25-year-old educating and raising orphans in Bwaise

Two-year-old Jalia joyfully runs to welcome me when I get to Vision Orphanage in Kimumbasa zone, Bwaise. She has been busy playing with friends - eight or so - both boys and girls, jumping around in one circle and constantly breaking into a fit of giggles—a game to which I can’t place a name.
On seeing me, the game momentarily stops as the rest of the children get a bit shy, cautious of the presence of a stranger. But not baby Jalia. She comes trudging towards me and the moment I open my arms up in a welcoming gesture, she reaches out and jumps right in. She does so in such carefree fashion she reminds you of the raw honesty and candidness children are blessed with—simply admirable.
She is a joy to watch, just like all the other children in this facility; cheerful and full of life. But if you are inquisitive enough to pry into how each of these beautiful faces came under the care of this babies’ home, the stories you get send a chill down your spine.
Some have lost parents, which is unfortunate but understandable. Sadly, however, most children have simply been abandoned by defeated parents. Baby Jalia is one of such cases. It is her mother that brought her to the facility and begged that she be taken in after realizing she had no means to provide for her own baby. And there are many children of this kind. It is a representation of the biting poverty that haunts Bwaise and many other slums around Kampala, the kind of poverty that forces loving parents to give up their children instead of watching them starve in their arms.
It is with such heartbreaking knowledge at the back of his mind that 25-year-old Syril Kizza was inspired to open up Vision orphanage as a way of giving a hand to all the orphaned and needy children in the slum areas.
“Having been born here in Bwaise, I have always been well aware of the orphaned and neglected children in the slum communities. I have grown up seeing many cases of such children grow to be a nuisance to society just because they never got the necessary care, support and guidance growing up. That is why it had always been my life’s mission to open up an orphanage one day and give a home to the children who do not have one. That is why I started this orphanage,” Kizza explains.

A rough beginning

To Kizza, it had been a long-nursed dream to take centre stage in helping the orphaned and neglected children in slums. Unfortunately though, the lack of the right financial backing to run such a project had always kept him at bay. But in July 2012, Kizza decided he was not going to wait until he becomes a millionaire to begin his good work, so he hit the ground running.
“I had just left university and all I had then was a small kiosk that I operated right here in Bwaise market. Clearly, I did not have enough money but every time I walked around here in Bwaise, all I saw were children, who badly needed my help. So I made up my mind not to wait for the perfect time. I had to begin right there, right then.” Kizza narrates.
With minimal savings from his kiosk and with the support of a few dedicated friends, fellow youths from Bwaise, Kizza formed an organization, Vision for Vunerable Children Community Foundation (VIVCCOM Foundation). The organisation was to be the umbrella under which all the people dedicated to his cause were to be united, a support and mobilization platform of sorts. It is under this organization that he would formally start his work of helping children.

Beating the odds

Reaching Vision Orphanage, it does not take much to realise the life here is not one of luxury. The orphanage is made up of six rooms of fair size. As Kizza lets me know, he pays Shs40,000 in rent for every room, which is the most one is supposed to pay for a room of such quality—old walls that have not had the feel of paint in decades, and equally old corrugated sheets that have now been greatly nibbled at by rust. There is a small kitchen in one corner, and a water pump right in the middle of the courtyard.
It is a very small courtyard, barely 10 metres wide, which leaves no space for the youngsters to play. Not the ideal environment by many standards. But despite all the flaws around here, 57 children call this place home. It is better than the street, which is where all these children would be if Vision orphanage was not up and running. And despite the fact that the place is materially lacking, the children seem really happy.
Six-year-old Sumaya Nabisere, who was brought to the orphanage after her mother and sole guardian suffered a permanent mental illness, does not remember much of her life before being brought to the facility. All she really remembers is living here and as she lets me know in that pure and innocent childish bravado, her home is the best. “I love my home because I have many brothers and many sisters. Also, we eat well and we always play.”
Nabisere’s sentiments are shared by all the other children I talk to, something 18-year-old Ann Mugaga Mwanje, a VIVCCOM Foundation member and one of the care-takers at the orphanage, attributes to the care the children are given.
“It’s the love,” Mwanje quips. “What children really need is to be loved and cared for. We may not have much to give. During the tough times we even have porridge for supper. But at the end of the day our children are happy because at least they belong where they are needed, looked after and generally loved.”
VIVCCOM Foundation owns a crafts shop where they sell African craft like sandals, shoes, caps and kitenge wear. The shop is the main source of income for the support of the orphanage. Though the communities around have been very instrumental in supporting the orphanage too. People from the slum itself bring food stuffs, groceries like soap, sugar and salt. They also bring clothes and beddings for the children. It can never be enough but at least with that, the orphanage has kept afloat and kept a smile on the children’s faces.

Providing an education too

For Kizza however, there can never be much to smile about if these children are not getting an education, which is why he knows that a lot more has to be done.
“I want to give these children a future too.” A determined Kizza who also takes pride in being referred to as the father to all the 57 children in the facility quips. “I want them to grow into self-reliant and productive citizens of this country. And there is no better way to see to that than to give them an education. Nelson Mandela, who is my personal hero and role model once said that the best gift you can ever give to anyone is an education. And honestly I couldn’t agree more.”
Kizza must have been reading from his hero’s notes when in June 2013, a year after starting the orphanage, he opened up a primary school, Timeness Infant School, which is located in Nabweru, Wakiso District, not too far away from Vision Orphanage.
It was his friend Rogers Kisinde who assisted in providing the necessary funds to open up the school. As Kizza explains, “Kisinde is a childhood friend. We grew up together in Bwaise. He was on ‘Kyeyo’ in the US by the time I opened the orpahanage though I always told him about the good job I was doing back home. When he came back I told him about my plans of opening up a school for the kids at the orphanage to get an education and he really wanted to help the cause too. He did not have much money but offered the savings he had garnered abroad to start the school. In fact, being a trained teacher himself, he is our school director.”
Timeness infant school runs from primary one to five. It is of a humble setting. The classes are made of wood and are very small due to the lack of sufficient funds and space for larger facilities. But it is a center of education for many children.
The school now has 45 pupils, most of whom are from the orphanage with a few other children from the surrounding communities incorporated. The pupils do not pay any school fees.
“We have been blessed with a number of professional teachers who basically volunteer their services. But even then these are somewhat few so we are always in need of more teachers. But we are managing. The children are getting a decent education and we are looking to pushing from P.5 to cater for children up to Primary Seven. That is the goal at the moment.” Kisinde explains.

Licensing
On whether the orphanage has a licence, Kizza says:
“Our organisation is registered under KCCA. We have a certificate, which normally runs for one year. As required, we always submit monthly activity reports to the probation office in Kawempe. The provisional officers always come to check on us every after three months to basically inspect the hygiene standards and general welfare of our children. It is basing on our reports and the inspection findings that our certificate gets to be renewed for another year. It is that serious.”
With this kind of work, Kizza and the fellow youths under the VIVCCOM Foundation are clearly leaving their mark on the sands of time and proving once more that one need not have so much to greatly change the lives of those around them.

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