Partnerships in Kampala:

Working with street children and refugee youth

Uganda currently hosts more refugees than any other country in Africa. Of the 1.4 million refugees in Uganda, 61% are under the age of 18 years.  Among these youth, there is an overall feeling that there is no hope or reason for them to survive.  They are idle and lack activities to engage in. To keep them motivated to access services, resist violence and strive to become educated, they need a positive influence in their lives – something that will give them regularity, hope and a sense of family. This is just what MindLeaps does. MindLeaps offers something that is loved and requires no existing language skills, school level, national ID, money or prior knowledge – that ‘something’ is dance.

In Uganda, as across the continent of Africa, dance is widely loved and the presence of music attracts children to MindLeaps’ safe spaces, where they are offered free, energizing and fun dance classes. At the same time, the MindLeaps staff teach and measure changes in seven life skills: memorization, language, grit, teamwork, discipline, creativity and self-esteem. While the youth have a positive place to spend their time, they are actually engaging in a scientifically-studied activity comprised of movement patterns to develop critical learning skills. In refugee settings, even though youth are not always able to access education, MindLeaps observes a decrease in teen pregnancy, a reduction in substance abuse, and a deeper integration into the local community.

In 2017, in Kampala, MindLeaps partnered with HIAS an international NGO facilitating the resettlement of refugees around the world, to work with urban refugee children. Building upon this experience, MindLeaps then went on to train talented youth from the HIAS program and alumni of the Ugandan traditional dance group Rockies Troupe to become assistant teachers of the MindLeaps dance curriculum. Upon completion of the Train the Trainer program, MindLeaps partnered with local Ugandan organizations to embed the dance methodology in existing services to help at-risk youth. These organizations now include Save Street Children Uganda, KAYP, CADI, Agape World Mission, and Agape World Ministries.

As of 2020, 525 children are currently accessing MindLeaps’ dance programs each week across Uganda. In 2021, MindLeaps opened its first center in Uganda, located in Kampala.