Ssenvuma Memorial Home Care Centre
A home, a school and a healing centre in one compound — education, shelter and protection for orphans and vulnerable children in Kasanje and Bussi.
Late Ssenvuma Ilumba began in 2006 by sheltering seven families of widows with children affected by HIV/AIDS and disabilities. He died in 2007, leaving them homeless again. In 2020 his grandson, Ssekajja Lawrence, revived the dream in Byangiri village as a youth-led volunteer initiative. Today our children still sleep in grass-thatched huts, walk hours to school and have no one to protect them. The Home Care Centre answers all three needs at once: a nursery and primary school, an orphanage home, and a psychosocial healing centre with a Teacher, a Matron and a Counsellor under one roof. It will be the first facility in Kasanje and Bussi where an orphan can receive education, shelter and protection in one compound — honouring the seven families Late Ilumba protected.
The challenge
Bussi Sub-county has only 23 primary schools — 7 government and 16 private — for more than 20 islands, and children paddle canoes to school. National primary dropout stands at 45%, and 42.8% of pupils who start P1 never finish P7 (46.4% for girls). The 2024 UBOS OVC Monograph found 28.6% of male and 26.7% of female orphans aged 6-17 have never been to school; only about 54% of orphans are in school against 71.5% of non-orphans. Uganda has 2.9 million orphans, 13% of all children. In Kasanje Town Council, 71.4% of parishes report child battering and neglect and 71.4% report child marriages. Orphaned children are 9.5% more likely to be married as children, against 6.1% for non-orphans. Bussi has only 20% safe water coverage.
Our expectation
- check_circleNursery and primary classes inside the home, with free scholastic materials and a trained Teacher, so orphans, children living positively and children with disabilities learn where they sleep
- check_circleFamily-style dormitory accommodation for up to 500 OVCs with a dedicated Matron — a roof, a mattress, clean water and daily care
- check_circleFull-time Counsellor providing trauma healing for children who lost parents to HIV
- check_circleProtection from child labour on fishing boats, early marriage and neglect, plus life skills and spiritual support
- check_circleWater harvesting and improved latrines for the whole compound
Results
Phase 1 is where we need help now: 7 classrooms, 3 dormitories for 500 children, a counselling room, and a latrine block with water harvesting. From seven families in 2006 to a home for hundreds tomorrow — we are not just building walls; we are restoring hope where it was lost in 2007.
At a glance
Location: Byangiri village, Kasanje, Wakiso District
Community served: Orphans and vulnerable children, teenage mothers and widow-headed families in Kasanje and Bussi Islands
Funding: Phase 1: 7 classrooms, 3 dormitories (500 children), counselling room, latrine block with water harvesting.
$0 raised of $300,000