Gladys Kalibbala
7 July 2008
Kampala — A little girl with saliva oozing out of her mouth, crawls up and curls on a woman's lap. The woman cuddles the girl as she murmurs something. The girl is trying to say 'maama' with difficulty.
Although the girl has speech problems, the two start singing and the girl claps excitedly, obviously enjoying herself.
The seven-year-old girl, Gloria Namusoke, is mentally retarded. The woman, Victoria Nalongo Namusisi, the former resident district commissioner of Mpigi, confesses she had always longed for a large family and she loves children.
In Sunrise Children's Village, Nalugala in Wakiso district, Namusisi has found her lifelong desire - to live and to give, to share the little she has with the most disadvantaged of society.
The home looks after 20 girls and 29 boys, each with a unique heart-rending story.
Namusoke was given to Namusisi through court in 2002. The girl had been dumped at Katwe-Kinyoro in Kampala by drunken parents.
Namusisi says the girl, who was malnourished, could not walk until she took her in and got a psychotherapist to help her. Namusoke now walks with difficulty.
Evelyn Akullo, a Primary Three pupil, was among the people who escaped death in February 2004 when the Lord's Resistance Army rebels set ablaze Barlonyo displaced people's camp in Lira district. Many people died in the fire, which left over 400 huts burnt.
Akullo, who was severely burnt, was admitted to Lira Hospital. When Namusisi visited the hospital after about a month, she found Akullo's head rotting. She picked Akullo up with her mother, sister and brother who were also burnt, and brought them to Mulago Hospital in Kampala.
Akullo took long to recover, but when she did, she was enrolled at Sunrise Children's Village. When Akullo's mother got better, she returned to Lira, leaving her children at Sunrise. They go to Kennedy Primary School in Namulanda.
Other children at the home go to different schools. For example, nine-year-old Ronald Abong, goes to Samaritan Primary School in Namugongo along with five other children.
Abong was rescued on July 31, 2003, from Starch Factory Camp in Lira after his parents were shot dead by the rebels.
"He was in a bad state and I rushed him to Mulago Hospital," Namusisi recalls.
The doctors told her that cells around the boy's head had weakened.
However, after intensive treatment, Abong recovered although it took three months for his hair to grow back.
On Namusisi's next visit to Lira in October, 2003, the elders of the camp demanded that Abong's body be returned for burial.
Namusisi, who had gone with the boy, showed him to the elders, but none of them believed her.
The elders insisted that Abong must have died on the way to Kampala. Namusisi was only saved when Abong recognised his sister and brother and called out their names.
The two had gone to Lira town to look for food the day Namusisi took Abong away. Namusisi also brought Abong's siblings to Kampala.
The brother, Gustano Okello, is a Primary Four pupil at Kisubi Boys' School while the sister, Vicky Adello, is in P.3 at Kennedy Primary School.
Okello says before Namusisi took Abong away, they used to scavenge garbage skips for left-overs.
Jackie Nanyondo, 9, a Primary Four pupil at Samaritan Primary School, was rescued in April, 2000 from Kisenyi where she was living with a drunken man, identified as Katongole, after the death of her mother.
Neighbours in Kisenyi say Katongole used to kick the young girl around the dirty room whenever he came back from his drinking sprees. As a result, Nanyondo developed an ear problem. Her ears produce a discharge.
Julie Kirabo Kambedha, whom Namusisi rescued only six hours after she was born, is the most pampered girl in the home. She is now in P.1 at Samaritan Primary School.
Kirabo's mother, who hailed from Busoga, became pregnant while in S.2 and dropped out of school. The boy responsible for her pregnancy had no job and only survived on casual work.
The young mother never attended any antenatal clinic. When the time came for her to give birth, she was assisted by a traditional birth attendant. After giving birth on May 19, 2001, she bled to death.
When Namusisi learnt of the incident, she rushed to take care of the baby. "I was, however, shocked when, after the burial, no family member came to check on the baby," Namusisi says. She used to put a milk bottle under her breast at night for Kirabo to suckle.
She later developed a lump in her breast, which medical workers suspected was cancerous. However, they later discovered that when she would bottle feed Kirabo, she would fondle her breasts, which led to the formation of milk in them, which later developed into a lump.
One big happy family
Namusisi says after starting Sunrise Children's Village, she had to change her will. "All the 49 children have become part of my family and most of them will be buried where I will be laid to rest. Which family in Buganda can accept to bury non-family members in their ancestral grounds?"
She explains that her new family has people of all tribes and this has forced her to prepare a place for them in her own home.
Namusisi bought land for the children's home, where she has already constructed dormitories for boys and girls. She also plans to build a school for them if funds are available.
"We need a school for them in order to minimise the money spent on school fees. It is expensive to cater for all their needs," she says.
Namusisi had to sell her vehicle, a Pajero, to embark on the project. "I realised I was only using it to travel to Kampala about twice a week, yet I had to pay the driver a monthly salary, which was not viable."
Namusisi says only 12 of the 49 children have sponsors. These are friends who visit the home and pick whichever child they want to help. The rest of the group is assisted by her family members, especially her own children who live in London.
Whenever she goes to London, Namusisi's first-born daughter, who is doing a Master's degree, sends clothes to Kirabo.
Her son, Raphael Onyango, a lawyer, also contributes to the home, while her last-born, Angela Nakato, is still a student at Kampala International University.
Namusisi separated with her husband when their children were still young.
Many of her children have been traumatised and she is trying to make their life comfortable by giving them proper education and basic needs although she has to work extra hard to achieve this.
Namusisi also grows maize, beans, cassava and potatoes which she uses to feed the children and for sale.
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