KAMPALA, UGANDA — A new community center in Kiteezi is seeking funds to complete its construction and equip its facilities to help residents escape poverty. The Kiteezi Samaritan Family Life Center is being built by the non-governmental organization Kiteezi Samaritan, which works to improve the lives of people living and working at the Kiteezi landfill.
The project, which has already received over 700 million Ugandan shillings (approximately $185,000) in investment, was initiated after a fatal landslide at the landfill highlighted the community’s vulnerability. According to Kiteezi Samaritan Country Director David Kafambe, the center’s purpose is to “bring healing to the community of Kiteezi” by providing skills training, education, and counseling.
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Kafambe stressed that government collaboration is crucial for the project’s long-term success. He specifically urged government bodies to partner with the center by funding skills components and integrating their existing projects into the facility.
“We are looking at a community center which is going to help people get out of poverty by providing skills, providing counseling,” Kafambe said. “We want to make sure that the government knows these facilities are here. They can bring any of their skilling projects to the center to benefit the people in this community.”
Mondo Kyateeka, Assistant Commissioner of Youth and Children’s Affairs in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, praised the project’s progress.
He stated the center would support government efforts in poverty alleviation and committed to integrating government skilling projects into the facility.
Kyateeka also emphasized the importance of a “triple P” agenda—private-public partnership—to work with civil society organizations like Kiteezi Samaritan.
“I have come here to appreciate the works done here and I have committed to supporting this project in our triple PPP agenda,” Kyateeka said. “This is not a project of Kiteezi, it’s a people’s project, and they should embrace it for their benefit.”
He added: “I have also committed to link many of government skilling projects to this area so that women, youth and children are able to benefit.”
Mike Tenbusch, president of the parent organization International Samaritan, noted that the speed of the commitment to build the center reflects both the “power of the work happening here and the great need within this community.”
International Samaritan has been working in communities around garbage dumps in developing nations and expanded its operations to Uganda three years ago.
Tenbusch shared that a similar center in Ethiopia saw a 67% success rate on the 12th-grade college entrance exam among its scholars, a stark contrast to the national average of 4-5%.
Member of Parliament for Kakuuto County Geoffrey Lutaaya and his wife, singer Irene Namatovu, also attended the event.
Lutaaya pledged to contribute to the facility’s completion, saying the project would “uplift the hopes of the people in the Kiteezi landfill area.”
Namatovu commended Kafambe for spearheading the project, noting it would significantly aid vulnerable women, including single mothers, and children.
The half-acre facility is designed to be a hub for skills training and education.
Key features include a 150-person capacity hall, computer rooms, a library, and dedicated spaces for hands-on skills such as brick-making and renewable energy. The center’s leaders hope these resources will provide residents, especially women and youth, with the tools and knowledge needed to improve their livelihoods.
The remaining funds will be used for essential finishing touches, including furniture and laptops. The center’s leaders are appealing to the community for support to “make this a beautiful place that reflects the potential within these families.”
