Hassan`s House

 Hassan`s House.

Hassan with Birungi and Dodo
visiting the foundations!




  

Building in progress!



Hassan & Auntie Kate checking
on the progress.

  Hassan`s House was built in 2009 for none other than Mr Lubwama Hassan himself ! After living with many other orphaned and abandoned babies and toddlers at Hope House (now re-named Hope Family) for the first 7 years of his life, he decided (or rather the management at Kasana did,) that it was time for him to move out....

And so a wheelchair accessible, two bedroomed house was constructed in David Family to house Hassan and a full-time live in carer who was, at this point Kate Tolhurst (me!)

Hassan & Auntie Kate: July 2009

Hassan`s Bedroom.

Hassan`s Kitchen

Hassan`s 'Lounge' area.

We moved in at the end of July 2009. Hassan very quickly got accustomed to life in David family and enjoyed being taken on walks by his new brothers and sisters, attending family devotions and being included in day to day, family life!

As I became busier and busier with community work and plans for the special needs class, I finished training up Auntie Lydia and Auntie Jordanna to take over Hassan`s care and reluctantly moved out making room for Auntie Lydia to move in.

From LEFT TO RIGHT: Annet, Auntie Lydia (carer), Auntie Jordanna (carer)
Auntie Kate, Hassan, Sanyu, Judah and Kakulu.

Since then, Hassan`s house has grown both in size and in terms of how many people who live there.

In April 2010, an extra bedroom was built on for Kakande; a man of about 38 years with learning difficulties.Kakande is a real character and is loved by all of David family. He is also very helpful and loves to collect jerry cans of water from the water tower! He has not yet understood why he doesn`t get paid for collecting his own water but that is a whole other story! To read more about Kakande and why he needed a place to stay, please read 'Kakande`s Story.'

Kakande at a Family Fun Night.

Hassan`s second full time lodger is a very special little girl called Carol who also came to us from Hope Family. Carol is now two years old and has been diagnosed with 'global developmental delay.' However, those of us caring for her strongly suspect that she has cerebral palsy. She is not able to sit up independently or to talk and needs help with everything from bathing to eating and drinking. However, she has a gorgeous smile and certainly knows what she wants. Her main carer is a very lovely lady called Auntie Christine who is now in charge of running Hassan`s House.
Auntie Jordanna continues to work at Hassan`s but his main carer Auntie Lydia left us in May 2011 and has been replaced by Auntie Jane.

Auntie Jane feeding Hassan and Auntie Christine holding Allen.

Kakulu and Allen who are in Hassan`s class at school now also stay with us during the week (Monday until Thursday evening,) so that they are able to attend every day without having to come to and from school on bodas (motorbike taxis) which is obviously expensive and rather dangerous as both of them live quite some distance away from Kasana, way out in the bush!

Hassan with Kakulu, Carol and Allen.

So, as you can imagine, Hassan`s House is now a very busy place; full of fun and laughter, especially when Kakande is around. The other David family children often join us there to play games and chat about their school day. Kakande keeps the house supplied with water along with Uncle Charles. Although there is an underground cistern which should supply the house with running water, there seems to be big problems with it at the moment and it is always empty which is a pain!