Helping young mums in Uganda support their children
Reading isn't just for bedtime stories. It can change lives. Sometimes save them.
No one would ever give their sick child a dangerous overdose of medicine. But what if you didn’t understand the label because you couldn’t read?
"If a mother can read her child is 50% more likely to live past five years old."*
The reality of not being able to read is devastating for young mums in rural Uganda, where almost half of women are illiterate*. Grinding poverty, child marriage and early pregnancy have cut short their education and left them without this vital skill.
A young mum will struggle to understand basic health information, make important everyday decisions and earn enough to provide for her family.
Denied an education, she won’t be able to support her child’s own development – so they will face the same challenges as they grow-up. A vicious cycle will continue.
Build Africa is already working hard to help children in Uganda learn to read at school, but now we urgently need to break through the barriers they face at home – supporting over 2,000 young mums to learn life-changing literacy and numeracy skills, as well as access valuable health and nutrition services, so they can help their children not just survive but succeed.
Teach a mum to read and you give her the power to make better choices. She can take care of her family. Nurture their development. Change their future.
She can become a voice for other young women in her community and fight for the decisions that affect both her life and that of her children – one day sending them to school, where they’ll begin to write their own story.
Build Africa’s #MumsReadKidsSucceed appeal, which ran from 27 September to 27 December 2017, raised an astonishing £464,618 to support young mums and their families in rural Uganda.
The appeal was backed by UK Aid Match from the Department for International Development – meaning donations were matched “pound-for-pound” by the UK Government. Read more ...
