Teddy Nakanwagy, a trained secondary school teacher, has been running the Anne Namuddu Motherhouse in Masaka since 2013, where 60 to 70 vulnerable children have found a home. ‘Vulnerable’ refers to orphans or half-orphans from families affected by HIV and other diseases, as well as children from families who are unable to care for them for other reasons. In addition to providing a bed, regular meals, Christian education and a structured daily routine, Teddy and her team ensure that the children attend school. She selects the right school for them, ensures that the children have what they need for school, such as school uniforms and learning materials, arranges for school fees to be paid on time, maintains contact with the school administration and teaching staff, and checks their report cards. The older children attend their respective boarding schools and only come to the Motherhouse during the holidays between terms (three per school year). The younger children attend kindergarten (preschool) on a day basis and come home every evening.

The costs of school attendance are financed by donations from Germany. In addition, there are a large number of school sponsorships from individual donors or institutions such as schools, kindergartens, associations, church communities or foundations, which collect the necessary funds. Coordination of this has so far been in the hands of an association in Aalen/Baden-Württemberg, the Aalener Freundeskreise für Uganda n.e.V. (Aalen Friends of Uganda). Our foundation will take over this organisational task at the beginning of the year. The same applies to the donations needed to finance the operating costs of the Motherhouse. Part of these operating costs are financed by agricultural products that the Motherhouse produces as a sideline, e.g. by keeping chickens and selling eggs or growing bananas and maize.

Since 2021, we have been financing school expenses for 16 children and young people from our project budget. In the meantime (as of 2025), the number has grown to 23 children and young people. On our annual trips to Uganda, we visit the children and young people at their schools. At the end of each term, Teddy provides us with the children's report cards and progress reports. Every two to three years, Teddy, who speaks fluent German, comes to the United Kingdom to visit the many donors and funding institutions.

23-year-old Pius lives in a small village southwest of the capital Kampala with his grandmother and four half-siblings. He is involved in a student group in the Catholic diocese of Masaka. After successfully completing his school education, which he had to work hard for and fight for due to his family's lack of financial resources, he now wants to study agricultural management in his first semester at Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi. Without financial assistance, this is not possible for him. We pay his tuition fees through a scholarship.

Teddy, from the Motherhouse in Masaka, sent us the following email in December 2024:

Dear Thomas,

As we discussed, in case anyone would like to give us another Christmas present, I would like to introduce you to the girl pictured above, who was born into a family with ten siblings. The mother has mental health issues. The name of the child's father is known, but we are not sure if he is the biological father because the mother is taken advantage of by many different men due to her mental state. The child lives with us in the same village and often comes home to sell various things, such as amaranth (green vegetables), to provide for and support her family. She attended school (3rd grade primary school) but does not have a certificate because she could not pay the fees. To help her, we think she needs to change schools and we will send her to a boarding school. We would be grateful if the T+H Hoene Foundation could help. If you have any questions about her, please get in touch. Once again, warm regards from warm Uganda. Mary Teddy

In Uganda, Agnes, who helps her mentally ill mother and her 10 siblings survive by selling vegetables at the market, will have no prospects in life without a sufficient school education and may end up falling victim to teenage pregnancy. A school where she can learn what she really wants to learn and where she gets something to eat every day is the most important thing that can help her. We have now found sponsors for Agnes who have agreed to cover the long-term costs of her school education with a donation to our foundation.

Since our trip to Tanzania/Uganda in November 2022, we have been supporting the St. Jude Nursery & Primary Day and Boarding School in Kikondo-Kyotera, approximately 30 km southwest of Masaka, Uganda. The school was founded in 2019 by Jude Kayiwa to give 118 children from poor families, who are usually unable to pay school fees, the opportunity to receive a proper education. The school has defined its goal as educating young citizens with proper social behaviour, equipping them with knowledge, skills and values for a sustainable life. Its vision is holistic education for sustainable development. In the four years since its establishment, the number of students has risen to over 400, of whom approximately 120 live at the school as boarders during term time. During our visit in November 2022, we took the children into our hearts, just as they took us into theirs. As a sign of a planned long-term partnership, we planted an avocado tree on the school grounds. However, we also saw that there is much to be done with the school's very sparse facilities.

One of the first tasks to be tackled was to ensure that the school had a clean source of drinking water. Until now, the schoolchildren had to fetch the water needed for school operations from a distant water hole and carry it in canisters on their heads across a busy road to the school. The water fetched in this way was not sufficiently clean. With the support of the Solidarity and Justice Foundation Our Agenda - Solidarity and Justice Foundation (stiftungsolidaritaet.de) and thanks to many donors, we were able to raise the funds to dig and construct a drinking water well on the school grounds. A company from Masaka specialising in well construction dug a well within a month and installed an elevated tank on top of it. The well can pump up to 5,000 litres of fresh water per day. As long as the water is not needed for daily washing and cooking at the school, it can be used in future for a small agricultural business that is to be set up for the school. The surrounding population will also benefit from this new source of fresh water. The 402 schoolchildren are delighted. They and we would like to thank all supporters from the bottom of our hearts.

A little later, we were able to take another step forward by financing a minibus for the school to transport pupils on a daily basis. Especially during the rainy season, it was almost impossible for many children who live up to 5 km away from the school to walk to and from school every day through mud and slush. This often made it impossible for these children to attend school regularly. With the school's own bus, this is no longer a problem.

