Babies are abandoned every week by desperate vulnerable mothers. Factors such as poverty; diseases, rape and incest; domestic violence; and rapid urbanization all contribute to a huge number of babies abandoned in Uganda’s densely populated capital, Kampala.
There is no welfare safety net and the support traditionally provided by the extended family has been eroded by HIV/AIDS, poverty and war.
These factors all too often lead to what we might view as an unimaginable decision – either abandon your child and give it a chance at life, or keep the child and risk death through starvation. The problem is worsened by the fact that existing residential facilities are stretched beyond capacity, and are unable to cope with the levels of children being left.
We want to give the mothers another choice – to keep their babies. And for those babies who are abandoned, we want to offer life-saving care and find a loving home so every one of our children grow up in a family, instead of spending their precious years in an institution – if they get to live them at all.
