Because of all the struggles and the suffering I went through, although I had both parents alive, I realized that orphans must be suffering a lot more because they have no one to care for them. I pledged to God that if He can help me through the suffering and I finish school without being married off then I will help the orphans, especially those orphaned with HIV/AIDS. Sure God did it and I was not married off, I finished school well. My 2 young sisters look much older than me and one of them got married when she was 18 years and the other got a baby when she was 22 years.
I had thought that I will at least help 10 orphans as a means of paying back to God. When I finished school I got a job and told my mother about my pledge to God, she was so happy and she agreed to stay with the orphans that I would have got while I go to work (my first 2 jobs were 120 miles away from her so I could visit every weekend). On top of my late brother’s and sisters’ orphans I added more 5 from the community I was staying in and I started helping them and feeding them, paying their school fees to mention but a few. People used to tell me that I should think about myself not other people because I suffered a lot and they watched me suffer now it’s time for me to enjoy. Because I had a pledge with God, I had to fulfill it because he had brought me that far and people could not see that it was God.
In 2006, there was much child trafficking in Uganda, and the government announced that if any person is leaving with people they are not related to then they should let the government know. I went to the government office since I had the 5 orphans that were not related to me, they did advise me to register as a community based organization. I searched the community that would have affected a lot with HIV/AIDS and it’s not having international organization and this was Wakiso district. So I did go to the district offices and they registered me as a community based organization (registration number is WCBO/579/2006).
I did focus much on the HIV/AIDS orphans because these are the orphans that are neglected most by the community and relatives since most people think that they are infected too with HIV/AIDS virus from their mothers. Yet the truth is most of these children don’t contract the disease from the parents especially with the PMTC program now (Prevention of Mother-baby transmission). For instance the HIV/AIDS orphans I have only 4 have HIV/AIDS that they contracted from their parents, the rest are negative. The 4 infected children get free HIV treatment from one of the leading peadiatric HIV/AIDS center in Uganda, the only challenge I have I nutritional food and transport to the clinic for these children.
Also I didn’t forget 2 categories of children that suffer a lot; 1) those children that could be in the same situation like I was in (‘children from poor and single parented families’) and 2) children on the street because they are like orphans, they have no one to turn too.
After registration in Wakiso district, I rented a house in one of the villages in Wakiso (Nansana) and this is were I moved in with the 10 children and God helped and I got a job in Kampala, which was around 7-10 miles away from the home. After one year, the number went on increasing because I saw there were so many orphans and needy children to help. we hve supported more 1000 children directly and indirectly. we now own our own place