With our financial support, the school buildings were completely renovated during the long holidays after the 2024 school year. Roofs were replaced, windows were replaced or installed for the first time, and the facades of the buildings were renovated.

The latest development is the construction of a new sanitary facility on the school grounds. We have been granted a subsidy of €25,000 from the EZ Small Projects Fund of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). We are financing the necessary contribution ourselves together with the Hans Mendel Foundation from Wernau/Baden-Württemberg. At the end of this school year in early December 2025, the existing sanitary building will be demolished and replaced by a completely new one with modern standards for washing facilities and toilets. After appropriate treatment, the waste will be processed into agricultural fertiliser. Following the new construction, hygiene education will be carried out at the school over an entire school year as part of a project called ‘Clean makes healthier’ with specially trained mentors, the results of which will also be passed on to the schoolchildren's families.

The origin:

Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of approximately 47.5 million, whose average age is 16.7 years. This makes Uganda the country with the youngest population in the world. On average, every woman in Uganda gives birth to 4 to 5 children. According to statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and UN aid organisations, almost a quarter of children born in 2018 were to mothers aged 18 or younger. The number of so-called ‘teenage births’ has risen sharply since 2019, particularly under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Factsheet on Teenage Pregnancy, 2021http.//uganda.unfpa.org)

Street prostitution and forced marriage of young underage daughters were and still are a last desperate resort for parents in Uganda to escape poverty and hardship. From birth, or often even earlier, young mothers, who are often children themselves, are left alone and do not know how to help themselves. Family ties in Uganda are often fragile due to poverty and large numbers of children. Far too many adolescent girls are still treated as sexual objects rather than as people who can make their own decisions about their lives.

Stephen Kabuye, Gorreth Namganda and Benita Lovisa Byakatonda know these fates only too well from their own experience.

Benita Lovisa (28) was born in eastern Uganda, in the Luuka District, one of the poorest regions in Uganda. She has a total of 19 siblings, most of whom are half-siblings. After she was born as her mother's second child, her father left the family and had several other wives, with whom he had a total of 11 children. Her mother had four more children by another man, but also suffered two miscarriages. Benita's stepfather felt there were too many children in the house, so her mother had to give her away. With a lot of luck, she found someone who would take care of her like a parent.

Steven (35) grew up in Bombo, about 30 km north of the capital Kampala, as one of his father's 21 children from a total of five wives. During his childhood, he was passed from family to family. No one paid his school fees. The fact that he was able to become an excellent teacher despite this is solely due to his outstanding achievements as a schoolchild.

Gorreth (23) grew up in the Anne Namuddu orphanage in Masaka. The orphanage is home to 60 to 70 children, most of whose parents have died of HIV or are so seriously ill that they cannot care for their children. The director of the orphanage often hears about neglected or sick children, and frequently about very young single mothers who have to give their children away so that someone can take care of them. They find a new home in the orphanage in Masaka, where they receive support with school fees and are accommodated in boarding schools.

The idea:

With outside help, all three were able to go to school, graduate successfully and complete equally successful training as teachers or childcare workers. During their training, the three got to know each other, shared their respective pasts and jointly decided to use their modest means not only to to work hard to give the many young mothers and their children, who like them had no help and no hope in their childhood, a chance, a chance and hope that would bring smiles to the faces of the children and mothers. This is how the idea of ‘Smiling Angels’ came about. They themselves describe the core idea of ‘Smiling Angels’ as follows:

Every child is a gift from God and every child is unique. In Uganda, we believe that children are angels and gifts from God. We restore the smiles that have been lost and forgotten by young teenage mothers, orphans and vulnerable children in order to create a sense of togetherness with those who have had and continue to have the privilege of growing up in better circumstances, bridging the otherwise immeasurable gap. That is why we chose the name SMILING ANGELS DAY CARE AND NURSERY, to put a smile on the faces of these angels and their mothers.

The beginning:

This is the name of a kindergarten and primary school founded in 2023 by three wonderful young people with big hearts in Katalemwa/Wakiso.

The first step has been taken – a roof over their heads to protect them from the sun and rain

In June 2025, we received the following message from Stephen, Gorreth and Lovisa:

"Dear Thomas and all our friends at Smiling Angels, we hope you are well.

Thank you very much for all the work you do for us. We cannot forget the wonderful time and the beaming faces you gave us during your last visit.

We apologise for the late notification. The second half of the school year has started well and, of course, we have welcomed some new students to our community. Currently, the youngest child with us is 1.5 years old. We have some children in the daycare centre who are picked up by their parents in the evening. Unfortunately, we still have limited space and would now like to raise money for a sunshade so that these little children have a shady, safe place where they can play and, of course, learn without being exposed to the sun or rain. This group (daycare centre) always includes children aged 6 months to 2 or 3 years, depending on the child and, of course, the parents. These children later come to our nursery school to learn.

In the daycare centre, they mainly learn how to interact and play with others.

Best regards from the entire Smiling Angels family.

Best regards and have fun

Stephen, Gorreth and Lovisa"

Just a few weeks later, we were able to implement this idea together. Since 29 July 2025, a sturdy tent has been standing on the premises of the facility. Stephen, Gorreth and Lovisa, but above all the children, are delighted. The first lessons and the morning breakfast together have already been held in the spacious tent. A reason for renewed smiles from these children and their mothers, who had so little to smile about before they came to this wonderful Smiling Angels facility.