Something Wonderful

In 2011 I volunteered in Uganda for 4 months in a small village called Kigandalo with 4 locals. During my time in the village 2 babies were left with the family I stayed with.
The first baby came to us because its mother was in hospital with aids. She died and a week later the baby became sick and died.
The second child was meant to be with us for 2 weeks but it was 5 months before his mother came back from him. These were the first 2 things that happened and have really stuck with me.

Being someone who works with children for a living I couldnt help but wonder what I could do. I feel so lucky to have lived in the small remote village with these amazing people. Instead of asking myself why I would do something to help, I asked why not.

In September 2012 I visited Uganda again for 2 weeks with a mission to find out as much as I could about opening a home for vulnerable, misplaced or orphaned babies. I visited orphanages, street homes and a primary school run by one of my Ugandan volunteer partners. We spoke about what they could do with international assistance and among many things, one of them was to provide care for the youngest in their village. So came the Something Wonderful Babies Home project.

Something Wonderful Babies Home will aim to provide short and long term care for babies from birth to 6 years in Uganda. We will primarily support families in the Mayuge district and will operate in conjunction with Mpakirema Day and Boarding Primary and Nursery, Mayuge. This school educates and provides accomodation for children age 3 years to primary 4. Something Wonderful Babies Home will help to extend their work caring for babies from birth and in time build classrooms for primary 5 and 6. At this stage Mpakirema is funded through the small number of 'day' students who are able to pay fees and the founders themselves.