About

At the end of August 2024, we (I AM) were introduced to Teopista Asiyo, who had just been made homeless. Teopista is pictured on the left in the attached image, sat with with Edith, who is head of our second home build partner family. Teopista is 67 years old and had been facing some particularly difficult circumstances, which were the catalyst to our paths crossing. For the past several years Teopista's living situation has been at best unstable, but quite often volatile. We don't feel it's necessary or proper to share the specifics of her ordeals but she has faced mistreatment for no reason other than finding herself at the mercy of people she should have been able to trust the most. Having been married, she sadly lost her husband some years ago and although they had children, none have survived. As a widow, with no children to support her in her later life, her options have been limited and she felt she had little choice but to tolerate mistreatment as a trade-off for a roof over her head. In late August/early September Teopista was made homeless, which was initially an incredibly distressing situation, but has lead to an opportunity for a very different life. Initially we have been in the fortunate position to offer Teopista a safe and secure place to stay. Our third home build partner family (Harriet) has been able to accommodate Teopista on a temporary basis, while work on a more permanent solution. We are committed to work with Teopista and she with us, to break what has been many years of feeling trapped by her circumstance. We will be developing a new home on a portion of a one acre plot purchased earlier this year. Teopista will live without fear of mistreatment and with a real hope of a happier future. Our ultimate goal with our usual home build projects is for families to own their own home. With Teopista we saw an opportunity to do something a little different, that we hope can serve a particular need going forwards. The home we develop with Teopista will be her home, to live in as her own and to enjoy, free from rental charges, for the remainder of her life. But the ownership of the property will remain (for as long as it is a valuable endeavour) with the charity, for two main reasons. First and foremost, this home (as it may become available) will be used exclusively to accommodate those most vulnerable in the community, aged over 65, who are facing housing crisis. Older members of the community in rural Uganda are generally held in very high esteem, a sentiment which is close to our hearts. Although this project would be a small first step in this area, it may be a model we seek to develop further in future. The second, rather less pleasant, reason is to negate the possibility that a vulnerable older person could become a target for unscrupulous parties to take advantage of, if there was the prospect of taking on ownership of a property as an heir. We are in the fortunate position of having sufficient funding, from some very kind donours, to complete all the construction work for both the main accommodation and the two ancillary buildings (sanitary block & kitchen). The main build process takes approximately 4 months, which gives us some time to fundraise for the currently unfunded aspects of the build, namely the Facilities & Utilities aspects of the home. We have attached a document that shows more specific details and costs of the items we strive to provide as part of our home builds. While these items are basic, they do make for a more comfortable home and provide for things that we likely take for granted as essential. Any donation you can make towards Teopista's home build project, which will in future serve to help others who face similar circumstances, is very greatly appreciated. Thank you for visiting our Givey page. When you make your donation through Givey, the Charity receives 100% of the donation. Your details are safe with Givey and donating is completely secure. Furthermore, they never share your email address with any third parties except the Charity you donate to.