Help the girls of Grace Villa find a new home

Tashobya & Rema
Neighbors hadn’t seen 6 year old Tina and 4 year old Tashobya for days. Their mother disappeared the day after their father almost beat her to death, when she asked if he’d remembered to come home with salt. Now he spent days and nights in bars. At first everybody assumed that she had run away with the kids. But neighbors heard noises coming from the house, even when their father was away. They got worried. One night they broke in. And found the kids laying in a corner. They had distended bellies and there were holes in the dirt floor. Rema and Tashobya, starving, had been eating soil in an attempt to survive. Their church minister called Grace Villa. 

*Children's names changed for privacy


New Beginnings
Grace Villa is a nurturing home and sanctuary for orphans, abandoned and vulnerable girls founded in 2013 by Ugandan Child Psychologist Ruth Kendegye Ndyabahika. One of the strongest girl child interventions in the region, it exists for Tashobya, Rema and hundreds of other children.

The children are brought by the district police, probation officers, church leaders, local leaders and concerned community members - rescued from child trafficking situations, child marriages, child headed households, abandoned in the streets and more. Here the girls find nurture, safety, food , education , vocational skills , sisterhood and counseling  in an environment that allows them to thrive.
Grace Villa is a non-profit Community Based Organization, registered in Kabale District, Uganda,
 
Above: The girls perform a happy Kikiga dance, excited after they featured on Voice of America's "Straight Talk Africa". 

An Urgent Need
The Grace Villa family has lived in a lovely house on Makanga Hill in Kabale since inception 6 years ago. It is within these walls that the children learnt what safety and love actually feels like, and have grown and thrived. Sadly, on January 2020, Grace Villa was served with a letter to vacate the premises. Grace Villa will find itself without a home unless steps are taken to secure a new one. 

Goal
To acquire through purchase a house. This purchase will ensure that the Grace Villa family will never again be faced with the uncertainty and imbalance of not knowing where the children shall live. It will also provide ample space out of which to implement Grace Villa’s various programs, as well as space to grow. 

Proposed new home
A house has been identified that is for sale, not far from the current home. Its specifications fit the needs of the growing and evolving Grace Villa (See photo below).


Cost: Ugx 600,000,000 (163,000 USD)
It is a two storied house that sits on about two acres of land, across the road from Kabale Police Quarters. Attached is an undeveloped 3/4 acre plot of land just outside the gate, which would allow for future development.

Its close proximity to the current Grace Villa residence would ensure continuity of the Grace Villa programs and interventions. For instance, Wateeka Free Lunch feeds children from Bugongi and Kabale town. The children who are enrolled in Wateeka walk to Grace Villa for lunch every school day and have to be back in school within a designated time. As well as the children enrolled in Tailoring, traditional dance classes, mat weaving , sports and baking. These children walk to Grace Villa at least 3 times a week. The purchase of a house is imperative for Grace Villas continued existence.

This is an urgent call for help.
Let’s help Grace Villa meet this critical need - and make sure that these children are never without a home again. 


We Rise by Lifting Others.

For more about Grace Villa:

Contact & MM: 
Ruth Kendegye Ndyabahika
+256 [phone redacted]87
+256 [phone redacted]27

Social media links
1. Linktree (includes some reports) 
2.Facebook  
3. Twitter 
4. Instagram 
5. LinkedIn 

Documentary
A mini Grace Villa documentary 2014 

Television Appearances
On Voice of America (VOA) Straight Talk Africa 

Urban TVs The Gift of Serving 

On The Cedric Live Show 

New Visions Urban Television visits Grace Villa

Newspaper Links:

New Vision 2018

The Daily Monitors Full Woman 2019

Sunday Monitors Life Magazine 2014

New Vision 2014

Gorilla Highlands Magazine

So many beautiful success stories are being written in this home.
Like Phionah who graduated  from University  last year and is now a working Accountant
Bridget who opened the steadily growing "Baked by Bridget" bakery
Desire who topped the whole district in Senior 6 exams
3 girls currently enrolled in University, 211 kids enrolled in Primary and High schools, and 7 in vocational schools
Hundreds of children safely reconciled and reunited with families. Grace Villa still supports them with school fees 
Grace Villa's Wateeka lunch program serves a free nutritious lunch to the hungriest school children in the community 
The Grace Villa Soccer Club has won 3 district championships in a row
The Grace Villa choir, invited to perform on world music stages, at events, for King Oyo which led to his visiting the home - even for H.E. the President of Uganda!
And so much more.



Above: the little ones walk up from the Grace Villa playground for lunch