Norah Nasasira’s story.

My name is Norah Nasasira, I am in Primary Seven at Munyonyo Primary School and I stay at Kyamuwendo Children’s Home-Buziga, Kampala.

I am an orphan, my dad died of HIV/AIDS when I was very young and left the three of us and our mother alone. We were staying at Kyankwanzi (now district) our father’s village. When our dad passed on, our relatives chased us away saying our mum was responsible for our dad’s death. We were chased away from our land and our property destroyed, it was only after another uncle intervened and offered us some piece of land to till but on conditions. The condition was that my mother was to accept to be his second wife, and for the sake of our upbringing our peasant mother accepted and later gave birth to other three of my siblings to make six of us now.  He later also chased us away from his land and destroyed everything that we had planted in the gardens.

We had to leave the place and depended on handouts from people who knew our condition. Life was so hard and we had to find a way of surviving but with no piece of land to till or leave on it was a hopeless life. Life became even harder and we had to find a way of going to stay with our poor maternal grandmother in Rwanda. She was too poor and life was not any better, we had all dropped out school and here we were, looking at her to help but she couldn’t we left and came back to the streets of Kampala and that is where we lived.

Leaving on handouts was also not easy and this became technically impossible, it was only when some concerned person told member s of Another life International that’s when they came to our rescue and took us in their Children’s home called Kyamuwendo Children’s Home. Life has been a little better with less worries and more hope for a better future.

Much as the life is little bit better now, the organisation is self-funded by the founders who are majorly students in University, and this means its dependent on friends and well-wishers so in case of fund constraints it can take us back to square one.  We however live by faith and pray that some good Samaritans and well-wishers will join and support the organisation to realize its dream of seeing me and other children at this home succeed in achieving their dreams. I have been able to meet 20 more people at the home since I came in 2009, and I hope to be what I want to be in the future by the grace of God.

I want to be a lawyer and bring to an end the misery that comes with mistreatment of widows, children and the general abuse of human rights. I can only realise this dream with a good educational background and hard work. I love Kyamuwendo Children’s Home and I pray they get supported by other well-wishers and sponsors to help them help many children fulfill their dreams and thus develop Africa and the world at large.

As told to:

Ronald Ochoo       Freelance writer, Youth Advisor-YHRC (Youth Health and Rights Coalition)-U.S.A, LLB-Student-Uganda Christian University-Mukono, Uganda.