Story
Herbert Seka was a 38-year-old entrepreneur from Kampala who, in a tragically common story, died unexpectedly of severe hypertension. He leaves behind 8 of his own children and 12 other orphans he was supporting after their parents died from AIDS. At the time of his death, Herbert was building three houses to act as rentals to support the children but sadly passed away before these were complete. Herbert’s family hope to finish these apartments so that they can be rented out to generate money to support the children.
Herbert was the nephew of Robert Kalyesubula, a remarkable doctor who is one of a handful of nephrologists in Uganda. I am lucky enough to have Robert studying for a PhD at LSHTM with myself and Professor Liam Smeeth. He has been a dedicated Principle Investigator for the ARK study examining how to accurately measure kidney function in sub-Saharan Africa. Robert has also worked closely with Dr Gavin Dreyer, a nephrologist with an interest in global Health for the last ten years. Robert lost his father at the age of six and grew up in an orphanage: as well as working as a doctor and academic he runs a community based organization to help orphans in Uganda: accessuganda.org . As Robert says ‘in Uganda, dads are mostly still the bread winners and once they are gone the family suffers a lot’. He and his family have without hesitation taken on caring for Herbert’s children and the orphans he supported.
This is a difficult time for so many people but any small contributions to go towards finishing the rental properties will make a huge difference. As Robert says here ‘when I look at an orphan I see a future doctor’. Gavin and myself will take full responsibility to ensure that all donations go directly to support Herbert’s children.
