Babies are abandoned every week by desperate and vulnerable mothers. Factors such as poverty; diseases, including malaria and HIV/AIDS; civil war; rape and incest; domestic violence; and rapid urbanization all contribute to a huge number of babies abandoned in Uganda’s densely populated capital, Kampala.
Men frequently ‘disappear’ after getting the women pregnant, leaving the woman to cope alone and it is also a common superstition that children born with disabilities are seen as a curse. There is no welfare safety net and the support traditionally provided by the extended family has been eroded by HIV/AIDS, poverty and civil war.
These factors all too often lead to what we might view as an unthinkable 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 a third choice – to keep their babies, but this time with access to quality support. And for those who are left, we want to offer life-saving care and find a loving home so they grow up in a family, instead of spending those precious years in an institution – if they get to live them at all.
