The 6-Step Scheme:

CALM has created the 6-Step Scheme in assessing and delivering services to these families. The steps include:
1. Survival packs
2. Life skills training courses
3. Construction of safe homes for children
4. Schooling and vocational training
5. Enterprise projects and training
6. Encouraging children to be involved in the community
The "6-Step Scheme" helps children in orphaned families in many practical ways so they can stay together and in their own community. It is designed to be flexible so it can be tailored to their specific needs.

Step 1: Survival Packs
Children living in child-headed households in Uganda are often stricken by poverty and live in appalling conditions. They typically suffer inadequate shelter, poor nutrition, hygiene and sanitation brought about by a lack of knowledge and poor living conditions. These orphaned children lack basic necessities, family support and parental guidance. Trained staff meet the children and assess their needs. They then give them "Survival Packs" of essential items. The packs typically contain (a) Food parcels and kitchen equipment; (b) Clothes and bedding; (c) Washing equipment; (d) Farming items. The "Survival Packs" not only help the orphans feed and clothe themselves and set up home, but they also show the children that someone cares for their well-being and wants to help them. Trained staff and counsellors are involved in identification and selection of households that will receive these packs, their distribution and more importantly, they continue to keep an eye on these children and assess how the children are coping.

Step 2: Learning Survival Skills
Orphaned and street children have lost the people that would normally protect them and help them learn the everyday life skills that they need to survive; such as how to prepare nutritious food; how to grow crops and store them. Training is offered in these various "Life Skills" by individuals visiting the children’s homes. The "Life Skill Programmes" involve training in (a) cooking and nutrition, (b) cleanliness and awareness of hygiene and sanitation, (c) health care, first aid and education on the importance of immunization, (d) parenting skills, (e) HIV/AIDs awareness, and (f) farming. These children are often terribly traumatized and one-to-one and group counselling is provided to help them with their bereavement and other associated problems.

Step 3: Setting Up a Home
The conditions in CHH are often very poor, unhygienic and most lack latrines. Trained staff assess the situation and then make recommendations to improve the household’s living conditions. Sanitation and hygiene will be promoted through construction of improved latrines, setting up kitchens and ensuring a clean source of water.
Note: When Steps 1 to 3 have been completed these child-headed households should have a home that has bedding, kitchen equipment, access to clean water and a toilet. The children have the basic utensils needed for cooking, cleaning and growing their own food. They will also have received sound training in skills needed to keep a household in a more sustainable manner. In addition, they have extended their support framework by forming a variety of relationships with CALM staff, counsellors, nurses and teachers who have run the training courses, and with whom they can talk to if they need additional help. Additionally, they will have made friends with other children in a similar situation to themselves. At this point the work of the project moves from crisis management to helping these orphans gain education and skills that will allow them to improve their welfare and give themselves hope for a better life.

Step 4: Education
(a) Primary and Secondary Education
Orphans' access to education is hampered by several factors including lack of school fees, books, uniforms and food. Further still, there is no one to encourage these orphans to attend school. This results in poor performances of orphans at school and a high rate of school drop-outs. A School Sponsorship Scheme is available for children to attend secondary and primary schools or literacy classes. The sponsorship typically includes school fees, scholastic materials, school uniforms and lunch.
(b) Vocational Skills Training College
Some older orphaned children, in particular out-of-school youth are offered vocational training such as carpentry, sewing, car mechanics, building, animal husbandry and crop farming as well as training in environmental protection. Thus, they learn a skill which will help them earn an income, create employment which in turn leads to sustainable social economic development.

