.
Parenting and childcare skills; from this service, i learned to take care of
children and babies, washing them, changing them, feeding them and so
many other activities involved in maintaining their welfare.
Versatility and flexibility; Considering i had never been in such an
environment before, the SBL enabled me to get out of my comfort zone and
do tasks i had never done before, it also changed my attitude towards on
taking new activities that i had never done and didn’t think I would ever do.
Challenges encountered and how they were solved:The major challenges
i faced during this period included a language barrier. Most of the employees
in the place speak Luganda, which I know, but I’m not very conversant with.
My solution to this solution was starting to slowly learn the language, and to
inform them that i didn’t know the language and they should speak to me in
English, By the end of the attachment period, I had a better understanding of
the language.
Another Challenge I encountered was the fact that the babies home is in the
city centre and far from where I live, I couldn’t arrive to work in time most of
the days. I couldn’t find a solution to this, but I did talk to the management
personnel and they understood my reasons.
I did not identify any areas that needed improvement, the system worked
Perfectly at that moment in time.
CHAPTER 4
Relevance of classroom skills.
Before starting the attachment, i had to email the director and inquire on the
requirements necessary for me to be accepted to do my SBL in this place. I
was able to put to work skills attained in legal research and writing to draft an
application for the attachment. On starting the attachment, they availed us
with the African charter of children’s rights which we had to completely read,
understand and put into practice, my skills with reading and interpreting legal
materials allowed me to easily comprehend the documents.
I also able to emulate the teaching skills of my lecturers while teaching the
children and this enabled me to develop my teaching skills.
Emerging issues facing the community
The community was understaffed, so I would encourage many people to
volunteer at the babies’ home, as this reduces the workload for the mothers
and makes it less stressful its also better for the children’s development as
they get one to one care. The other challenge this community faced was a
lack of supplies, they lacked important supplies like pampers, and baby
overalls, so the Strathmore community of students could get involved by
donating to the babies’ home. Students could also help by spreading
awareness about the children and making people aware of their situation and
the various ways in which people can help the children through social media
platforms like Instagram.
Success of the attachment in comparison to objectives
I managed to achieve my main objective to work on a team, i managed to
successfully co operate with my fellow volunteers and the mothers and by the
time I was done with the whole attachment I had developed a relationship with
them. I was able to thrive and adapt to the foreign environment, I learnt how to
do all the tasks that were given to me and after some time became
comfortable with the attachment, the people and the environment in general. I
also managed to get exposure, interacting with the mothers and the children
made me get another perspective at life, listening to the unique stories of
each of the children and how they got to be in an orphanage, allowed me to
appreciate the value of family and parents. The whole experience was very
fulfilling and allowed me to develop morally and strengthened virtues of
patience, compassion and teamwork.
CHAPTER 5
Conclusion.
In conclusion, the attachment period was a success, it was a fruitful
experience where I was able to get a better perspective on life and develop
interpersonal skills and various moral values. The organisation was very
welcoming, the people were friendly, the schedule was friendly, and the work
was easy to do with a little perseverance.
I would recommend to the attachment organisation to increase its outreach to
the community, to be able to generate more donations for the kid, i would
advise them to open social media pages to solicit help from the public so as to
make sure the children always have enough supplies. This would also enable
girls who have had unfortunate pregnancies and mothers who can not support
there children where to put them.
The Only recommendation to Strathmore University would be to make the
supervision two way, i.e., the supervisor’s report should be made while the
student is around to prevent bad and unfair reports. Another recommendation
would be to extend insurance services to students who are not doing their
SBL in Kenya, in case of any minor injuries.
Inconclusion, I had a fruitful attachment period that allowed me to develop
various moral values, skills, and a widened perspective of life.
