Profile

Bright Doves Profile

The Bright Doves of St. Francis aka ‘Bright Doves’ is a Youth and Children based organization established within Kamwokya Parish. We adhere to the spirituality of St. Francis as the Young Franciscans (Youfra) and focus on spiritual, social and economic empowerment and development of the youth and children in our community. Bright Doves is also registered as a Community Based Organization (CBO) under Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and works through the Youfra (Franciscan Youth) network in other dioceses to reinforce cultural values which emphasize freedom, democracy and non violence by propagating peace and helping the young discover and utilize their potential.

Our Moto is “Instruments of peace”. This is used as our slogan/tagline and the driving force towards attainment of our Vision.

The Bright Doves are destined to being a model youth group under the spirituality of St. Francis propagating peace and helping the young realize their dreams.

We accept and provide effective training to all members without discrimination based on gender, religion or tribal identity. Our membership is divided into two sections; the Junior Doves of ages 12 and below and Senior Doves of ages 13 and above.

We are engaged in various activities which among others include the following:

Peace and Justice Advocacy:

As instruments of peace, the Bright Doves are involved in peace building and advocacy programmes within the community. Through the Children Rights in Education (CRiE), the Bright Doves advocate for knowledge and respect of children rights, call for national solidarity, appreciation of cultural diversity, and the reinforcing of values that emphasize freedom, democracy and non-violence through both formal and non-formal channels of education. This is done through weekly CRiE lessons in partnering schools as well as a monthly Radio Talk show hosted by Mama FM 101.7 – a Radio station of the Uganda media women Association (UMWA).

Through “Turning the other cheek” a programme that Promotes Active – Non Violence with particular emphasis on conflict resolution, the Bright Doves of St. Francis are able to create awareness and promote justice, peace and integrity of creation values among the youth in Uganda and beyond.

 Liturgy:

The Bright Doves are involved in church activities such as singing during Mass especially

the Children’s Mass at Kamwokya Catholic Parish which is every 3rd Sunday of the

month an activity aimed at helping the young develop their talents in singing.

A lot is being done to ensure that our members grow both physically and spiritually. The

members are engaged in Bible study and sharing every Monday during our prayer

meeting. This special prayer meeting known as the "Bright Doves Prayer Minute" is

every Monday from 6 - 7 pm and is attended by all the members.

The Bright Doves runs the Children Ministry program in Kamwokya Parish set up

basically to meet the needs of children from 4 to 15 years of age aiming at providing

Christian spiritual guidance to all children in our Parish so that they can grow to become

what God wants them to be and thus fulfill their destinies in Christ Jesus.

We also produce the Children’s Worship Bulletin every Sunday for the Sunday School.

Music Dance and Drama:

We organize Talent shows, music festivals and other functions where presentations ranging from Gospel songs in various categories, creative and traditional dances, plays, poems, recitals and riddles are made or staged to educate and entertain. The Bright Doves through

‘Music for fun, enjoyment and entertainment’ have been able to expose their talent in

music as they perform on different functions. We are also involved in performances

aimed at sensitization of the public in different ways such as those on peace and justice,

children rights, violence in our community, HIV & AIDS, Health & the environment

among others.

Games and sports:

Members participate in different sporting activities both indoor and outdoor.

Here games like Playing cards, ludo, treasure searches and others like Football, Netball,

and Volleyball are played. This is intended to help reduce the stress and tension that may

be as a result of over concentration since it’s done after school during our practice/meeting days.

The Bright Doves also take part in different sports galas where they compete favorably

with other participants. For example the YOUFRA sports gala which is a yearly event

organized by The Young Franciscans of Uganda (YOUFRA) and the other local Youth

sports galas in our community at different levels.

Savings Scheme:

Bright Doves runs a savings scheme in which members save money. This is aimed at helping

individual members develop a culture of saving for the future which money helps them

much as their parents in case of no or limited resources and when there is need. Here,

each member must save 500/= for Juniors and 1,000/= for seniors with the Treasurer

every week which money is deposited with our Bank and can only be withdrawn with

the parent’s consent. As the activity develops, it has helped economically to boost our

parents’, members’.

