New Vision (Kampala) - October 26, 2008
John Kasozi

The lamp of life flickered a little. Jiggers had eaten up his feet and palms. Countless flies landed and took off after sucking from areas where jiggers had brewed pus.

His skin was drawn tightly over his tiny skeletal body indicating that he was at the brink of death. He became an object fearful to look at by passerby, with his sunken eyes deep inside the skull.

Such is the horrible life Charles Tamuzadde has lived. His mother died of HIV and his father became mentally ill thereafter. Tamuzadde lived with his insane father who used to pick leftover food from garbage to feed him.

However, all that is now the past. He has been adopted by the Family Spirit Childcare Centre (FSCC), an orphanage in Masindi Town Council, which has brought a smile back on his face.

In 2002, three teachers conceived the idea of setting up a centre to look after wretched children like Tamuzadde. They belong to the Philly Lutaaya Initiative (PLI), a self-help project to care for people with HIV/AIDS.

Raymond Bukenya, Isaac Nyakoojo and Susan Angamita developed the idea after realising increase in the number of orphans in the district due to domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and effects of the Lord's Resistance Army war.

The Police passes on abandoned children to the centre after investigations.

"We love and look after the vulnerable children. We teach them dangers of HIV/AIDS and equip them with life skills through music, dance and drama," says Angamita.

The orphanage, situated one mile south of Masindi town council has a nursery and primary school. Tamuzadde is the youngest child at the centre and the eldest is 11 years.

"The countless NGOs in our communities are not a threat to the group members. Many PLI members had childcare homes, but their treatment and feeding was expensive," said Nyakoojo.

The trio who started the centre have a story to tell about their experience with HIV/AIDS and the LRA war.

Bukenya was diagnosed with HIV in 1989.

"I began taking ARVS with the help of my late sister, Beatrice Namukasa, who died last year."

Bukenya says he has thrice gone into comma. The first time, it was in 2002 when he was bedridden for two months. Bukenya's three children are all HIV-negative.

"I use local herbs from garlic and moringa to supplement on ARVS."

He says he has convinced about 80 people to test for HIV.

"My status even compelled me to start the Masindi Philly Lutaaya Initiative, a self help NGO which looks after people living with HIV. It now has 250 members," says Bukenya.

For Nyakoojo, after retiring from the army in 2000, he worked as a law enforcement officer in Masindi district.

It is during this period that he met Bukenya, who convinced him to have an HIV test.

"One of the worst moments of my life was in 2005. I was bedridden for three months and this was the period the district public service was restructured," he recalls, adding "I was called for interviews, but could not go. I lost hope of ever moving out of the hospital alive," said Nyakoojo."

But for Angamita 23, it was not HIV which hit her. LRA rebels arrested her father and torched her mother at Pabbo internally displaced persons (IDP) camp.

"I fled the camp to Kigumba in Masindi and was employed as a house girl. The family mistreated me," said Angamita.

"A kind lady, Abby Hilda, employed me and took me back to school in 2000," she says.

Angamita passed and was admitted to the Army Secondary School in Masindi barracks. After secondary school, she joined Kamurasi Teacher Training College, with the help of Philly Lutaaya Initiative.

Their centre has 71 orphans who are from different backgrounds. Half of the classroom block belongs to Nyakoojo and has the school has seven teachers.

The centre also gets support from various people like Dr. Aliga Jino of Masindi Hospital, who provides transport for the centre and conducts health education.

"It is the only orphanage I know which is registered in the district. Since orphans need parental care, I'm available whenever they need me," said Jino.

The organisation also employs its own former students. Constance Katushabe, who escaped a forced marriage, works as the centre's matron and cook.

Katushabe's father stopped paying her school fees in Senior Two. Her teacher in Kigumba Senior Secondary took over and paid for two terms in Senior Three.

"I do a lot of story-telling for the children, to keep them in the orphanage. We also do drama, music and watch television. We don't have enough beds and bedding and mosquito nets. If one child gets flu, it spreads like fire. It's hard to prevent infectious diseases," Anigmata says.

There are eight triple-decker beds. Four children sleep on each bed. Through the support from members and volunteers, the centre has acquired 50 desks.

They have a medical check up, but some children fall sick regularly. This indicates that the centre needs a resident health worker to attend to them at all times.

"Children request for new clothes and shoes, but I tell them we cannot afford them."

They need a five-acre piece of land to expand and start teaching courses like welding and fabrication, tailoring, carpentry and joinery, brick-laying, electrical and mechanical engineering.

* Medical staff and teachers are not enough to manage the growing number of orphans

* The centre lacks transport for emergency cases

* The centre lacks computers

* The centre uses paraffin when power goes off due to lack of a generator

* The children sometimes ask for their parents

* The buildings are not enough to cater for the rising number of orphans

* They are in need of a new kitchen, store, health unit and teachers' quarters.

* The centre lacks security. Thieves break into their kitchen to steal food stuff and saucepans

* The children are also at risk of being knocked down by speeding motorists due to their location along the high way

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