As an employee of the clinic where I work, I have to abide by its rules that require me to work 12 hours five days a week, so a total of 60 hours. This heavy commitment does not make it easier for me to manage the children and the Hopeworth Children Foundation.
It all started in 2014: I was 23 when I founded the HopeWorth Children's Foundation. At the time, I was working as a volunteer nurse in a Ugandan hospital near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the hospital we had received many children victims of the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, some of whom had no relatives to take care of them. Seeing the agony and suffering endured by these children, I could not decide otherwise: I would help them feel safe and give them a future.
Orphans in need of protection
Six of these children were identified as orphans, completely disconnected from their relatives and left alone. After a conversation with my maternal aunt Zebia, who worked as a senior nurse in the same hospital, she agreed to take in these children after discharge from the hospital. The children spent two years safely in his home and my grandfather Stephan agreed to provide shelter for the children in his home, located in the mountains of Kyallumba.
When I began to realize that I had taken on the enormous task of being a guardian for these homeless children, I realized that they would need adequate shelter for their daily meals, clothing, and access to education. This meant that I had to earn more, so I started asking for better job opportunities to earn not only for my life but also for the well-being of the children. It was at this time that my friend Daniel Masereka told me about a job as a nurse at the "Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation" clinic. A few months after my application, the Foundation invited me for an interview and thank God I got the job.
My grandfather was too old and weak to meet the basic needs of children. Using the salary from my new job, I rented a house in Basecamp, along Kilembe Road and enrolled the children in the nearby Calvary Nursery and Primary School. However, looking at my salary I realized that it was not enough to meet the basic needs of the children and myself. Therefore, I started conducting local fundraisers seeking the help of colleagues and friends to be able to send the children to school, offer them daily meals and shelter. But it simply wasn't enough.
As time went on, the number of children coming to our Foundation continued to grow. Orphans that I myself found wandering the streets alone or brought to me by other people, who in turn had always found them on the street or in other contexts of abandonment. Fortunately we were noticed by some kind-hearted people, also through social networks, and a small network of foreign people took shape that began to collaborate and support us. Some came to Uganda as volunteers to support the foundation with their skills and donations. Some helped us pay for the children's medical bills, others launched fundraisers through their families and friends. Others offered help in relation to the architectural design and construction of the new children's home, others to agriculture and gardening.
There are many volunteers whom I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart. A special thanks goes to Oliver Sevelin Sanbon who, in addition to raising funds for the Foundation, bought us goats and who, even today, is a dear friend of the children. David Entrop raised money from his family, designed an architectural plan for the Foundation's new home, and is still helping us pay for tuition.
We are incredibly grateful for the donations we receive and for the much-appreciated fundraising work for our cause. It was through the Workaway page, initially created by Klara Maria, that we find volunteers. We had the pleasure of meeting Tinne Schietecatte who raised funds to support us with the construction of our kitchen and dining room. Samira German helped us buy all the shutters for the doors of the new house. Augusta Balla also supported the construction of the children's home by purchasing essential materials, Cashmere USA as well as our two friends Jana Zenatti and Sarah Munz who contributed to the construction of the new children's home. Our most recent volunteers with whom we have been blessed and whom we now call friends, are the two Italians Emanuele Tocchetti and Marco Farci. They have put the much-needed structural touches on the Worth A Haven Children home and have set up an association in Italy through which they constantly support us.
There are also other people who are helping children with permanent donations. These periodic donations are used for various causes, including medical expenses and tuition, food and clothing. Lljana de la Olla and her husband took care of the children's medical expenses and contributions to agricultural projects. Magdalena Gorostiza introduced us to many friends in Poland, who collected clothes that we can sell here in Uganda, earning the money needed to build a mini grocery store, inside our house and slowly become more self-sufficient. Frances Ogiemwense helped out with children's tuition. Julia Giunter Chandler made it possible to paint the walls of the new children's home and donated food and medical supplies. Debby McKenzie supported us to provide the children with special meals during the festivities and warmed our hearts when she finally physically visited us here in Uganda. Cherise Dangote created our Instagram Page, a channel through which we met with Sugar Homes, which supported us with the completion of the house and allowed us to meet a number of basic needs such as access to education.
There are many companies and organizations that have chosen to support us , making a decisive contribution to improving the quality of life of children.
Thanks to the support of the companies and organizations we have been able to develop important projects.
To maintain the goals achived and their quality, as well as support primary needs, the support of companies and partners is essential to achieve the dream of Masika.
Among those we want to thank for their continuous help are: Nicolas Hatier of www.thenextsmile.org/ who built and donated us a building in which we dream of opening our school; Matteo Baire www.tourbaire.it/ who gave us a van thanks to which our children can go to school. But there are many others, like all our Italian friends and supporters and the many international donors and volunteers who never abandon us!
Uganda's public health system does not provide basic medicines, which is why we are forced to take children to private medical facilities that are more expensive.
Public schools are of very poor quality and do not provide children with the necessary foundations for a prosperous future, for example they do not provide for the teaching of the English language. Unfortunately, private schools are very expensive.
Children wake up very early in the morning and walk long distances to get to school. Our house is located in a countryside area, not served by public transport. Whenever financially possible, we use a private transport system.
Bank: ABSA Uganda Limited
Account n.: 6007248871
Swift code: BARCUGKX