Debates and Talk shows:

Bright Doves also organizes Debates, Seminars, as well as Talk Shows and Community

Dialogues for both the young and old in our community which are educating and

informative. Topics of discussion or themes of the day are drawn from current affairs

mostly affecting our community which helps us have the community always informed of

what is happening. Through these, members have been able to better their communication

skills and master the command of the language (English) on top of keeping the

community informed.

Reading & Writing Competitions:

The Bright Doves are also involved in reading and writing as another way of developing

and exposing individual’s talents as well as developing individual careers. We have a

reading and writing competition that has been going on since our foundation aimed at

promoting a culture of reading and writing among the young. Through this we have been

able to achieve one of our long term goals i.e. producing a magazine “The Bright

Times”. Its articles range from Faith and Religion, Health and the environment, education and entertainment as well as Sports.

Study Scheme:

We have in place a study scheme in which members do common revisions with the

help of the trainers, leaders and other experts which is aimed at boosting their academic

endeavors. Members also undergo testing through exams which are set internally and members assessed on the institutional level to gauge their performance and help them accordingly. We have a back to school package offered to members at the end of every holiday in recognition of their efforts and this is aimed at raising their spirit towards education and supplementing their parents’ efforts. To take this scheme to another level, we plan to introduce our members to computer literacy through our program – ‘Technology onto the Young’ (TOTY)

While carrying out these activities, we cooperate and network with the following;

• Young Franciscans (YouFra) Uganda: Bright doves of St. Francis are part and partial of Youfra Uganda therefore we network to reinforce cultural values which emphasize freedom, democracy and non violence by propagating peace.

We’re also mandated by Youfra Uganda to animate, monitor and guide on the national level Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation projects. Such projects include environmental sustainability, civic awareness and youth empowerment.

• The office of Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Franciscans Africa (JPICFA) and Franciscans International (FI) for training and capacity building. JPICFA has provided human rights training to Youfra and the Bright Doves in particular and offers advisory support to our Justice and Peace programs

• Franciscans International (FI) has a level two consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN and is thus the Franciscan voice at the UN. Bright Doves of St. Francis as Young Franciscans does on ground research on human rights issues in regard to the voiceless people and submits their voices through 'FI' to the necessary UN Mechanisms.

• Kamwokya Catholic Parish: Bright Doves was nurtured and currently operates within the premises of the Parish. The church has been pivotal in spiritual guidance to the organization.

• National Council for Children (NCC) – This council coordinates monitors and evaluates policies and programmes relating to the survival, development, protection and participation of children. NCC has engaged us in different child related forums such as the child labour partners forum, children with disability partners forum and has engaged us in other numerous child related functions.

• MAMA FM – provides a platform for children to air out their views through the ‘Children Speak Out’ program of which Bright doves was offered a slot every second Sunday of the month.

Bright Doves Leadership Structure

 

BRIGHT DOVE’S LEADERSHIP AS AT 10^TH JANUARY 2015

Executive Committee

1.      1. Chairman: SERWADDA JOHN
2.       V. Chairman: KIIZA PETER
3.       Programmes coordinator: KUGONZA K. NICHOLAS
4.       Secretary: NYIRAHABIMAANA FRANCISCA
5.       Treasurer: KYOMUKAMA JACKLINE
6.       Disciplinarian: BAGUMA GILBERT
7.       Librarian:  ATALI MIRIAM
8.       Uniforms:  ODONG RONNIE
9.       Representative People with Disability: KITABAJJA NASIF
10.   Representative Seniors: MBABAZI CHRISTINE
11.   Representative Juniors: NANYONDO STELLA

Patron & Chairman BOT:                  Onyango Benard (SFO)               
                               

Departmental Heads:

1.   Skills Development: Kagenya Henry
2.  Music, Dance and Drama: Kiiza Peter
3.  Liturgy: Auma Linnet
4.  Media and ICT: Kugonza Nicholas
5. Justice and Peace: Kyomukama Jackline
6. Games and Sports: Kasujja Vincent

Contacts

Email: doves126@yahoo.com

Website: www.youfrauganda.wordpress.com

Facebook: Bright Doves of St. Francis

Tel: 0774 309296, 0773807732, 0701883991, 0776830398