Case Studies
GOAL's Housing Support programme in Uganda
Hundreds of vulnerable familes across Uganda have been provided with new brick-built houses by GOAL in recent years, ensuring that they have a warm, dry place to live with water and sanitation facilities, a stove and other household essentials.
The following is just a small example of some of those whose lives have been made easier. For more on this programme, please click here.
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| Margaret at her old home in Bulesa... |
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| ...and at her new GOAL-built house |
Margaret, a widow in her late eighties, lived in her hut in Bulesa village with her two grandchildren.
Her home was in a desperately poor state and because of her age and fragility, she was unable to maintain the mud and wattle walls, as well as repair the leaking roof.
After moving into her new GOAL home, complete with a latrine, a rainwater harvesting tank and other household goods such as a stove, blankets and mattresses, Margaret’s prospects, and the prospects of her grandchildren, are far brighter.
“I send my two orphaned grandchildren to school,” she says. “They will have a better future than me, and now they at least have a roof above their heads."
Bugoke Wilson
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| Wilson outside his old home (top) and his new house |
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Wilson’s only living relative in the area is his father and as his disability limits him from doing most jobs, he has no regular income
Before his new GOAL house was completed, Wilson said that many people in his village looked upon him as an outcast.
“But nowadays people sit with me and chat,” he adds.
He said that his new house not only gives him a safe and dry place to live, but has also helped him to be seen as “a person” by his peers.
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| Mary and her son at her old hut... |
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| ...and with a GOALie at her new house |
Mary has also lost all her children to Aids-related illnesses, leaving her as the sole carer for her four grandchildren.
The community selected Mary as the beneficiary of a new home because of her extremely poor living conditions. She and her grandchildren were living in a single roomed, poorly maintained and dilapidated hut. The roof leaked, and the floor and walls were cracked.
After she received her new house from GOAL, Mary said she could not believe that people could be so generous. She never thought that her life and those of her grandchildren could be so dramatically turned around. She plans to work hard to put all of her grandchildren through school.
Chemereni Suzani
Chemereni is a 55 year-old widow who was living with nine grandchildren in her shack in the village of Butundula.
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| Chemereni's old shack (top) and her new GOAL-built house |
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She had 11 children, but seven died, leaving her with three daughters and one son.
The older surviving girl is weak and sickly, recently testing positive for HIV.
Her hut was collapsing and badly in need of repair, yet she managed to survive there with her daughters and the other children.
They had virtually nothing in the house and slept on the bare earth with papyrus mats.
“One day a young woman from GOAL came and told me that my community had selected me to benefit from a new house,” says Chemereni.
“The house was built and my family now lives in it. I am very grateful to my community and GOAL for helping me.”