BRICKS AND BEDS PROJECT – Until May 2010, 60 orphaned children were living in full time care at ACIO Child Care Center in Sironko, Uganda.. a center Love Is The Answer had helped the community develop since 2007. There, the children were being cared for by ACIO volunteers and housed in temporary mud and stick buildings built on ACIO land.

Due to heavy rains that began in Uganda in March 2010, mudslides in neighboring communities to the Child Care Center killed hundreds, and flooding caused thousands to have to leave their homes and villages. While all the ACIO children were kept safe, the Child Care Center, located on low land in a valley, became very water logged resulting in flooding of the children’s weathered dorms and collapse of the latrines, and it became necessary to relocate the children to safer accommodation.

Since that time, 30 of the resident children were taken in by caregivers in the community – many with several orphans already in their care – where they will stay for the next months while ACIO works on alternate accommodation for them. The remaining 30 children were relocated to a rented home in Vincent’s village and are being cared for by him, his wife and other volunteers for the time being. The daycare at the former center – an income generating activity for ACIO – was also closed due to the flooding. All of the fixtures, supplies and items like desks, benches, blackboards, and the library have been moved to storage and the first 200 chicks for the ACIO Poultry Project that arrived in early June went to a temporary location where they remain to this day.

Seeing the great need that’s developed, a local man in Sironko has stepped up and donated an acre and a half of land on higher ground in Vincent’s village, and it is on this land that ACIO is planning to relocate and build the new Child Care Center. It is planned that it shall be built in the local style, out of baked bricks and concrete, with iron sheets as roofing, as opposed to the traditional, temporary, less expensive building style of mud and sticks we had used at the former center. ACIO will be attempting to re-use many of the iron sheets used for the roofing at the former center, as well as the doors, windows, roof trusses, etc.

One day soon, as accumulated funds and circumstances on the ground dictate, we will commence building the first phase at the new site. This phase will include new dorms and latrines for the children and an admin bldg.. then we’ll move on to a cooking and dining area, staff’s quarters.. eventually there are also plans to build a primary school/vocational training building, and bring the existing poultry project up to the new land, and add heifers as well! Lots of dreams and plans are in the works! Thanks for adding your energy and support to them!