“Pure religion is to care for orphans and widows.”
James 1:27 — The founding scripture of S.D. Christ Centre
The Founder
Ssemakula David
Director, Founder, and former sponsored child. David’s story begins where every child at S.D. Christ Centre begins with loss, and with the question of who would step in.
Age 6
From the Street to the Classroom
Ssemakula David was six years old when he lost both of his parents. Left alone, with no one to take him in and no roof he could call his own, David learned early what it means to be a child the world has forgotten.
It was through the Bethlehem Parents School for Orphans that David was rescued and he credits God’s will for bringing him there. He arrived as one of thousands of children in Uganda who fall through every safety net. He left, years later, as someone determined that no child in his community would fall through his.
2007
A Sponsor Changed Everything
David completed primary school, but the orphanage had no budget to move him into secondary education. He remained for a year waiting, and trusting.
Then a group of students from St. Bonaventure University in New York visited the orphanage. Through them, David secured a sponsor. He does not take this lightly. He knows personally what a sponsor means to a child, not as a concept, but as a lived experience that shaped his entire life.
2011–13
Handed the Keys
By 2011, David completed secondary school. By 2013, he was pursuing advanced studies in Divinity, Christian Religious Education, and Fine Arts until his sponsor wrote to say they could no longer support him at university level. David returned home.
He applied for a teaching post at a small village school. He excelled. But within a year, the school’s director decided to close it. David stood before him on behalf of the community and asked him not to. The director’s response changed everything: he handed David all the school’s documents, equipment, and responsibilities.
With the full support of the community, they began. That was the birth of S.D. Christ Centre.
The Land
Built on Donated Ground
Temporary classrooms gave way to a permanent block of four classrooms built with community support. Then Ms. Namubiru Miriam, who had originally intended to donate money to the orphans, changed her mind. Money was short-term. She donated the land instead.
David moved the Centre onto that land immediately. The rent stopped. The children had ground beneath their feet that belonged to them.
Today
320 Children. One Mission.
S.D. Christ Centre now cares for 320 orphaned children through an orphanage home, a community school from Baby class through Primary 6, and a monthly charity outreach programme serving 10 vulnerable families. David is 33 years old, single, and still pouring all of himself into the children God brings to his door.
Each child is, for him, a reminder of God’s grace. Because he was once one of them.
“So many people worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he/she is someone today.”
— Ssemakula David
Our Vision
Raising children to be healthy, happy, responsible, and independent adults.
We want to realise the full potential of every child in our care ensuring they can reintegrate into their community not as survivors, but as contributors.
Our Mission
A chance at life. A new start.
S.D. Christ Centre cooperates with local authorities and the community to offer orphans and endangered children a first-class education, access to health services, and the opportunity to grow up in a safe, warm, and familial environment.
Our Values
What we stand for
Christ-Centred
Every programme is grounded in James 1:27. Every child is offered the opportunity to know God and develop a personal, lifelong faith.
Child-First
Each of the 320 children is known by name. Support is tailored to their individual needs, gifts, and circumstances. Not a number but a person.
Holistic Care
Spiritual, educational, physical, and social growth are addressed together. A child who is fed but uneducated, or educated but unsafe, is not fully served.
Community Roots
Founded by David and the community. Built on donated land. Outreach extends back into the community. S.D. Christ Centre is of the community, not imposed upon it.
Zero Middleman
Every sponsorship dollar reaches the sponsored child directly. All transaction fees are covered by our US partner charity. No deductions. No exceptions.
Dignity & Hope
Children are not raised as charity cases. They are raised as healthy, happy, responsible, independent adults equipped to transform their community.
Our Context
Uganda: The Pearl of Africa
Called “the Pearl of Africa” by Winston Churchill, Uganda is a landlocked East African nation of extraordinary natural beauty and deep human resilience. Home to nearly 45 million people 65% of whom are under the age of 15. It is one of the world’s youngest nations.
Uganda embraces 52 distinct ethnic groups and is home to the source of the River Nile. But its history carries deep wounds: dictatorship, conflict, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has orphaned millions of children.
The average Ugandan lives on approximately $1 per day. 85% of the workforce depends on subsistence farming. It is in this reality that S.D. Christ Centre does its work every single day.
2.4 million children have been orphaned in Uganda since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began.
63% of all orphans in Uganda are living without both natural parents.
5,000+ Ugandans died of malaria in 2024. Children under five are most at risk.
Uganda is one of only four African countries with confirmed resistance to the standard malaria treatment.