Overview | History | Strategy

Katalemwa Cheshire Home's response to the situation of disabled children has evolved over the years based on the changing wider environment. The home was founded on the 8 th of October 1970 though it was officially opened on the 1 st December 1971. The idea of establishing a Cheshire Home came few years earlier in 1968 when Mrs. Tabernacle Denis the travelling matron of Leonard Cheshire Foundation in the UK came to Uganda to set up a steering committee consisting of professionals from Mulago and Makerere University to mobilize resources for establishing the home. The aim was to provide a family home environment to people who were incurably sick and physically disabled. At that time institutional rehabilitation was the only form of support to such people.

The steering committee was formed in 1969 and with enthusiastic support from the local community, land was bought on Mpererwe hill and building work commenced almost immediately. In the same year the steering committee and the Paraplegic Sheltered workshop Committee at Mulago national referral hospital merged to form the Katalemwa Cheshire Home for Paraplegics and Disabled. The Katalemwa Cheshire home started in 1970 with 12 residents and a nurse was appointed by government as a matron to care for them. In 1971 the Home was officially opened by Mr. Kibedi Wanume, the then Minister of foreign affairs under Gen. Iddi Amin's regime. This was a high profile home because high profile professionals from Makerere and Government were involved.

The home however suffered considerable setback during Iddi Amin's reign as president of Uganda . There was no external help coming in and the home was placed under the president's office with some little resources given to support it through the National Advisory Council on Disability. The matron and the local community maintained support to the home and kept it running with the 12 residents. Leonard Cheshire Foundation in the UK continued to send messengers of hope every now and then to encourage them.

In 1981 after the fall of Amin the original matron left and a new one was appointed by government. In 1982 Mrs. Tabernacle came back to revive the Home and in the same year Christofell Blinden Mission CBM, a German organisation, came in to support the home. In 1984 a decision was taken to develop the home to European standards. In 1988 Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, head of Leonard Cheshire Foundation came in person to Kampala with liaison officer Kevin Doheny and to make a plan for reconstructing the home following 20 years of strife in the country that had left it in ruins.

In 1989 a comprehensive reconstruction plan was drawn by Mr. GW Katatumba with the help of Ned Dowling, a volunteer from Ireland and Kevin Doheny. Reconstruction plan began with the foundation of a staff house in September the same year. 1990 because the home had suffered for many years due to lack of permanent staff, the chairman on behalf of the committee wrote to His Eminence Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga asking for sisters to run the home and take over management. The cardinal replied on 1 st march 1990 offering the services of the Good Samaritan sisters.

In 1992 the reconstruction of the Home was completed and Ned Dowling handed over the management to the sisters. In the same year Barbara Wendy Seville, a physiotherapist appointed by CBM arrived to spearhead medical rehabilitation for residents. This was around the time government adopted CBR as the main means of providing services to disabled people. So the home started admitting children and offering vocational training, medical treatment, physiotherapy and rehabilitation. The approach also started shifting from long term stay to short term stay of residents. The other factor that influenced this decision was cost i.e. it was not sustainable to keep people in a home for ever in any case this approach would only benefit a few people.

In 1993 there was a decision to conduct a major vocational training program for the original adult residents in preparation for their resettlement into the community. Residents were resettled in December with start-up kits, personal effects and start up money. In 1994 the home became a fully-fledged short stay medical rehabilitation centre for children with disabilities working closely with Kumi hospital. The name of the home changed to Katalemwa Cheshire Home for rehabilitation services. The home also coordinated support to several other homes in the east such as Nkokonjeru, Kumi, Budaka, Butiru and others.

At the beginning of the new millennium a National Council of Cheshire Homes was formed to coordinate activities of all the homes in Uganda . Katalemwa therefore ceased to have responsibility for the other homes and started increasing rehabilitation services both at the home and in collaboration with hospitals in Kampala . The home also started collaborating with partners organisations and these partners were referring children to the centre for rehabilitation.

In 2005 there was restructuring of the Home's governance system resulting into inception of a Board of directors and management team headed by a director. It was time to start operating and running the home professionally. A holistic approach to rehabilitation was introduced bringing on board educational support and skills development for parents and children. It was felt that medical care alone was not enough for a comprehensive rehabilitation of a child. Other forms of support were necessary and indeed children's other needs were being felt as they came to the centre. But there were also a number of new programmes the centre was taking on because donors had offered to support them. The centre was beginning to lose control and moving into a lot of new areas based on decisions taken by others. In 2006 therefore KCH decided to develop a strategic plan with a clear vision that would guide organisational and programme development.