© 2019 JOY Goat Development Programme
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The Start
In 1992, Deliverance Church Uganda founded a congregation in Masaka Town, and wanted to also establish a community development programme. This was made possible when Open Door Community Church of Uxbridge UK seconded David & Jacqui Dowdy in August 1993 to establish JOY Children’s Centre (now known as JOY Youth Training Centre). The aim of the Centre is to release the potential of orphaned young people so that instead of being a problem, the start to become part of the future of the country.
Contact JOY YTC
Goats
We chose to specialise in the keeping of dairy goats, which in the Masaka area has great potential. We bought our goats, and learnt how to look after them, from other organisations. But over the years our goats multiplied, and because of the comprehensive records that went with them, they were in demand from other projects and individuals. And not just the goats, but also the expertise that had been built up on the farm and within the associated community projects. Experience which made it possible to set up the Goat Development programme.
Future
Education in Uganda is increasingly being supported by the government, so that no primary and few secondary students need the Learn & Earn Programme. But increasingly the Programme is attracting higher level students, especially those wanting to go to farm schools, where the experience of working at the Centre helps them with their studies.
The other main change is that with the arrival of John and Alison Laws as managers of the Centre, they have brought with them a broader agricultural knowledge, and so the range of training being given to the trainees is also now broader.
Learn & Earn
When we started the Centre, all schooling in Uganda had to be paid for. Often the
fees were beyond the resources of the poorest families. This was particularly true
where families were burdened by the need to care for the orphans of their relatives
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