Africa Chidren’s Heart Foundation Gives New Lease of Life to Abandoned Four

One quiet Sunday morning, children from the Africa Children’s Heart Foundation were heading to church when they noticed something unusual outside their gate. A small boy, dirty, frightened, and crying, sat alone by the entrance. At just four years old, it was clear he could not have arrived there by himself. Someone had abandoned him.

Having once faced difficult circumstances themselves, the children immediately understood the urgency of the situation. They rushed back inside to alert the caretakers, who bathed, fed, and comforted the boy before informing the foundation’s director, Bashir Musaazi.

“Because this is what I have been doing for the past 15 years, I told them we should take him in like the rest of the children,” Musaazi said.

The boy was later identified as Frank Kayigwa, aged four.

After Musaazi announced a missing child, the details of Kayigwa’s life gradually surfaced.

His father had been working in Lwera, loading sand onto trucks, when he tragically died–buried beneath the same sand he was digging. His mother, struggling to survive on meagre wages from the mines, eventually abandoned the boy and disappeared.

“We don’t know how the child reached our place,” Musaazi shared. “But with that background, my heart was broken. He needed help, and I felt obliged to take him in.”

To ensure Kayigwa received protection under the law, Musaazi immediately contacted the Ministry of Gender in Masaka District. Officials from the Office of Gender and Community-Based Services acknowledged receipt of the incident report and reviewed the case.

With no relatives coming forward, the ministry authorised the Africa Children’s Heart Foundation to provide the boy with shelter, care, protection, and basic needs under the Child Protection Act and the Children Amendment Act.

When asked why he felt such a deep connection to Kayigwa, Musaazi pointed to the legacy of his late mother, Nakachwa Elizabeth Beverly, who dedicated her life to supporting underprivileged children. She passed away before fulfilling her mission, but her work lives on through her son.

“Looking at this child gave me a flashback of who I was,” he said. “After my mother died, I was taken to Rwanda to be a houseboy. I was discriminated, chased away, and at one point homeless until my uncle Seruyange rescued me.”

He said Kayigwa’s situation reminded him of his own childhood pain, and strengthened his desire to honour his mother’s dream.

Africa Chidren’s Heart Foundation Gives New Lease of Life to Abandoned Four – Year-Old Boy

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