Stars Ministries Uganda (SMU)

Pricilla and some of her craftwork   Meet Pricilla Kabasinguzi, the 14-year-old Star (a Star is a child with a disability), who lives with a brittle bones’ disability. Pricilla speaks well and can feed herself; everything else, however,  is  done with the help of another person. Pricilla lives with her mother who works as a cook. Her mother, however, has not worked since March 2020 because the institution where she works at halted operations due to COVID-19. Pricilla was registered with Stars Ministry Uganda (SMU) in 2014, when a church member introduced the work of SMU to her father . At that time, Pricilla could not express herself and had very low self-esteem, in addition to her disability. Her parents were afraid of releasing their daughter for fear that someone might break her already weak bones. SMU would later learn that this fear was also heightened by experiences that Pricilla had in a normal school, where both teachers and other school children were scared of ...

James and a SMU Volunteer take a 'walk' during a home visit Physio and Occupational therapy are an important aspect of Stars Ministry Uganda's (SMU) mission of  reaching people with disabilities and their families . It is one of the avenues where the needs of people with disabilities, including their need for God, are being met. Through home physio  & occupational therapy programming, SMU has reached out to James, putting a little smile on his face. James was born with, and lives with multiple disabilities. He lives with an elderly single mother, in the Kirombe slum near Luzira, in Kampala. James is crippled in both legs and hands; he cannot walk, crawl, and neither can he feed himself or perform the activities of daily living independently . He can only sit and lie down in one place. He communicates through different signals that only the people close to him are able to interpret. James’ kind of disability is the kind which requires an available caretaker twenty-fou...

A Star undergoes a physiotherapy session at the Stars Ministry & Day Care Center For the last three months (April to June), many ministries and agencies were brought to a standstill in Uganda, due to the COVID-19 Lockdown restrictions. Stars Ministries Uganda (SMU) was no exception. For th e Stars (children with disabilities served by SMU), the Lockdown meant no weekly attendance at the Stars Ministry and Day Care Center.  This continues to be the case as most places that bring together more than fifteen people remain closed, including schools and churches. Inability to attend Day Care, heightened the need for the services often received at Center, especially physiotherapy for the Stars. SMU staff and volunteers have known all along, that one of the greatest needs among the Stars is Physiotherapy. This is often a result of the Stars’ inability to move on their own. The reasons for their immobility besides the physical disabilities are varied. Some are left alone at home because...

Stars caregivers returning home with food relief  As we have come to learn through personal experiences, the COVID-19 Global Pandemic has ravaged the entire world. Uganda has been no exception. As cases began to increase in the East African region in the month of March, a partial lockdown was declared on March 25 th , followed by a total lockdown with a twelve-hour curfew on April 1 st , 2020. The lockdown has impacted the country greatly. Some of the lockdown effects will remain with us for a long time. To the Stars (children with disabilities that are supported by Stars Ministry Uganda - SMU)’s caregivers, the impact of the lockdown was almost immediate. Most of the caregivers do daily jobs from which they earn a living to support their families; the very reason they leave their children at the Stars Day Care and Learning Center, during those critical working hours. To them, the lockdown meant no work, and more critically, no or very limited food. At the start of th...

Amuge and her fifteen-year-old Star Imagine the life of a mother of a fifteen-year-old child who still needs the care and support given to a newborn baby. Imagine a mother who still feeds a sixteen-year-old, changes their diapers, and carries them everywhere they need to go. This is Amuge’s daily experience, and indeed the experience of many mothers with children with disabilities (Stars moms). Every mother dreams about giving birth to a child who grows and becomes independent. It is any mother’s joy to see their child learn to hold a cup on their own or learn to go to the toilet on their own. It’s the joy of every parent to see their child taking care of themselves as they grow towards independence. Many mothers of children with disabilities (Stars) that come to the Stars Day Care and Learning Center have not lived the dream of every mother. Many have been abandoned by their husbands because the husbands have failed to put up with the needs and stigma of having a chil...

Welcome to the Stars Day Care and Learning Center located at Mutungo hill, near Luzira, in Kampala. The Stars Center also serves as the Ministry Center, for Stars Ministry Uganda (SMU). The Stars Day Care and Learning Center is the place where children with disabilities (who we call Stars) come, are cared for, accepted and loved. At the Stars’ Center, the Stars get training for basic skills in reading, writing, drawing, counting and self-care. The Stars take ‘walks’ and rides in the community, to interact with the world around them. Occasionally, they also get physiotherapy. At the Stars Center, the Stars interact with loving caretakers who teach them songs, poems, God’s Word and play with them while their parents and siblings are away for work and school respectively. The Stars’ Center started out of the realization that there were children with disabilities who stayed at home without care, while siblings went off to school, and parents went off to look for work to support ...

Jordan and Tamara, at Stars Daycare & Learning Center One of the twenty-six stars (persons with disabilities) that come to the Stars Day Care and Learning Center each day of the week is Jordan Sirira. Jordan is 18 years old, with a look of a twelve-year-old. Jordan lives with his Auntie, who has been taking care of him since the passing of his mother. Jordan has been in a wheelchair since he was 8 years old. The first time I met Jordan, I saw a young boy like any other. He was very handsome, brilliant, with a cute smile and a calm spirit. As I learned about his disability, I discovered that his Auntie had two theories about his disability. One of the theories was that Jordan had fallen off a swing and broken his spinal code when he was eight. The second theory was based on a belief that Jordan’s mother had been cursed by her relatives because Jordan's father did not pay the bride price for their daughter before giving birth to Jordan. For some time I believed that ...