Empower and Care Organization (EACO)

EACO is situated in the Mukono District in central Uganda.

EACO’s activities are targeted toward vulnerable women, particularly widows and those living with HIV/AIDS, as well as vulnerable children, youth, and the elderly.  

EACO believes that effective and sustainable development comes through empowerment programmes, where vulnerable members of the community are given the skills, motivation and support to improve their lives and communities.

The local community is largely rural and the majority of the population are subsistence farmers.

Child Sacrifice

Children often have to walk a distance of 8 to 9 km to and from school and another long distance to fetch water.

Kyampisi, in the Mukono district has one of the highest levels of reported cases of child kidnapping and human blood sacrifice.

In most cases, children are kidnapped as they walk back home in the night.

This has caused some parents not to send their children to fetch water –  but that also means that the family will not have water to use at night.

Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate, or force 'supernatural beings', in the belief that this will alleviate problems such as poverty or ill-health. Body parts, often facial features or genitals, are cut off for use in ceremonies. Sometimes drugs are made from the human organs.

An investigation by the police into human sacrifice in Uganda found that ritual killings of children are more common than Ugandan authorities once thought.

Adults are also killed for human sacrifice. The practice of human sacrifice is on the rise in Uganda and especially in the Mukono District.

EACO is seeking funding to advocate for an end to child and adult human sacrfice.

Related Article: Tackling Child Sacrifice, Violence and Poverty in Uganda

Poverty

The vast majority of the poor in the region are women. Many are illiterate.

Many women eat only once a day and are already suffering the effects of even more severe malnutrition.

EACO seeks to address lack of economic opportunity for these groups of people by providing training and individualized instruction in entrepreneurship, marketing techniques for small businesses, micro finance, and the implementation of income-generating activities (IGAs).

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is a major problem in the region.

EACO carries out a Sexual Reproductive Health Program, which focuses on counseling and guidance, educational trainings, and community outreach related to HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), family planning, and life skills planning.

Domestic Violence

Jobs like fetching water are the work of women and children, and this often involves walking long distances.

Children often have the job of fetching water before school.

They may have to wait two hours or more at the bore-hole, queueing for the water, and then walk home with a 20-litre jerry can, before preparing for school.

Domestic violence is also closely related to the water problems. When women go to the borehole in the evenings, their husbands my become suspicious and jealous.

EACO is advocating for safe water sources closer to the homes.