In Mugema zone, a village in the Kasubi suburb of Kampala Capital City, inadequate sanitation, limited access to safe water, poor housing facilities, and unpaved roads mirror the lives of most of the dwellers. Sarah, a mother of 3, lives in an unimproved and poorly ventilated house with her entire family. Sarah had a challenging responsibility to take her family through the COVID-19 lockdown.

When the President announced the lockdown and curfew in late March 2020 due to the novel Coronavirus, Sarah’s husband, who was working as a causal worker in one of the garages in Kiseka market, downtown Kampala, fled the home. With the lockdown and garages closed, Sarah’s husband did not have an income source to enable him provide basic needs for his family. Sarah was left with a huge responsibility to shoulder as the caregiver of the family in the uncertain and abnormal times of COVID-19. She had no food to feed her family, and could not afford to buy water and soap for her children to wash their hands as directed by the WHO and Ministry of Health.

“It was like hell, as everyone in the house cried except me. I was strong and always prayed to God to help my family. The situation was too hard and I thought I was going to lose my entire family”, Sarah narrates.

To salvage her family, Sarah approached the village leaders of Mugema zone for help. The village leaders were leading the team from Marie Wright Children Foundation that was distributing food, soap, and other necessities to orphans and vulnerable children, and disadvantaged families.

“The situation was bad and was I forced to go to my leaders for help because I knew I would lose my children. Thank God my leaders promised to help, which restored our hope”, Sarah said.

“I received 30 kilograms of posho flour, 10 kilograms of dry beans and a mobile phone which I use to connect with my people back home. The phone helped me a lot in the lockdown as I could speak to my people and settle psychologically. My people could also send me some money on my phone to support my children”, Sarah narrates.

Sarah’s family was among the 38 households that received emergency food relief from Marie Wright Children Foundation during the COVID-19 Lockdown. Today, Sarah and her children are living a different life having been able to go through the lockdown. Following the lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown, Sarah managed to start up a small business of selling pancakes to residents with the financial support she received on her mobile phone from her relative. Now Sarah dreams of better education and bright future for her children.

“My desire is to see my children in good schools and successful in life. It is my prayer that God helps them to become responsible people and give me a life that I admire to live”, Sarah said.

Marie Wright Children Foundation has taken over the education needs of Sarah’s children and will ensure that they get good quality education when schools finally open.