Richard - Orphan

Richard is 16 and lives in Uganda. After their parents’ death in 2004, he and his two younger sisters, were taken in by their grandmother.

However, due to the grandmother’s age, she was unable to provide everything the children needed, such as food, bedding, decent accommodation and items such as school books and pens. Although primary school education in Uganda is free, children need to bring their own writing materials and uniforms, and many carers, like Richard’s grandmother, are unable to pay for these.

After about a year, Richard moved to live with his uncle, leaving his two sisters with their grandmother.  Still facing similar problems to those he’d had to deal with at his grandmother’s, such as lack of basic needs like food and bedding, and now also having to walk long distances to fetch water, he decided to move back to his grandmother and two sisters.

Richard and his sisters were identified by War Child’s partner organisation as children who would benefit from having a new grass thatched hut built for them. The hut has been constructed within the compound of one of their uncles, which means not only can the three children live together, but their uncle can look after them and they can also visit their grandmother.

Richard feels that the new hut has improved their living conditions. The children still have some challenges to deal with: their nearest drinking water outlet is 3km away and they lack some basic items such as school materials and clothing. The continued assistance of War Child to Richard and his sisters, through schemes such as the distribution of school materials, will help to continue to improve their lives.