Help support Andrew Swenkambo’s Hidden Treasure foundation in Uganda, Africa

The mission: Restoring Trust and Building Hope

Statements and spoken words from Andrew Sswenkambo:

How do you hope to restore trust?

“In a bid to restore trust we are trying our best to bridge the trust which essentially has been broken because of tribal and social segregation, which is still the leading cause of disputes in Uganda across all ages. It is very difficult to bridge that gap between the different tribes down here as some tribes take themselves to be superior to others and this gap has to be broken starting with the young ages, so that they grow up knowing that all mankind is equal despite of the difference in tribe denomination. One of the reasons I came up with this idea is because I come from what people call the superior tribe of all time in Uganda (Buganda tribe). The way in which my tribe mates used to treat members outside the tribe prompted me to have this mind that one day, I will work to bridge down the gap.”

Tell us about the idea of Building Hope.

“Most of the boys we are working with in the quarters are from troubled areas in Uganda and many are orphaned boys with demoralized hope so what we try to do is to talk to them to at least restore that peace of hope within their lives and to know that sill they have a life to live and their communities will be looking at their support. When I first talked to these boys I could not believe what I was listening to, for someone like me who has been living in the capital with at least getting the basic needs of life, and these boys had missed almost all their childhood days. So we are trying as much as we can to restore that lost joy so that they know despite of anything that happened still there are people who care. We are trying to target young people with demoralized hope because these are the groups who almost can’t trust anybody. I want to work in finding all possible ways how trust and hope can be rebuilt. So far we are tying to achieve this through the game of soccer where we gather on weekends to have fun through the uniting sport. It was really hard to do initially because I was from a different tribe with most of the boys but now we are like of the same tribe thank God we do really understand each other very well and hope is high.”

Carol Thomas (Gainesville, FL) describes meeting Andrew in Africa, July 2007:

Andrew Sswenkambo is a Ugandan youth born 1988 who we met through the clinic’s HIV/AIDS peer support group. Andrew has gone through many personal obstacles in his life, but has risen above these obstacles to reach out and help those around him, through the game of soccer. After meeting a few boys at a field week after week, and adding and gathering more children each week, he decided to form a team. The boys that gather come from many backgrounds, street kids, kids from war torn northern Uganda and village children that do not have the opportunity to play on an organized team. Andrew and his cousin Patrick now work with the boys every week. Last year Andrew sent paints to be sold to help raise money to purchase uniforms so they would be able to compete in tournaments. With the help of the African Relief Club at Santa fe Community College (Gainesville, FL) uniforms were purchased and hand delivered in July 2007.

Some of the boys have been offered school scholarships after they were seen playing in a tournament game. In Uganda, even the very young have to pay for education and with this you must have a school uniform and school supplies. Most struggle to find money for food, and the basics for clothing, which makes attending school difficult or not possible. Andrew stated they did not win many games during the tournament, but they did win because he was able to help secure school scholarships for some of the boys. Somehow this gives a new meaning to the phrase “winning a game”.

In support of his hope and connection to PeacePassers Andrew states:

“It is a great idea and I would like to join hands with you because I believe we all live in the same small global village where we have to help each other as a one community”

Your equipment donations and financial support will provide Andrew and the youth in Uganda to continue restoring trust and building hope through the game of soccer.
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