Get Involved with African Street Children (GI ASCO) is the main project supported by GI Trust. The project started in January 2010 as a drop in day centre for street homeless children in Jinja, eastern Uganda. In April 2010, it was able to rent a house and become a residential home. A couple of months later, the boys started at local schools, most starting in P1 at a local primary school, with two of the boys attending Lords Mead Vocational College.
There are now 25 boys aged between 8 and 18 being supported by GI ASCO, with 23 living at the GI ASCO house and 2 living independently close by.
We have witnessed a truly extraordinary transformation in the boys, from malnourished, unsettled, sometimes aggressive, “survivors” to happy, confident members of the GI ASCO family. The progress they have made at school is amazing, with 2 boys finishing top of their class in Primary 3 and one finishing 6th in Primary 4! GI ASCO now has its own football team, generously kitted out with its own strip and football boots, and plays regular matches against teams from other projects.
To meet the boys, click here
To find out more about how things were for the boys back in 2010, click here.
To see a video showing the day the project moved to the new GI ASCO House in April 2012, click here.
Originally structured as a local CBO, the project is now registered as a Ugandan International NGO called Get Involved with African Street Children (GI ASCO) (reg. no. 9015). The project director is Sarah Kelly, a qualified social worker from the UK, and it employs a matron, a patron and a cook. Local board members include Moses Wambi, a social worker, Rachel Sserwanga, Head of Economics at Kira High School and Rose-Ann Mutimba, a financial administrator.
We need your help!
GI ASCO needs as much financial and practical support as possible. You can do this in a number of ways – by volunteering in Uganda, fundraising in the UK, sponsoring one of the boys, making a one off cash donation, donating clothes, books, pens or other teaching materials resources or simply telling your family and friends about the project.
To sponsor a boy at GI ASCO, click here
To make a Donation to GI ASCO, click here
To read about why people have been inspired to give money to help the project, click here
To see how you can volunteer with GI ASCO, click here
To read how volunteers describe their experience, click here and here
To see the GI ASCO Facebook page, click here
If you would like a copy of the latest GI ASCO newsletter, contact us at admin@gitrust.org.uk
