18 Children had Heart Surgery on this Medical Mission

September 2013

Penny Leon together with Rotarians from Kampala North Club partnered with Riley Children’s Hospital and Uganda Heart Institute in Mulago Hospital. The team of travelling doctors operated on 18 children with a heart condition.

Mulago, Uganda’s general Hospital is overwhelmed by the increasing number of heart-related diseases being reported.
Putting the blame on lifestyles, poor diets, smoking and genetic causes.

This community continues to need assistance.

We would like to thank everyone involved in saving the lives of these children who otherwise would not have lived much longer.

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Jonathan Kakembo

My Life: From Agony to Bliss

My eyes fill with tears when I recall my childhood; moreover, the story even gets worse in my teenage. I will try to remember as far back as I can. I was born on May 11, 1994, in Kiyanda village, Luweero district, near Uganda’s capital – Kampala. I started school at three years, just like any other child. However, the good days ended soon after my father married his second wife. Had she not been a witch, perhaps her rivalry with my mother wouldn’t have resulted in the unbearable suffering that ensued.

My father turned violent toward my mother, brother and me. We were repeatedly battered and denied basic needs, especially food and decent clothing. Consequently, the school had to end for my brother and I. Worse still, my stepmother sought to sacrifice me to the gods in her quest for riches. I now think that my father was so drunk with her witchcraft that he hardly

recognised us as his children. He merely looked on as my stepmother hurled insults and threats at us. At best, he could beat us if we reiterated or threatened to report to the clan elders.

When I started to have violent seizures in 2003, possibly due to witchcraft (ancestral spirits), my father disowned me; he did not want to be associated with a boy who suffered from a spell largely believed to be for the damned. My mother left our village and brought me along to Kampala, where she worked as a bar attendant. She took me to a nearby primary school where I was expelled on the first day when I had violent seizures and caused a scene in the school. I was later taken to a witch doctor who recommended a very bizarre prescription. I had to drink two cups of lizard blood per week, which I did for at least a month. When my condition showed no indication of improving, the witch doctor instructed me to sleep with a tortoiseshell, which I desperately obeyed for two years, up to 2005.

By the end of 2009, my mother and I had visited more than a dozen witch doctors. I had literally given up on life at that point. Fortunately, a cousin of mine advised me to seek deliverance in a local church where I spent several nights constrained with ropes. I eventually vomited a snake when the pastor laid hands on me. This is always hard for me to comprehend, but I am grateful when I watch the video clips of my deliverance. I had hoped to reconcile with my father and stepmother but they passed on soon after my recovery.

I returned to my home village to resume primary school in 2010; my mother remained in Kampala but lost her job shortly after. I worked in my teachers’ gardens so that they could buy me scholastic materials and pay registration fees for the national examinations in 2011. I passed the examinations and joined a rural secondary school. Regular absenteeism was a habit for me since I had difficulty paying the school fees, despite having received a half bursary for my good conduct and hard work.

I had no hope of any academic advancement after excelling in the national secondary examination in 2015. Out of desperation, I hatched plans to join the national army forces as soon as it was advertised. In the meantime, I continued to sing in the church choir and sometimes went solo. It was after presenting a song in a local church that I narrated my experiences and a number of congregants were overwhelmed by my sad story. One of them contacted Penny Leon – the President, of Florence for Youth in Action.

Oh, my goodness! I hardly believed when I got a communication from Penny Leon, and that she would come to my rescue. It was a new dawn for me. She facilitated me to enrol for a two years program, Certificate in Audio Production in Esom School of Music in 2017. Penny has since then been paying my tuition and other scholastic materials. I am currently in my last semester of study and will graduate next year. How grateful I am to Florence for Youth in Action!

Within the period of my study at the Music school, I have acquired a lot of skills, and my songwriting and singing career is now most promising. I have been able to travel and perform in Kenya, Tanzania and in many parts of Uganda. I am confident that I will own a state-of-the-art music studio in future. My dream is to be one of the best contemporary music producers in Uganda.

Words alone cannot fully express how indebted I am to Penny Leon and all stakeholders of Florence for Youth in Action. You have lifted me from a pool of suffering to a sea of possibilities. Thank you, Penny Leon!

Kakembo Jonathan,

Florence for Youth in Action beneficiary