KAMPALA – Bashir Musaazi’s mother Nakachwa Elizabeth Beverly always wanted every child on the streets and turned into better citizens but she never lived to see her dream come true.
However, Musaazi took it upon himself to see her mother’s dream come to life through the Africa Children Heart Uganda foundation in Mpigi Buwama Sango after the passing of his mother.
“Having grown up among the vulnerable children she used to rescue from the streets, raising them up in a good environment and educating them, I thought it was best if I took it on. It was a very hard time for us when she passed on but I had to keep the legacy,” Musaazi explains.
The 29-year-old is not only rehabilitating these children but also impacting the society and because of this, the community offered his foundation an acre of land to enable them run different projects and the first thing they did is to construct a house for the children.
“On the acre that the community offered us, we have managed to construct a home for the children. We are looking at accommodating at least 90 children and why we decided to do that is because the house we have been renting for their accommodation has been small and too old,” Musaazi said.
Besides the home, Africa Children Heart Uganda foundation also helped the village in the rural water sanitation where they distributed water all over the village which was the biggest challenge.
“At least most families now have clean pumped water after our initiative. We hope that by the end of this year, all the families will be catered for.”
However, Musaazi does not take the credit alone for these initiatives. He explains that these projects have been successful because of the investments from a number of people including Doc, Sherry, Chris Richard and his wife Marlin as well as Mrs Ruth and her husband who have all contributed funds towards the completion of both projects.
“We had anticipated that the building project would cost us 30,000 USD which was so expensive. On downsizing, we decided to compromise. The children offered to dig sand and mold the bricks and they also built the foundation of the building while other volunteers helped us build it at cheaper costs. We believe the project in total should take 20,000 USD,” he projected.
Uncle Doc, and wife Ms Mandy Figarola Mrs, his guardian mother Sherry, Richard and his wife Melanie of 4th generation caretaker of the 1905 family of Restaurants, Mrs Ruth and her husband Dr. Gilbert and many others spearheaded the construction of the new Orphanage Home.
Regarding the water project initiative, he said the partners invested 3,000 USD and the rest of the things including the pump and solars among other things were bought by the community and so far, he says the water project is worth 15,000 USD.
Challenges
Despite the availability of the water and the new building, Africa Children Heart Uganda are facing a challenge with health facilities and sanitary pads for the girls.
They are looking for a company or someone who at least can distribute them thrice a week.
“If we get more investors, we would encourage them to build a hospital for us. In the new building, I separated a room which the children are going to be using for carpentry, sewing and other vocational jobs.”
About the orphanage
The orphanage helps vulnerable children most especially street children. They rescue street children and rehabilitate them. Among the vulnerable include the blind, the raped, disabled, those living with HIV among others.
Bashir Musaazi is a teacher and one of the directors at Buloba Royal College School and is the founder of Africa Children Heart Uganda which takes care of vulnerable children in Mpigi Buwama Sango LC1. He has been running this foundation for over ten years after taking it over from his mother.
What residents say about the projects
Charles Kai, the LC1 Sango A
I am very grateful for this opportunity granted to our community through Mr Bashir, the coordinator of the organization to look at the affairs of the children. We are grateful for the water supply and we hope you also help us with at least a clinic or hospital which will help our community. We have small clinics that lack medicine and the nearby hospital is 7 to 10km from here so if they can construct a hospital for us, we will forever be grateful but all in all, his foundation has really developed the village.
Harriet Namuyomba, a resident of Sango village
We were skeptical when the foundation first came to our village. We saw them bringing children whose whereabouts we didn’t know. We asked a lot of questions because we thought these children would spoil our children but we later realized we were wrong because they had good intentions. After renting a particular place for some good years, we decided to offer them a piece of land for their projects and I am so happy that they have constructed a bigger house that accommodates them.
Musoke William, secretary of Sango village
I am happy for Africa children’s heart foundation Uganda that is spearheaded by uncle Bashir for giving the children a hand in feeding, education, welfare and health among others. We are so grateful for him and the foundation because they helped us with the distribution of water which has been our biggest problem. Residents started getting free tap water yet previously, they used to travel long distances to fetch water from wells which also led to children getting abducted, sacrificed etc. The foundation has helped our children get sponsors and scholastic materials and are being well taken care of.
