Ubuntu African Foundation: Great Aussie Charities You’ve Never heard of…

This week’ spotlight is on African-based Aussies hard at work providing food, clothes and medical care to children of the Ubuntu community.

Ubuntu is a grassroots project that is focused on rescuing street children living in Kisenyi slum and also helps families living in poverty in Acholi quarters. We run a feeding program that feeds over 350 children, three times per week and provides medical care, sanitary pads and clothing to those in need.

Ubuntu African Foundation’s mission:

Our mission is to reconcile children living on the streets with existing family members where possible and to build a school and a home in Kampala for abandoned and orphaned children who are unable to be re-united with relatives. Our goal is to find a home for each child living on the streets.

Where did it all begin?:

Ubuntu began with its founder, Marthias Mulumba, who grew up living on the streets of Kisenyi and was placed into a children’s home and educated and cared for. He understands the struggles that street children go through and wanted to do the same for children he sees still living on the streets today.

Lauren was working in another charitable organisation at the time and also had a heart for orphaned and abandoned children, Marthias and Lauren were introduced to each other and found their vision to be the same. They began by starting a feeding program in Kisenyi and the work has grown from there.

Why is this a problem?:

The problem of street children is a complicated one. Sometimes children are orphaned when a parent, or both parents die, or they run away from home due to extreme family violence often linked to poverty.

The family unit is not respected, and fathers fail at providing for their families often abandoning their wives and children. In Acholi quarters families were displaced from their homes due to the Lord’s resistance army rebellion. They now live in extreme poverty in the slums in Kampala, unable to go home due to continuous conflict and unrest.

A day in the life at Ubuntu:

On the ground in Uganda, Marthias is usually in the slums talking to people and looking out for the children living there. We run a feeding program and feed over 350 people, three times per week. We also provide clothing, sanitary pads and emergency care for the children and families.

Where possible we reconcile children with living relatives by providing medical care and taking them home, and finding sponsors to enable them to go to school. We are one year old, but our goal is to purchase land and build a home and school for orphaned street children in the near future. The home will provide rehabilitation and be a base for reconciling children with suitable family members. We aim to open a community centre to provide english lesson and vocational training for the older children.

Impact Story:

We found a child laying in the dirt of Kisenyi with a cast on his leg crying. We discovered that someone had paid a little money to the hospital as he was injured in a street fight, but all they did was put a cast over his broken leg. He was in great pain. We provided the funds to have his leg operated on properly and put in a new cast. We discovered he had run away from home when his father had abandoned his mother at home, he had missed his father and gone looking for him. We found him 8 hours from home living on the streets. We were able to take him home and reconcile him with his mother and found him a sponsor.

His family is living in extreme poverty, so the funds given will help provide food for his whole family and enable him to start school.

What do you do with your donations?:

Our donations go towards our feeding program in Kisenyi, medical care, sanitary pads, clothing. We also send 7 children to school, run a soccer program in Achoi quarters (we have a boys team and a girls team) and support a group of ladies making paper bead jewellery in Acholi quarters. We also provide sewing machines and vocational training, and aim to expand our training by purchasing a welding shop.

Are you Tax Deductible in Australia?: Yes

Any upcoming events or need for additional support?:

We have children up for sponsorship on our website and we also have a need for people partner with our feeding program by donating on a monthly basis. We are in need of everything all the time as we provide emergency care.

Our biggest fundraising goal at the moment is to buy 3 hectares of land in Uganda and to dig a well so we can start farming the land and building the home.

Check out more on the Ubuntu Website: www.ubuntuaf.org

Or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbuntuAfricanF/