Plot 1096. Block 18, Sir Albert Cook Road
Our History
READ OUR HISTORY
In 2017, during Francis Ssuubi ‘s visit to Professor Rebecca Ginsburg and the Education Justice Project in Urbana Champagne ,Illinois USA, Francis learned about their re-entry guide for Illinois. It drew mostly from work at Danville Prison. So He asked Rebecca if they could help Uganda create its first such guide. They asked for a letter from Uganda Prisons to request that support which was got .
In 2018, Rebecca Ginsburg came to Uganda with her daughter Anna and Mr Johnny page a researcher from the US. She joined forces with Ugandan researchers, many of whom had been in prison before. Their main goal was to find available resources and ways to help people leaving prison in Uganda.
The research was to aid the documentation of Uganda’s first ever Re-entry guide, a booklet that is meant to offer information to people in prison about how to access the basic needs and services during and after incarceration like medical care, education, obtaining a national ID, getting a passport and many others.
The research led us inside the prisons. One key question was this: what support would you want if you left prison today?
At Uganda Prisons Women’s Prison in Luzira, the women said they needed a home most of all. They wanted a place to stay before returning to old homes or finding new ones. A transitional home to rest and rebuild.
Whereas both men and women face challenges resettling back in their communities, the research showed that given their vulnerability women are more disadvantaged and can hardly manoeuvre through their communities unlike their male counterparts. The men, are often easily accepted in their communities and homes which Is the direct opposite for the women.
As we left the prison, Francis talked with Rebecca Ginsburg. He asked her how she could help Wells of Hope start this home. She right away named Susan Burton. Later, she linked us with Susan, and set up a visit to Wells of Hope Uganda.
During her trip to Uganda, Susan also went to Luzira Women’s Prison. She asked the same question about support upon release. The women repeated their need for a transitional home. They gave clear reasons.
The women shared that they often have fear when they are almost completing their sentences because they worry about where to go. They Cannot immediately return to their communities because When they were arrested, their homes broke apart. Their Husbands remarry. Children scatter to relatives or even vanish. Women said that they lose contacts with their family members while in incarceration .Other women face community scorn for their crimes. Stigma hits hard because the community sees them indifferent, since women are seen as angels who are not supposed to commit crimes and yet many cases involve false charges
So upon release, they have nowhere to turn. Old homes are gone. Past communities turn hostile and threaten violence. They need a safe spot to stay short-term before heading to old homes or building new ones.
During Susan Burton’s visit in the women’s prison, there was one woman who said that she was going to leave the prison the following week and needed a place to stay. That motivated Susan who asked Wells of Hope to find a house to rent, although Francis’s idea was to buy land and build, but because Susan thought it was urgent and cheaper at that time to find a house to rent so that the woman she had encountered in prison and other women could have a place to stay upon release. SO Since 2019 Susan Burton through her organisation A New Way of Life Re-entry Project has been sponsoring the safe home until 2025 when it was paused. We wish to thank Prof. Rebecca Ginsburg greatly for being behind the formation of the Wells of Hope Women Safe Home . In many ways we Rebecca Ginsburg is not only the dream connector but also The Women’s Safe home God parent because she was there at the birth of the safe home and has continuously provided morally support, mentorship and financial support especially at the hardest moments.
Our first resident was Zakiya. She had served one year in prison with no place to go. We picked her up and brought her to the Safe Home for two weeks.
Zakiya had lost her sister’s phone number from before her arrest. She planned to stay near Kampala to seek work. Without any ID, finding a job proved tough.
She reached out to a friend who offered job help and a place to live. So she left the Safe Home.
Since then, many women have passed through the Wells of Hope Women’s Safe Home. More will come. They view it as a true home and refuge. It lets them recover and begin again.
