We are pleased to introduce our biggest boy, Derrick. He is such a great leader who always makes sure the little ones don’t fight, helps them with their homework and ensures they stay clean while at school. During holidays he makes sure the games are well distributed so that everyone has a chance to play. His discipline and hardwork is something we learn from everyday and we’re blessed to have him. He was just so little himself when we brought him into our care and we are so proud of the man he is growing up to be!
Ring Ring, who's there? Mr Joseph Bidiba says hello!! Everyone at home calls him Jose Chameleone after one of the biggest music superstars in Uganda. He wants to be a musician himself. He lights up every room he walks into and he was the best students in his class for all of the 3 semesters last year. He was promoted to primary 2 and he is so excited for his new class this year. Way to go Joseph!!!
He is the only child of a mother who abandoned him after birth because she didn’t know who his father was. Grace was brought up by his grandmother who passed away in 2016 when he was only 5. He moved to the streets where he lived for 2 years until we met him through a “street kids outreach program” with the Shepherd's House Church – a center of hope in Jinja for children such as Grace. Children from the streets are a little bit tricky as most of them get hooked on drugs or alcohol for survival. They are quite often rough and violent because they always have to defend themselves. It was very tough on us for the first year with Grace, however, he is everyone’s sweetheart at the moment! Very polite, loves school (his grades were good for last semester) and he helps with house work. His story just like all of the children brings tears of joy to our eyes and we give God the glory and praise for giving us people with whom we share the same vision with, which is to be rays of hope for His children.
We call her (Queen) because of her Queen like behavior. So quiet, smiley, peaceful and disciplined. She always looks out for others and she’s always the last one to eat. Queen Mercy is 11 years old and doing very well in school. Unlike most of our children, Mercy is not orphaned. Her mother was assaulted at 14 by a mentally ill man in the village. When she gave birth she was a laughing stock to everyone and so abandoned the baby in a bush next to the grandmother’s house. After the baby was found, she was raised by the grandmother who later on died at the end of 2019. Mercy was brought to us by local government authority officers in September 2020. They told us she would stay with us until they could find her mother who they’ve been looking for in vain ever since. When we inquired with the officials recently they said they failed to find the girl’s mother. She is a very intelligent and disciplined young girl that cares about others before she ever thinks about her self and we’re so proud to have her. Mercy says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
Musa is one of the kids at the orphanage. We first met him when he was 6 years old on one of our outreach programs. He is now 10yrs old. Musa was an only child of his mother from a Muslim polygamous family with 3 step moms. When he was 2 years old, his dad died of HIV followed by his mom when he was 4 years old. His stepmothers mistreated him for a long time until he decided to run off to the streets. After a period of 2 years in the streets, we met him through our small gatherings in the village for mentorship, and he always showed up because we provided a meal for at least every kid that showed up. Musa has been one of the best transformations we’ve had at the orphanage. He is in grade 3 for now, way older for the class but that’s because he only began school at 7 after we had taken him on. He loves mathematics and he says he wants to be a pilot when he is grown. God led us to this beautiful soul because he has great plans for him and we can’t wait to see Musa fly planes some day.
Miss Fatuma (Daada) was one of our foster parents before we established our home. She was looking after 3 of the kids in her house. One day the roof was blown off of her mud house during a heavy rainstorm which rendered her house unstable. At that time she asked if she could be our caregiver for all 30 kids in our home. As their caregiver she does the kids’ laundry, prepares their meals, gets them ready for school, cleans their rooms, takes care of their primary health and loves them greatly!!! All of the kids love her and we love her too. She does all of this just for a meal and a roof over her head. In the future however, when God enables, we would love to give her a little amount of money monthly because we believe she must have personal needs even though she has never asked for a dime. It is through amazing people like Miss Fatima that the kids flourish and have hope and that our ministry is successful. We truly could not do it without beautiful people like Miss Fatuma!