Starlight Family’s founder, Lukyamuzi James had a difficult start to life and therefore knows the difficult conditions faced by many living in his local area today.
“In Uganda, there was a political war of 1980’s which affected a lot my home district of Kiboga, and it claimed many lives of mature people, as they where regarded as rebels. This situation left Kiboga district to be one of the districts with the highest rates of both orphans, and homeless children. Even my own parents where killed in that same war. The family which raised me as an orphan before I was taken to my former orphanage home known as St.Noah’s Family told me that my father was a freedom fighter, and he went into the war, leaving my mother pregnant with me. My father never made it back home and my mother was raped and killed by the rebels, when I was only two weeks old.”
Whilst James was growing up in St. Noah’s orphanage in Kiboga he received sponsorship for his education and other needs from David Amrein who hoped that Jame’s would one day, some how James would use the opportunity given to him to help others.
Jame’s charisma, selfless attitude and abundance of energy has nurtured the organisation since 2010 reaching out to those who live in remote places and are in need of practical and emotional support.
In 2021, after a visit from the director of a charity in Kampala, Uganda that advocates for human and non human lives, the Starlight Family directors pledged that animals will not be exploited or suffer as a consequence of the charitable works that are undertaken. Practically this means that funds will not be raised from the sale of animals or animal products, that the charitable meals provided will be plant based, and that additional products used during the course of the charities works will not contain animal products. Additionally the Starlight Family is keen to start spreading the message of compassion for beings by adding animal welfare education to the projects that they deliver.
Currently donations are helping with food, clothing, shelter and the medicinal and educational needs of beneficiaries. In the longer term Starlight Family plans not only to raise standards of living for the most vulnerable but to help the community and the charity itself to become self-supporting.
