Neighbor News
Hanson Woman Working in Uganda to End Child Homelessness
Celia Edwards, a Hanson resident and Mass Art alum, is spearheading a project in Uganda to give children on the streets a permanent home.
JINJA, UGANDA – June 18, 2015 - Imagine walking the streets of your home town or city at night and, instead of passing by the occasional homeless person, your streets are full of homeless children. This is reality in Uganda, where poverty and a cycle of broken families has led to a large population of children living, sleeping and surviving in a brutal lifestyle with no hope of a future.
Celia Edwards, of Hanson, MA, has been living in the town of Jinja, Uganda for the past five months. She has been working with GI ASCO (Get Involved with the African Street Children Org), a non-profit that focuses on giving local children a home, social services, education and a chance at a future.
“While here, I’ve visited the kids that are still living on the streets,” says Edwards. “They spend the days begging, and the nights hiding from the police, who beat them.”
Find out what's happening in Weymouthfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
GI ASCO currently houses 23 former street children ranging in ages from ten to eighteen, and supports an additional 5 children who are still living with their families. All support is raised through committed donors. According to GI ASCO’s private research, over one hundred children remain on the streets - in Jinja alone.
Edwards has partnered with GI ASCO and several local Ugandan businesses and artists to throw a major fundraiser this Saturday in Jinja titled “A Street is Not a Home”. All proceeds from the night of raffles and entertainment will go towards immediately opening a new home that could take as many as twenty additional children off the streets permanently.
Find out what's happening in Weymouthfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“The more time I spent with the children in the GI ASCO house, the more I realized how worried they were about their friends and siblings who are still out there, just trying to stay alive,” says Edwards.
“I knew I needed to do something, and this fundraiser is a tangible way for me to see lives turned around, right before my eyes.”
For those wondering how they can join Edwards in her efforts, donations are being accepted at YouCaring.com/GIASCO, where more information on the new project can also be found. For more about the organization GI ASCO, and their mission to make former street children into vibrant and positive members of their community, please refer to giasco.org.
