At the gate to the home are inscribed words from the book of Isaiah 58:19-12. This is the home of Joseph Christopher Sangae, a retired teacher.
He is outside his permanent house which has been converted into a home for caring the orphaned children and street boys.
The soft spoken retired teacher from Bogetenga Ward in South Mugirango Constituency narrates a brief history of his life.
After his secondary school, he joined Mosoriot Teachers Training College from where he graduated and started teaching as a P1 teacher.
He thought at different schools before being elevated into head teacher, a post he held for twenty years before retirement.
“I loved my work and did it with the whole of my heart until I retired,” he said.
He never tired from pursuing higher education as he joined Kampala International University in 2010 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education in 2014.
Upon graduation, he started a community library by using funds from his pension.
“It was here I continued with my education career but a new phase of providing educational outreaches to all community members’ including adults,” he said.
It was until 2018 when he noted that a lot of orphaned children were sufferings in terms of food while others were being abused sexually and lacked clothes.
“I mobilized my family resources including land where I planted more maize to feed this lot,” he said.
He converted part of the library into a classroom where he started to offer lessons to a mixed group of learners from nursery level to Standard Seven.
“Majority of my pupils are those who dropped out of school because of lack of basic necessities but here they get food, shelter and clothes and a place they call home as they continue with their studies.
He is now being assisted by teachers from the community to teach the children on voluntary basis.
“I employed some new graduates from college but when they are absorbed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) the home faces teachers’ shortage,” he said.
He appealed to well-wisher to show a human heart to these orphans by visiting and socialize with them.
“These children need alternative parental care in addition to acquisition of books,” he says.
About his daily routine, he said that he wakes up at dawn and prays with the orphans before leading other teachers to supervise the pupils as they clean their dormitory.
Part of the morning work is supervises breakfast preparation to assist the pupils start morning classes.
Sangae says that he intends to expand the home into a secondary school to enable them complete their education from primary to secondary schools within a familiar environment.
The retired teacher gets fulfillment in-service of humanity, he calls on others to join him in the noble course.
By Enock Okong’o
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