Annemarie:
A little boy glances up at me as I pick my way carefully along the crowded walkway between houses. He and his sister are squatting on the ground doing the washing up. A charming scene until you pan your vision out to take in the open sewer nearby. My guide hurries us along, past an unlikely ‘House of Pain’ gym; people shelling peas and husking corn cobs outside their homes; pots on the boil on charcoal fires; chickens running, babies wailing as they are scooped up by their mothers and all the time we’re followed by an increasing crowd of fascinated youngsters. Some are walking along behind, others reaching out to touch me, and the brave ones are skipping ahead anticipating our destination. This is not an unprecedented visit, I am with Ivan Kakembo an ex professional footballer who now CEO of SC Villa, a successful Ugandan team, a Director of the Ugandan Youth Soccer Academy but is also the founder of a charity supporting homeless street orphans from Kampala’s slums.
We arrive at a doorway and are welcomed inside by a vital young woman called Jane Siyango. It’s cosy, no more than 2m square; a curtain separates the sleeping area from the daytime space, which is completely dominated by a large shelving unit and a big easy chair. It’s spic and span even though the floor is earth and the walls and ceiling are grain sacks. A stool is drawn up for me to sit on and we chat about Jane’s role as the social visitor for the scheme as well as a mum with a foster daughter now attending the Soccer Academy.
A young girl is hopping about impatiently, keen to take us to see her foster mum too, so Jane leads us back through the maze of homes and the detritus of everyday slum living. We find our next mum selling vegetables from a seat by the window in her tiny home. It’s a business the charity has supported her in setting up. For some they make microloans and others they provide equipment such as sewing machines, all to help the families create some of their own income. Children crowd round to peer inside as we take a picture of her with her foster daughter, Lydia.
The children often come from the troubled north east of Uganda, seeking their fortunes in the city only to find there’s no work, nowhere to stay and all too often people prepared to exploit them. Ivan’s charity helps with an Academy place where the children board in term time, studying in the week and playing football on Saturdays. At the same time they find parents in the slums who will support them and take them in at weekends and in holidays. The charity pays the families a small allowance to do this.
We walk on to our next home where this mum smiles proudly as we talk to her son, Ibrahim, who really is making a lot of progress in the football world and may get a club position. Some children are the natural offspring, others fostered. None are selected by the charity they have to want to join so must approach the Academy and ask for a place. This often happens after a football practice session, it’s the sport that draws them in although obviously they gain a home and an education as much as anything.
The charity was started by Ivan and his brother, also a football player, a couple of years ago and they now support around 150 youngsters. The football clubs are not wealthy enough to help out and government doesn’t want to know so most support comes from individual donations. Each child can be sponsored for around £30 a month. It seems like a tiny amount to make such a difference.
If anyone reading this is interested in knowing more here's a link to the soccer academy for more details.
As I leave and cross the road we’re in university campus territory – right next to the slum. Some of the mums and children come to the car park to say goodbye. I ask Lydia and yes, she says, she would like to go to university, she wants to be a teacher. I believe she’ll make it.
As I get into the car I realise that despite the abject poverty I have witnessed, throughout my visit not one person has asked me for money or begged. Humbling stuff…
