Staff members of Stanbic Bank Uganda’s Personal Markets division visited the Lake Victoria Child Care Centre (LAVICCARE) on Bussi Island, where they made a Ushs 5 million donation towards the construction of a classroom block in the infants section of the facility, a Ushs 1 million food donation, and also trained over 100 Bussi Island community members and 50 employees of LAVICCARE in financial management skills primarily focusing on savings. The visit was a follow-up to a trip made to LAVICCARE in November 2015 when the Bank donated food and a cooker.
Education is a key pillar in the Bank’s Community Investment programme explained Stanbic Bank’s Head of Personal Markets Fiona Mulema, at the groundbreaking ceremony; “ensuring that as many children as possible have access to basic primary education especially at the infant stage is very important to the bank. It is key for us that we uplift the lives of the people in the communities where we operate.”
Bussi Island in the Ssese Chain is one of the most inaccessible islands on Lake Victoria, known as a “hard-to- reach-area”, it suffers a sharp deficit in basic infrastructure and lacks social amenities for the community. Construction of the classroom block is therefore a welcome development for the over 100 orphaned children on the island.
It was against this background that LAVICCARE was founded in 2000 by Mr. and Mrs. Kanaabo, with the aim of improving the lives of orphaned children and the vulnerable society on Bussi and surrounding islands. Through the help from different donors, over the past 16 years LAVICCARE has been able to build a primary and secondary school, a health centre and established a clean living environment for the children. “Unfortunately we don’t have permanent funding partners, and at times we don’t have any external financial support to draw upon. Hence this wonderful gesture by Stanbic Bank staff is very welcome, because it relieves the pressure off our very limited resources and allows us to direct much needed support to these needy children.”
Talking about Stanbic Bank’s commitment to LAVICCARE Ms Mulema revealed that the donation was not a once off. “Stanbic Bank is here for the long haul, our donation towards the construction of the foundation for the classroom block is only the beginning of our engagement with the center. We will be looking at doing a lot more once we have made a full assessment of the priority requirements and the level of support we can generate from our colleagues and well-wishers across the country. Judging by the smiles and excitement of the children, this is a project Stanbic Bank is extremely proud to be associated with”.
