Christine Alupol and Baby Peter Okello
Peter Okello is only nine months old which makes him the youngest of the seven babies living at Dwelling Places’ Transitional Rehabilitation Home. He was born to his mother Christine Alupol, a 19-year-old former street beggar.

Christine left her home in Amuria district in 2006 and ended up on the streets of Kampala begging for basic necessities to live. She left her home because her uncle was trying to force her into early marriage but her passion was to attend school, get a job and be able to support her mother. “I used to come and beg on the streets and then go back home in the slum where I lived with a friend,” says Christine.

Dwelling Places found Christine on the side of the road and offered to rescue her from the streets. She was enrolled into boarding school and her school fees and requirements were paid for. Within a few months after being taken to school nurses discovered Christine was pregnant. “While on the streets, we (girls) are forced into sex for survival. In most cases, begging doesn’t earn us enough money to look after our families and ourselves. We therefore sleep with men who give us money,” says Christine.

In April 2007 Christine gave birth to a healthy baby boy and named him Peter Okello. “I like the name Peter because it’s from the Bible. I named him Okello after my own father,” says Christine. Christine currently attends a tailoring course at Bbira Vocational school while baby Peter stays in the care of Dwelling Places in the babies home. Peter is not only receiving basic necessities but he is also benefiting from the love of the care takers at Dwelling Places. Christine’s prayer is to finish vocational school, get a job and be able to live independently with baby Peter. Christine concludes by saying, “Dwelling Places has given me and my son Peter the chance at having a bright future.”

From the cold streets to a warm home- Paul Lorwa
My name is Paul Lorwa and I am an orphan who comes from a family of four. When I was a little boy, two things changed my life: family friends took my elder brother and sister away and my mother died on Christmas day! After the death of my mother, my Father remained to care for me and my one sister. We lived in the Eastern part of Uganda in a town called Mbale. My father used to push a cart in Mbale town to earn a living. He earned so little money that he couldn’t afford to look after us or even pay rent for the hut we lived in. My sister resorted to picking potatoes in market places in order for us to survive.

In 1998 while she picked potatoes, workers of a nearby children’s organization called her and asked her why she wasn’t in school. They decided to pay for her education upon hearing her story. This left me alone with my father. Young as I was I had to start looking after myself; for my father was an irresponsible alcoholic who didn’t care about me. I started by picking potatoes like my sister but later resorted to street begging. Soon my father fell sick and was diagnosed with HIV. My sister dropped out of school to look for a job in order to help my father. But father’s health worsened. He was later found dead under a big tree with some parts of his body having been eaten by vultures. The remaining parts were taken for burial and I was taken to a boarding school by the children’s organization that had helped my sister. It was the worst day of my life.

But even with education sponsorship, life was so hard that I came to Kampala where I once again turned into a beggar. It’s here that I met Auntie Rita Nkemba of Dwelling Places and life has never been the same again.

Today, I am in Senior Four at Mengo Senior School, one of the best schools in Uganda. I lived at the Dwelling Places Transitional Rehabilitation Home until January 2008 when I was exited into independent living. While at the home, I had friends, a loving family, my own bed and clothes. We had friendship club and family time where we spent quality time as a family, expressed our feelings to the staff, played games and did Bible study. Because of this love and knowledge that there was someone above who cared about me, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Today although I am no longer in the home, I am comforted by the fact that I am not alone. Dwelling Places is still my family. I am guided and strengthened by the Bible teachings I got back then.

Loum Esther
My name is Loum Esther Lokwakor and I am 14 years old. I come from the Northern part of Uganda in a place called Karamoja. At a very young age, my father abandoned my family. My mother was very poor and could not look after us. She decided to bring us to the streets of Kampala to beg for survival. Life was just too hard and during this time six of my sisters and one brother died. I lost so much of my family because of the streets.

We had no food, no clean water, no house and no beds. We used to get our food from dustbins and sleep on the verandah at night, with boxes as our blankets. We had never attended school. No one loved a Karamojong, no one welcomed us.

Because we were so poor, I was forced to look for a job in one of the slums of Kampala at 10 years old. I used to serve food in a local restaurant for little pay. It was during this time that my mother gave birth to triplets. Mother used to drag the babies on the streets begging for money. The cold streets soon made the babies sick and two of them died.

Many more of us would have died but thanks to Aunt Rita from Dwelling Places we are alive. She managed to rescue all of us from the streets including the last triplet Opio. Opio is such a beautiful young boy now. We have since found a new living. We go to school, eat very well, and have our own beds with mattress, bed sheets and blankets. I am now in Primary Seven and I would like to be a doctor in future. All of this was given to us from the care of Dwelling Places.

Reaching out to the Karamojongs
It is one of the driest areas in Uganda. The people are so poor and the land very insecure. It is the Karamoja region. Karamoja is located in the northeastern part of Uganda. It is a day’s drive from Uganda’s capital city Kampala. Most of Karamoja’s inhabitants live in huts with their land so dry that agriculture is almost impossible. For this reason, the Karamojongs have been faced with famine and drought for hundreds of years.

Among the Karamojongs, some are farmers while others are nomadic pastoralists. The region is filled with insecurity caused by rampant cattle raids by the nomadic pastoralists.
During these cattle raids many people, especially women and children, are killed. In an effort to bring peace in the region, the Ugandan government has been carrying out disarmament programs but the Karamojongs have vehemently resisted the move.

Clashes between the Karamojong warriors and government coupled with poverty have forced many families to flee the region.

In August 2006, there were more than 1000 Karamojong children and mothers on the streets of Kampala. They had no food, no water, and no place to call home. They depended on begging for survival. Many of the children were malnourished and had scabies on their bodies. They slept on the floor, or sometimes in old abandoned houses.

Dwelling Places saw the vulnerability and desperation of these people and decided to help. We formed The Heralds Initiative Project (THIP) whose aim is to reach out to the people of Karamoja. Even after their removal from the streets and subsequent resettlement back home, we continue to support them through a local Karamoja Community Based Organization called Bokora Initiative for Sustainable Resettlement Program (BOKORA).

At the start of the project, we were able to rescue 117 children but the numbers have since risen to 315! We provide them with free medical care, food, and education for the children.

Today, the numbers have decreased in Kampala city because of Government’s resettlement strategy but the causes of these people’s presence on the streets have not been solved and until they are we will have many more children to help protect and rescue.