LENS
ON UGANDA
ABOUT US
Lens On Uganda is an initiative inspired by the work of the non-profit organization, Vunerable Children and Youth Action (VACAYA). The organization was founded in 2014 by Kevin Spencer, and Sean and Susan O'Rourke after they traveled to Uganda and gained first-hand knowledge about vunerable populations in underveloped countries. In Uganda, VACAYA has provided teacher training, implemented a garden based curriculum, facilitated the installation of clean water wells, and helped to provide basic items necessary for sanitation and survival. Among these projects, VACAYA continues to seek out news ways in which it can contribute to help establish a repeatable, sustainable framework to identify, plan and create support for vulnerable populations.
This initiative is in collaboration with Vulnerable Children and Youth Action (VCAYA). VCAYA will be distributing all eyeglass donations to Uganda in summer of 2017.
The Batwa tribe are currently living in Western Uganda near the Rwenzori forest. They were driven out of the Congo where they lived in isolation. They are pygmies and as such have intermarried, and consequently have many members of the tribe with disabilities. They have never had medical attention, and as a result those with vision disbilities so not have access to corrective measures.
The St. Francis School for the Blind is located in Madera, Uganda. It was the first school for blind children in all of Uganda, and it is still the only school solely dedicated to educating visually impaired children. The school takes in children from all parts of the country regardless of religion or ethnicity and connects them with highly trained staff whose passion is educating the blind. Children arrive at the school malnourished and abandoned. In Uganda, disabled children are at risk of abandonment, child abuse, abduction, and even witchcraft. The St. Francis School for the Blind provides a safe place for these children.