My husband left me for caring for vulnerable children

At 60 years, she would be taking care of her grandchildren. But Hillary Basereka spends most of the time looking after vulnerable and sickly children abandoned by their parents.
This is a job that Basereka, a tailor and former local council vice chairperson Makerere I Parish, Kawempe Division adopted after suffering years of domestic violence.
“Because of the situation I went through, in 2002, I decided to be the voice for the unprivileged children,” recalls Basereka.

How she started
Basereka explains: “My husband did not have the love for children, including our own biological children. In the 1990s, because of the suffering, I was compelled to take two of my children to Sanyu Babies Home but on getting there, I was advised to start an income generating activity.”
She says in 2001 while serving as vice chairperson of Mukwenda Zone LC 1, Makerere I Parish in Kawempe Division, she would receive cases of orphaned and abandoned children in the area whom she and other LC members would forward to police for further management due to lack of facilities to help them.
“Children are thrown in dustbins; others are abandoned in houses and tortured, which forces some to disappear from their families. We would get abandoned and vulnerable children who needed help hence the desire to have better place for them. In June 2011, we started to solicit for sympathisers, friends and funders who helped us to start renting a house to take care of children,” she explains.

Basereka says that her work was strengthened by a training by Raising Voices in which she acquired skills of looking after vulnerable children thereby compelling her to abandon her job as a tailor to embark on child caregiving.
“After training, I started working with police to rescue and refer the vulnerable children. It was not an easy job because it was this work that forced my husband to abandon me as he kept on saying he does not want a refugee centre in his home. Eventually, I was also forced out of the marriage and home and rented a house to start the Foundation for God’s Mercy Children’s Home,” she says.

Spreading out
Basereka said she survived on handouts but was determined to give those hurting shelter. Fast forward, she now has 15 children under her care aged between two months and 12 years. Basereka says through working with friends and sympathisers, she has since moved from a rented house to a permanent home she constructed.
“With the help of God and advocacy, I have been able to get support from churches and families which I used to develop my plot. The plot was part of the settlement from the divorce,” smiles Basereka who works with five volunteers.

It is worth it
She explains: “I have the spirit of caring for the vulnerable children whom I gathered at home. This forced me to abandon my work as a tailor because I needed more time to look after these children.”
Basereka narrates that the number of children overwhelmed her husband because at times she would share her bed with the children which caused disagreements in her family.
Basereka believes God allowed that to happen so that she give hope to others. She says that after the husband left the home, the family survived on ‘good Samaritans’ who educated her children, two of whom now study abroad and one is at Makerere University.

Work
“My work is about rescuing the children who are suffering, rehabilitate them and look for their parents or foster families and sometimes refer them because we are required by law not to stay with these children for more than five years. In the process, we have taken care of more than 250 children,” says Basereka adding that her biological children are living independently.
She says that part of the income is money generated from her sewing machine to feed the children, cloth them and meet operational costs.
“This is a calling that comes with challenges but my pride is to see a child who was once badly off able to stand and play. Many can speak English which I cannot speak and they all call me jjajja (grandmother)” she shares.
Robert Oketcho, a social worker at the home says many of children are found without any identity and they name them while others are abandoned with name tags.

“Each child has a unique story. Although most of the children are of school going age, not all of them are able to attend school due to lack of school fees. We have no guaranteed funder but with support from communities, we are able to push on,” he says.
She says her experiences have drawn her close to God and she has become Born Again. “In Our free time, I teach these children to pray and praise God because we are surviving by the grace of God. Part of our work is supported by churches and individuals from various churches,” says Basereka, adding that she intends to start a school and a clinic for children.
Basereka says; “We are overwhelmed by the number of children we receive and the conditions we find them in yet we do not have a stable source of funds.”

Voices
Robert Oketcho, a social worker says: “It is a good thing to help children who are the future leaders. I was attracted by Jjajja (Basereka)’s work while I was in school and I feel good to be part of this job contributing to the wellbeing of the country.”
Dotan Hameiri, the administration manager at SBI says: “As part of our Social Corporate Responsibility, the staff and management of SBI is privileged to be part of Foundation for God’s Mercy Children’s Home by providing necessities thereby creating a smile on the faces of poor children. The public needs to emulate this love for children and the work done by the foundation.”

Support

Foundation for God’s Mercy Children’s work has attracted five volunteers and a social worker. It was also one of the three charity organisations that received support from SBI/International Holdings AG (Uganda) at the commemoration of Good Deeds Day in Kawempe. Good Deeds Day is an annual celebration that unites more than 60 countries around the world in doing good deeds.
Dotan Hameiri, the administration manager at SBI says their staff world over, choose to volunteer and help others, putting into practice the simple idea that “every single person can do something good, be it large or small”. He adds that the initiative seeks to improve the lives of others and positively change the world.
Basereka describes the support as an expression of love. She says; “In fulfilling its promise, SBI has become part of our change agents by carrying out renovation of the home, donating household, scholary and play items.”

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