Nyaka CEO and founder Twesigye Jackson Kaguri [kah-GOO-ree] visited Park City to speak with Rotary Club members and ask if they would consider supporting his effort to provide a future for children impacted by HIV/AIDS.
He said he started the organization in 2001 to support children who were orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda. AIDS cases were first identified in Uganda in the 1980s and Kaguri said it eventually became an epidemic.
“It was a thing that came through, mostly through sexual transmission, but also through medical equipment that were not sterilized through traditional circumcision of boys and girls,” he said on KPCW's "Local News Hour" June 4.
The epidemic killed many, leaving children orphaned. Kaguri said many were taken in and cared for by “grandmothers” who often didn’t have enough money to raise another generation of kids.
“We call them grandmothers because of respect, but some of them are 35 years old, raising children who are not biologically related to them,” he said. “So you can think of foster system in the United States.”
To support these women and children, Kaguri founded Nyaka. It started as a two-room primary school for 55 students, because, as Kagrui says on the nonprofit's website, “orphaned children don’t have money to pay for school.”
Since its founding, the nonprofit has expanded; it now supports 123,000 children being raised by 23,000 “grandmothers.” Kaguri said Nyaka now helps the women raising orphans by providing them with opportunities to start their own small businesses. Some sell baskets or raise chicken or goats to make a living.
“We've created that community model to sustain these communities for the future, regardless whether somebody cuts any funding or something happens, these women will continue to be able to put food on their table, send their children to school,” Kaguri said.
Kaguri said the model sets an example for the children by showing them how they can also become caregivers in their community after finishing school.
In the past, Nyaka was supported by U.S. government programs, but Kaguri said it now relies mostly on donations from individuals and service clubs like Rotary International. Park City Rotary has a donation link for the nonprofit on its website or locals can donate on Nyaka’s website.
Kaguri said he’s trying to raise $100,000 to support Nyaka’s mission. That money will support close to 10,000 women and children.
