What is i.HUG?
The International HUG Foundation (i.HUG) is a 501c3 grassroots organization focused on helping disadvantaged children in a slum area in Kabalagala Uganda. Poverty, the AIDS epidemic and other diseases have struck Kabalagala especially hard, creating a large orphan population, which the community is struggling to provide for. No government-run or public schools exist in this area, so many of these children don’t go to school. Instead, some are put to work at a very young age, while others live on the fringe, with no one to look after them and no place to go each day. i.HUG aims to help the poorest and most vulnerable of those children.
What does i.HUG do?
i.HUG currently has two projects. The first is a sponsorship program. Sponsors donate $360 a year to sponsor a needy child who cannot afford to go to school. That pays for the child’s school fees, school uniform, books and basic healthcare. Sponsors are matched with a needy child, and they receive a photo and a profile of that child, as well as some correspondence throughout the year. While our sponsorship project provides immediate relief, our second, long-term project embodies our philosophy of Sustainable Education and Ethical Development—what we call “The SEEDs Project.” Through this project, we are raising funds to establish a primary school in Kabalagala.
Why should people invest (time, skills, money) in a new and small not-for-profit rather than older, more established charities?
We’ve established relationships in Kabalagala—in an area other organizations have neglected—by spending time there. In particular, we have fostered a deep relationship with Pastor Paddy Luzige, a strong leader in the community there, who is already working to help orphans and street kids. This relationship is necessary for making i.HUG’s projects run efficiently and effectively. Besides, we can’t bear the thought of all of the overhead so many organizations use to house and compensate aid workers. We think it’s better to give that money directly to the people and stand with them so that, ultimately, they might run the organizations themselves.
What makes you think i.HUG can make a difference?
Because it already has made a difference. We now have a small but growing number of sponsored children in Kabalagala to fill our first classroom when the school opens in February 2007. In its off hours, the school will be used for adult literacy, health education classes, teacher-training courses, and reading clubs for children.
How do you give the community ownership of this project?
Many organizations work by identifying problems in foreign countries, and then going there to impose their own solutions. We’re different. Our work exists and flourishes because of our partnership with the local community—not in spite of it. Community members are on our board of directors, on the school's governing board and run a volunteer program that exists to promote academic excellence amongst our students. In addition, although the school will initially operate on donations, it will eventually enter into microfinance activities, become self-funding and owned by the community.