Step 5: Integration in the Community and finding Employment
Orphaned children are supported after their formal schooling is complete, assistance is provided to help them start income generating activities whether it is finding a job or setting up their own business. "Business and Enterprise Training" courses are available so the youngsters can learn business skills such as bookkeeping, accounting, computer skills, management and leadership skills. Occasionally small credit arrangements are offered to new ventures such as a youth bike scheme which has proved very successful. Often goats and hens are given to child headed households (CHH) so that when they breed, and their numbers multiply, some can then be given to other CHH. Importantly, help and encouragement is given to children to join the various local committees and leadership councils in their communities, so rather than becoming further disenfranchised they can become involved and contribute to their local community. This raises the awareness of the needs of children and in turn improves Children’s Rights and strengthens Child Protection.
Community Training Colleges are a vital aspect of the "5-Step Scheme" in training and education. With the exception of Primary and Secondary Schooling, we organize all the training courses e.g. "Life Skills Programme", "Counseling" "Vocational Skills Training Courses" and "Business and Enterprise Training". A long-term goal of our work is to centralise many of these courses in a Community Training College. The College would be based in the heart of the community and will house several class-rooms, specialised workshops and tailoring rooms. These rooms will then be used for counselling, and can be hired by other professionals e.g. midwives to hold child care classes.It will also provide rooms for students to sleep if they have travelled a long distance to attend a course.

Step 6: Encouraging children to be involved in the community
The aim of this step is to encourage children to participate in community activities and issues that affect their welfare. Children are given the opportunity to participate in forums or children's' parliaments where they are free to express their views, ask questions and raise complaints to local councils. This also encourages the children to discuss issues including abuse, exploitation, education, medical needs, and ways of addressing food insecurity. In being given this voice the children raise awareness on issues that may not have been addressed by local councils as they press for change. This is a new initiative, and all the early indicators are that children welcome the opportunity to have their say and be involved in contributing to solutions on community issues.

CALM follows the 6-Step-Plan in full as often as possible, but limited resources means it is not always able to provide all services to all beneficiaries.

Seven-in-One Therapy:

One of the Founders and Director of CALM Africa, initiated the 7-in-1 Therapy, aimed at helping guide people to living a happy and healthy life. Elements of this therapy are implemented as appropriate through various CALM Africa activities. This initiative consists of the following elements:

1. Counselling
Counselling is a service designed to help an individual analyse himself or herself by relating his capacities, achievements, interests and mode of adjustment to what new decisions he or she needs to make. Counselling also helps an individual to mobilise his own resources, learn right thinking, choose right behaviours, make good decisions and experience right feelings. Counselling brings about positive confrontation, necessary information, self-awareness, accountability, confidence building and psychological stability.

2. Nutrition
It is essential to eat enough good food for good health – including foods that satisfy, foods that give us energy, foods that help children to grow and develop, and foods that prevent and heal diseases.

3. Herbal Therapy
Herbal Therapy can easily be included as part of a nutrition and balanced diet. Most of the trees, plants and weeds around us have natural chemotherapeutic values and medicinal plants found in Uganda have been researched for years and found to be curative to various diseases.

4. Hydro-Therapy
Most medicines are either given in a liquid form or recommended to be taken with water. Water itself is both food and medicine. A normal healthy person must take at least two litres of water daily. One will never get a balanced diet without water. Water can help blood circulation, improves digestion, removes toxins from the body, and improves eyesight.

5. Vocational Therapy
Your body needs exercises every week for one to remain strong, young and active. Simple daily exercises can greatly improve your health. Exercises can help shed off excess weight, help remove body impurities and strengthen your organs.

6. Meditation
Meditation can be defined as the action or practice of focusing your mind to think deeply. Meditation is usually conducted in silence and can be for either religious purposes or simply in order to relax. In relaxation training, using meditation procedures, the individual learns to concentrate on a thought, a sensation, a word, an object or some mental state. Some techniques are very active and require that the person makes a strenuous effort to focus on a specific thing. One simply remains in a quite atmosphere and a relaxed attempt to achieve a state of inner peace. The individual concentrates on a selected word (mantra) and tries, but does not strain, to exclude all other thoughts.

7. Spiritualism
Spiritualism involves connecting an individual's mind and body to his or her soul. It involves fathoming and pondering about life in full, connecting to a spiritual world and provoking divine intervention, thus making life complete. Connecting the past and the present to the future helps you to grow spiritually and spiritual growth has to keep pace with your intellectual and physical growth.

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