Tigers Club Project - RETRAK Uganda
Enabling street children to realise their potential and discover their worth

Street Life
When a child has run away from home they are of full of hope for a new and better life in Kampala. However, their experiences on arrival are nothing like their expectations. One of the boys at Tigers Club wrote:

“Living on the streets of Kampala is tough. On the streets life wasn’t easy like I thought before, because I had nothing to eat, no place to sleep, no water to bathe or wash. Real life was hard. I used to sleep in sacks on the verandas of shops in Kampala because I had no blanket or a permanent shelter. I used to eat rubbish from the dustbins by roadsides. Beating and bullying from adults and older boys was my daily companion because I had no parents to care about me. The sunshine use to burn me when walking all day long without some where to rest.”

Tigers Club, in Kampala, is the pioneer project of RETRAK – a professional social work organisation creating models of work amongst street children in eastern Africa. We are committed to providing each child, irrespective of race, tribe or religion, with an individual route back to family and community. RETRAK has a Christian foundation and members of the RETRAK staff are motivated and empowered by their faith. By the end of 2007, around 650 former street children will have been offered a permanent alternative to the street.

Tigers Club - RETRAK Uganda
Tigers Club works with boys aged between 8-20 who have ended up living on the streets of Kampala. Most of the children at Tigers Club heard about the project through friends they made on the streets. They are drawn to the Tigers Clubhouse by the chance to play football (how could any boy resist?!), have access to health care and eat some much needed food. They also enjoy catch-up schooling and each boy has time with the project social workers who help them to work through the past and look forward.

We believe that every child needs the support and love of a family, so for many boys the next step is preparation for resettlement with their own relatives; although many children are orphans the majority do have traceable relatives. Preparation includes time at our halfway home called Tudabujja, which means ‘we are being made new’. Here the boys are able to leave behind the lifestyle and behaviour that was adopted for survival on the streets so that they are ready for life in a family and community. Even after the comparable luxury experienced of Tudabujja, each boy longs to be in a family again. If it is not possible to be resettled with biological relatives, then a loving foster family is found for the younger boys and the older lads are supported until they are able to live independently from Tigers.

‘I was without hope while on the streets but God made it possible for me to stand tall with hope for a bright future.’
Former Tigers Club boy
Celebrating 10 years
Earlier this year Tigers Club celebrated their 10th anniversary of being a registered NGO in Uganda by creating a play all about being a street child. Tigers Club boys at the Tudabujja Halfway Home worked with the cultural organisation Uganda Heritage Roots, to create a play which weaves together elements of their individual experiences into one story creatively told using drama, dance and music. The result, Home Street Home, was amazing! The boys are an incredibly talented group who were able to portray funny moments and dreadful times in really moving but entertaining ways. The boys absolutely loved doing it. Thanks to sponsorship by Coca Cola, over 300 people came to see the show at the International School of Uganda, and the response was excellent with standing ovations at several of the performances. Afterwards many people renewed or began their support for Tigers Club’s work by becoming part of Friends of Tigers Club and receiving their exciting membership pack
(email friendsoftigersclub@retrak.org).

Two international schools also asked for the play to be performed for their students. And to top it all off, the show received a dazzling review in one of the leading Kampala newspapers.

All in all it was a great way to celebrate the amazing achievements of so many former street boys who have successfully moved on - realising their potential and discovering their worth.

Website www.retrak.org