Vumbula Uganda Youth Home

Vumbula Uganda Youth Home, led by Ssenyange Robert and Kizza Lovincer, provides orphaned and vulnerable children with a safe and loving home while supporting their growth in mind, body and spirit. In addition to food and shelter, the children receive an education and the encouragement they need to pursue their dreams.

World Youth Horizons has helped purchase land and build a permanent home for the children, allowing them to move out of their rented house and into a place of their own. The new property includes electricity, running water, showers, toilets and a secure fence. WYH has also supported the children with school fees, beds, shoes, clothing, toothbrushes and other daily necessities.

To help Vumbula become more self-sustaining, World Youth Horizons also funded a pig farm and goat farm and helped plant crops on the property. We continue to support the children’s education, health and daily care while helping Vumbula build a more secure and sustainable future.

What Vumbula Needs

We identify people and communities making a meaningful difference in children’s lives and directly support their work.

Recurring Monthly Needs

• Building and land maintenance
• Food
• Internet and phone service
• Electricity
• Animal feed
• Medical supplies
• Sanitary and hygiene supplies
• School fees, books, uniforms, and other educational supplies
• Transportation expenses

Major Projects

• Purchase Land for a Sustainable Farm: Create a permanent source of food and income through vegetable farming, livestock, and fish farming.
• Build a Bakery Program: Purchase two commercial ovens so the children can learn practical skills, bake bread for the home, and sell bread to generate ongoing income.
• Create a Community Kitchen: Build and equip a community kitchen where Vumbula can prepare nutritious meals for single mothers and children throughout the surrounding community. This will expand Vumbula’s impact beyond the home and help provide reliable food support to vulnerable families.

These projects will help Vumbula become more self-sustaining while providing the children with food security, valuable skills, and opportunities for a brighter future.

A Mother’s Love Became a Home for 45 Children

“God is good, all the time.”

My name is Ssenyange Robert. I am a Christian from Uganda, and I know what it means to be an orphan.

Before I was born, war and political conflict devastated communities throughout my country. Many people lost their lives, and countless children were left without parents. My own family was deeply affected. My grandfather and aunt were killed, leaving my mother to care for her own children as well as her sister’s children.

We had very little. My mother built us a small home from mud and tree branches and grew food so we would have something to eat. When we became sick, she treated us with herbal medicine because she could not afford to take us to a hospital.

Yet even while struggling to care for us, my mother could not ignore the suffering of other children.

She found orphans sleeping alone in the bush without food, shelter or anyone to protect them. Although she already had so little, she welcomed them into our home. She fed them, cared for them and loved them as her own.

When I was only 13 years old, my mother became very ill and passed away.

Suddenly, my sister Harriet, my brother Godfrey, the 15 children my mother had taken in, and I were left alone. Life became extremely difficult, and our fragile home was nearly falling to the ground.

Missionaries who came to our village eventually rescued us. My siblings and I were taken to their church, where we were able to attend school. Before the missionaries returned to their home countries, they placed us in the care of people who continued looking after the orphaned children.

As I grew older, I knew I needed to help support my younger brother and sister. At the orphanage, I learned practical skills and discovered that I loved repairing cars. At 17, I found work washing and repairing cars on a street in our town.

But I never forgot my mother’s heart, or where I came from.

My mother taught me to help people in need whenever I could. Most importantly, she taught me to pray, to love and serve the Lord with all my heart, and to remain truthful in everything I do.

The love she planted in me called me back home.

I returned to my village determined to help children who were suffering as I once had. At first, I could give them only a little food and a few clothes. I could not provide shelter because the land we had left behind had been taken, and I was unable to recover it.

Then God brought a kindhearted man into our lives who provided a simple house for the children to rent. With the small amount of money I earned washing cars, I did everything I could to feed and care for them.

But more children kept coming.

Soon, I was caring for 45 orphaned children, and I could no longer meet all their needs alone. That is when I began searching for sponsors and volunteers willing to stand beside us. We registered our ministry so the children could receive sponsorships, attend school, and have the food, clothing, shelter, medical care and other necessities every child deserves.

Our dream was to purchase our own land, grow crops, raise livestock and become more self-sustaining. Above all, we wanted to educate these children and give each one the opportunity for a safer, brighter future.

That dream began to come true after Jeff met me and learned about the children of Vumbula. Through World Youth Horizons, land was purchased and a permanent home was built for the children. A pig farm and goat farm were established, crops were planted, and all 45 children were moved out of the rented house and into a home of their own, with electricity, running water, showers and toilets. World Youth Horizons also made it possible for every child to attend school.

I began this work because one woman, my mother, showed me that you do not need to be wealthy to change a child’s life. You simply need a willing heart.

Today, her love lives on through every child who finds food, shelter, education, faith and family at Vumbula Uganda Youth Home.

We have come a long way, but the work is not finished. The children still need food, education, medical care, clothing and daily support. We are also continuing to develop projects that will help Vumbula become more self-sustaining and serve more vulnerable families throughout the surrounding community.

I cannot do this alone. But together, we can show these children that they have not been forgotten.

You can become part of their family, help carry my mother’s legacy forward and give a child the chance to build an entirely different future.

God bless you all.

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