The Drop-In Centre

How We Started

The Drop In Centre began from a simple desire to reach and support children living on the streets of Kampala. Our journey started when Hajara began spending time with street-connected children on the balcony of a supermarket, where she would read with them, talk to them, and create a safe space for interaction. At times, the activities were also held on quiet roads where the children could participate safely.

As the need became more apparent, these small gatherings grew into wider street outreach programs that included feeding, counselling, and engaging with children across Kampala. However, most of these activities were conducted outdoors, leaving the children exposed to rain, harsh sunlight, insecurity, and the difficulties of street life. It also became difficult to provide privacy, consistent education, recreational activities, and meaningful counselling.

These challenges made us realize that the children needed more than occasional outreach. They needed a safe, stable and welcoming place where they could come, receive care, learn, play, talk to someone they trusted, and begin rebuilding their lives. This is what led to the vision of establishing a Drop In Centre a safe haven where vulnerable and street-connected children can receive protection, emotional and physical support, education, feeding, counselling, literacy activities, and preparation for resettlement.

Our Hope for the Centre

Our hope is for the Drop-In Centre to become a place of welcome, restoration and opportunity. Our hope is that the Drop In Centre will become a safe, welcoming and permanent place where vulnerable and street children can find hope, care and a sense of belonging. We want it to be a place where children can come off the streets, feel safe, receive a meal, learn, play, receive counselling and begin to believe again in a better future.

We hope that as the Centre is completed, it will allow us to reach more children and provide them with the support they need in a safe and dignified environment. Rather than continuing to work mainly in temporary spaces and outdoors, we want to have a place that belongs to the children a place where they can learn, grow, receive guidance and be connected to opportunities that can help change their lives.

We are also hopeful that the Centre will grow beyond the building we are working on today. Our dream is to see a fully equipped Centre with the facilities and programmes needed to support children holistically, including education, counselling, feeding, recreation, skills development and family reintegration. We believe that every stage of construction brings us closer to this vision, and with continued support, prayer and commitment, we hope to see the Centre completed and serving the children who need it most.

Where We Are Now

Today, we are grateful for how far the journey has come. The work is progressing, and every contribution has helped bring the vision closer to reality. So much has happened since we started the Drop In Centre journey. Despite the challenges and limited resources, we have continued moving forward step by step. Whenever a donation is received, we use it to complete the next stage of the building work. Every contribution has helped us move closer to completing a safe and permanent Drop-In Centre for the children.

Right now, we are working on plastering the floors and installing the toilets inside the Centre. It has been a gradual process, but each stage we complete brings us closer to having the Centre ready for the children. We are thankful for every person who has supported us and helped make this progress possible.

We are hopeful that soon we will be able to begin the next important stages of the development, including installing the floor tiling, doors, windows, and electricity. Once these are in place, the Centre will be much closer to becoming a safe, welcoming and functional space for vulnerable and street-connected children. We continue to take the work one step at a time, trusting that with continued support, we will soon see this dream fully become a reality. What started as a vision is slowly becoming a reality. Although there is still more work to be done, we are encouraged by the progress we have made and remain committed to completing the Centre so that vulnerable and street-connected children can have a safe, welcoming and dignified place to receive care and support.

Our Hope for the Future

We are looking forward to completing the centre and seeing it fully serving. Our hope for the future is to see the Drop-In Centre fully completed and become a permanent place of safety, hope and transformation for children living on the streets. We dream of a Centre where children can come in from the dangers of street life and find protection, care, privacy, education, counselling, recreation and the opportunity to simply be children again..

Every wall, room, facility and resource represents an opportunity to make a lasting difference. We hope that the Centre will enable us to reach many more street-connected children and provide consistent programs in a safe environment, rather than having to conduct most of our activities outdoors where children and our social workers are exposed to rain, harsh sunshine and other challenges. We want the Centre to become a place where children feel secure enough to open up, receive emotional support and begin their journey towards healing and a better future.

Our greater hope is that every child who comes through the Centre will have the opportunity to move from the streets into safety, from fear into hope, and from uncertainty into a future filled with possibilities. As the Centre grows, it will become a strong foundation for reaching even more vulnerable children and helping them transition from street life into safe homes, education and productive futures Our dream is not simply to complete a building.

Our dream is to build a place where lives are changed and where children can begin to dream again.