OUR HISTORY

Orphans in Uganda


It is estimated that there are currently 143 million orphans and/or abandoned children in the world; Uganda accounts for 2 million of those orphans.

Uganda has been greatly impacted by the devastation of HIV/AIDS. Recent statistics from the World Health Organization show that HIV/AIDS has left a long-lasting effect on Uganda’s population, leaving over 2 million children orphaned since the epidemic began.

These orphans have no one to guide, protect, and love them like every child needs and deserves. Unless adopted by an orphanage, these children are left to wander the streets, beg or steal food, and find shelter wherever they can. They are hungry, lonely, and afraid, facing challenges children are simply not equipped to overcome alone. Some turn to crime and prostitution for survival, though many simply do not survive. They are vulnerable to exploitation, abduction, human trafficking, child labour, and sexual abuse.

Our Lady Of Kibeho Orphanage Foundation


Siblings Gerald and Teddy Sseguya encountered impoverished grandmothers caring for multiple grandchildren who had been orphaned at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. They felt the need to make a difference in the lives of these children, founding the Precious Gift Orphanage. Uganda has little in the way of a public safety net, but with the help of churches, charities, non-governmental organizations, and some qualified social workers, Gerald and Teddy started supporting 70 orphans, aged 4 to 16 years old, by providing them with shelter, food and medical care. Education was also provided by enrolling the orphans in Springfield Junior School. In December 2014, some Canadian friends joined Gerald and they registered Foundation to support the orphanage as a society in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In June 2017, the Foundation was granted official charitable organization status by the CRA. The Foundation is a true grassroots movement, run largely by Gerald himself outside the hours of his full-time job, with help from supporters in Uganda and Canada. Over the last several years, the Foundation has constructed a dormitory that presently houses 100 orphans, drawing largely on Gerald’s savings and the support of friends. In 2019 Gerald and his Canadian friends formed a formal board in charge of making the Sseguya’s siblings’ dreams come true in order to protect, educate and care for the orphans in Uganda. The name of the orphanage is set to change to Our Lady of Kibeho Orphanage. And here we are! Our Lady Of Kibeho Orphanage Foundation’s official charitable organization status will allow us to expand our reach and pursue opportunities for initiatives to further improve the lives of the children in our care.

Our Orphanage is named after Our Lady of Kibeho


On November 28, 1981, The Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus appeared to a girl named Alphonsine in a high school in Kibeho, Rwanda. Mary called herself the “Mother of the Word”. Subsequently she also appeared to 2 other girls in the school. Many people visited the school and witnessed the girls during apparitions in this out of the way town.

It was 13 years before the genocide that lasted 100 horrible days. Mary warned the people that a “river of blood” would flow if they didn’t quickly turn from hatred of their neighbors. Unfortunately, almost one million people were killed in the genocide in Rwanda. Kibeho is now the site of a Vatican-approved Marian apparition, and the only one in Africa.

Mary sang and danced with the children in Kibeho. We trust that she is singing and dancing with the girls in her orphanage today.

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