When our car broke down on a road in Kampala a few months ago, a mechanic came to pick up the truck and Tim had to take a taxi home. It was then that Tim met Titus, the taxi driver. As they talked on the way home, Tim found out that Titus was married with four kids and had been brought to the U.S. and Canada several times by churches and government to speak about Uganda and AIDS/HIV. Tim told Titus about our projects here and how he was busy fixing up and building houses for the poor in the slums of Banda. Titus became emotional when he heard about the building, and began to relay the story of his brother.

 

Six months ago, Titus’ brother led a nice life here in Kampala. He had a good job at a big company and was married to Margaret who stayed home to take care of the house they rented and their kids, Somalie – 12 and Philip – 10.   He had purchased a nice plot of land in a leafy suburb of Kampala and was slowly building a house for the family. One day as he was eating a business lunch at a restaurant, he was shot and killed. Authorities and family believe he was killed so that someone could move up into his position at work, a common occurrence here.

 

Since then, Titus and his remaining brothers and sisters have been struggling to pay for Margaret’s rent and food and school fees for Somalie and Philip, it has been really hard on all of them and they were starting to wonder how they could continue to take care of them, there just wasn’t enough money leftover from their tiny incomes. They had been praying for help.

 

The house that Titus’ brother began was much, much bigger than the houses we usually work on. The inside and outside brick walls were complete except for where the roof was to join and had five rooms. There were no floors yet, just tall grass, no windows, no inside or front door, and no roof. We felt we really needed to step in and finish it for Margaret and the kids as it would allow them to live in their family home and would relieve the family of struggling to scrape together enough money to pay their rent.

 

I emailed two families that had sent in enough money to build two houses each to tell them about this family and ask if they were fine with us using their donation to complete Margaret’s house. They both agreed and then Dave & Jordan, our Aussie friends who have since returned to Australia, also chipped in with a big donation. 

 

Margaret, Somalie and Philip are now moved into their finished house and you can only imagine the joy that this entire family is feeling as a situation that they viewed as totally impossible became a huge answer to prayer thanks to Don & Hilda, Greg & Jen, and Dave & Jordan.

 

Please click on the youtube link to see video of Margaret, Somalie and Philip’s new house.