How it startet
From the visit to Uganda in 2010. From left: James wife Mable Kyeresire, James Mugobansonga and Olav Solheim.
Local families who cares
We are working to create involvement in emergency and relief work for children at five centers in Uganda. The centers got started by Bishop James Mugobansonga and his wife took in orphans in their home, which motivated members of their congregation to do the same. This created a network of nursing families for homeless and / or disadvantaged children, and after some time organized education was based on voluntary efforts from teachers in the local community.
We raise funds and resources for building schools and orphanages at five locations in Uganda. We help to support caregivers for orphaned / disadvantaged children, collecting funds to provide schooling for these and local children, in five regions.
Bishop James (left in photo) is the acting general manager of HUB in Uganda, and is responsible for ensuring the proper use of funds. By being involved in each purchase and transaction, he documents both purchases and completed work with photos and attachments. The rest of the board consists of the center managers, who also document the use of allocated funds and food. James' wife (no. two from left) is secretary and inspector on behalf of us. A job that frees the other for office work, and she prepares copies sent HUB-Norway.
HUB-Norway, in these five years, has collaborated with other organizations in a number of fields. For example to compare prices of purchased goods. Till today, we have not found anything to criticize in our controls, nor did we fear, when James has taken care of orphans for over 35 years, and even took five orphans as members of their own family of 12 people.
To give a little insight into the sacrifice of those who are affiliated with HUB's work in Uganda, I will present now the deceased leader at Center 2. She was a widow, leader of Center 2, and had taken 15 orphans in her two-bedroom little house. They lay on the floor, with only a pair of two small mattresses when I visited them.
The local board
The widow at Senter 2
Help Uganda's Children (HUB) started in 2010 by Olav Solheim, to help bishop James Mugobansonga with the work to provide disabled children with safety, food, clothes and schooling.
James has for a long time engaged local families to contribute privately to family care for over 180 orphaned or disadvantaged children. At centers 1 and 3 they have succeeded in renting premises for teaching and daily stays for both these and local children who pay for schooling. Previously, teachers were heavily underpaid and participated for creative reasons. Now the state has set a minimum wage, which is many times higher and which the HUB has trouble covering. As of today, we have caused poor economy had to rudusize the number of children to 170, 100 girls and 70 boys.
The offer to the children has nevertheless worked very well as a result of a fantastic effort from volunteers in the locals! The capacity is clearly limited because teacher wages have risen and the number of teachers has to be reduced. Rented classrooms are expensive, so Center 1 had to build temporary shelters to take care of teaching.
Here comes HUBSs work involves working towards ensuring self-owned land and buildings for each of the centers, and the goal of being able to pay the teachers. We want to expand the offer of education, both to the more disadvantaged, and for more local children who pay for schooling. Today, we have developed four large classrooms with room for around 70 children.
30.04.2015 - Olav Solheim
From the visit to Uganda in 2010. The board for HUB-Uganda together with the manager for HUB-Norge.
This widow gave HUB the property to build the Center 2 buildings. After she had moved into these buildings with the children, a sad accident happened. One day she was by the river and had to carry water to the center, she fell against the stones on the shore and died.
This sacrifice is what I have met in Uganda and it is with gratitude that I as a leader is allowed to be a link between supporters in the north and the recipients of Uganda.
30.04.2015 - Olav Solheim
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