Hello all! November has been an amazing month for us and were all very excited for the month of December and this holiday season. And although the boys continue to inspire us every day, we decided throughout the next few weeks we will be posting interviews with the faces behind Streets To Success, this includes co-founders, board members, and other staff members. We are a small organization and we want you all to take this journey with us and get to know us as well.
We will be back to posting regular monthly updates in January and continue to post updates on Facebook and Instagram.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Interview Streets To Success Foundation (STSF).
Annabelle Brigandi – Co-Founder
Can you give us a little background on yourself?
I have been working in Uganda for almost 3 years on and off and have loved every second of it! Back in the states I work primarily with adults with disabilities. I have had a unique education that allows me to as hands on and learn on the ground while I continue to learn more. I have received majority of my post high school education online through various courses and received various certifications such a First Aid and CPR, Basic Life Support, MAB, CPI, Caring for Vulnerable Children, and I continue to work to educate myself so I can give the boys the best version of me I can! These boys are incredible. I believe they are as deserving of the same level of respect and dignity as you would want for your own children. We are working towards destigmatizing the children experiencing homelessness and part of working towards that and being their advocates is listening to their voices, the other staff who were also once on the streets and making sure we are respecting their wishes and concerns and get a better understanding of them. In addition to making sure we are practicing ‘patient confidentiality’ and never using these kids struggles as promotion for us. All of us on staff are constantly working to keep ourselves educated and willing to learn more and be flexible, as these kids are all unique individuals and have different needs and wants and we are working to make sure that each individual kid gets their needs met.
Can you explain a little bit about how you first came to Uganda and how you met the boys?
I first came to Uganda in early February 2017 as a volunteer, I originally was set up to be at a local orphanage but moved to work with a local special needs school in Entebbe. I still keep close contact to the School (Friends of People with Disabilities) and I am so honored to have met them and work with them on and off for the last almost 2 years. I met the boys February of 2018 as I was invited to join another outreach in Kisenyi, instantly I felt a strong desire to continue my work there.
What caused you to continue your work with the boys in Kisenyi?
I instantly felt drawn to continue working with the boys in Kisenyi. I was lucky enough that these boys welcomed me into their lives, I originally began going into Kisenyi with Esther and Aoife Buckley. We went in everyday without any outreach just to get to know the boys, to work with them, go to various events such as basketball, provide free medical (by Aoife Buckley – Nurse). Shortly after I began sponsoring 2 boys, one for welding school and one for a more traditional education. As time continued and the more I got to know these boys, and the situation within Kisenyi became worse and worse me and Aoife believed that this was the time to take the next step forward and begin Streets To Success Foundation.
Why did you choice to continue your work within Kisenyi with Streets To Success?
Me and Aoife began Streets To Success Foundation for a combination of many variables. We saw a need for more help to be done within Kisenyi, primarily with the older teenage boys as we saw that the options for them were limited and we felt we could fill this gap. As well as Aoifes experience in working with Mental Health concerns and as a Nurse she felt confident in her expertise to have a unique outlook on how to help these boys and not just for a short fix but a long-term solution to helping these boys. As well as we teamed up with others with different education, backgrounds that we all felt we could give a unique and educated view on how to help fix a small fraction of the homeless epidemic. And of course, our love and respect for the boys made it impossible to walk away.
When you’re in Uganda what does a day to day look like with STSF?
Every day is different from the last! We are continuing to learn more and more every day. The sponsorship house is similar to what you would expect a house full of teenage boys to be! Lots of movies, football(soccer), beach days, boxing, LOTS of food, and tons of laughter. These boys are full of energy and life we are working to make sure all the boys have some sort of outlet whether creative or exercise. We are beginning to have a schedule consisting of art, beach days, church / mosque outings, yoga and so on. On top of all that a handful of boys attend therapy. Most of our boys attend boarding school most of the year, so we regularly take visits to see the boys in school. We provide around 1 -2 home visits a year to their families as we work to prepare them to be integrated back into their family once they finish their education. As for Kisenyi, we have outreach twice a week, but we head into Kisenyi around 3-6x a week. We use this time to get to know the boys better, for Aoife to provide medical care. We are often asked how we pick boys to bring into our sponsorship home, and we don’t have a set formula. We wish we could bring in every boy but that is just not possible. We are open to bring in any age up to 25 years old, we do not discriminate against any mental health, disabilities, or health concerns. We typically ask for the boys who desire to come to our house to work towards being sober, come to program, and have good behavior. From there we try to monitor the boys for a few months, so we are able to form a bond with the boys and get to know them and their desired schooling and their background. From there it depends on if we have any availability in our home for a kid to join.
You are currently sponsoring kids with STSF can you explain that process a little more?
I sponsor 4 kids and I have a partner sponsorship for 1 other boy.
Three of the boys I sponsor I began sponsoring before we created Streets To Success Foundation and they are a big part of why I continued on to create STSF. I am so honored to be able to see them grow and watch them receive a higher education and get the medical care they need. I am so honored that they allowed me into their life and have them trust me and get to know them and their past and get to know their family. They are all incredible kids, and all the boys deserve an education, I decided to sponsor these specific kids as I felt an instant connection with them and the more I got to know them the more I was eager to help. Sponsoring a kid can be very fulfilling experience seeing them receive an education and the proper medical care is very vital to their future so I am so happy to be a part of it all and can’t wait to see what the future can hold!
What are your hopes for the boys and STSF in the next 5 years?
I hope we continue to grow as an organization and able to provide as much as we can for the boys. Ideally, we will be able to receive monthly funding’s so we can give the boys a fixed schedule of different events such as dance classes, therapy, boxing classes and provide an even more unique menu for their meals. In 5 years we will hopefully have a handful of our boys done with their sponsorship and we hope for them to get a fulfilling job and they will be able to take what they learned from their education and time in their sponsorship to the fullest potential and continue working towards what there are passionate about and being happy and healthy.
What are your hopes for the boys in Kisenyi for the future?
As much as we adore the boys we meet in Kisenyi, we hope that the large majority of the children on the streets go back to their families and the amount of children leaving home decreases massively. No child deserves to be on the streets so we would love to see the number of the children on the street to decrease. We would also love to see the stigma against the kids to decrease. Currently the children aren’t fully accepted into society, so we hope to see people both in the community and other expats fully appreciate the boys and who they are and what they have to offer the world.
What are your plans for the future?
I will be coming back to Uganda In 2 weeks for around 9 months or so. I am so happy that all our boys have received a sponsor for their education, and we hope to receive sponsors for various events and general funds. Personally, I hope to start more art classes with the boys in the house and other creative outlets.
Last statement!
I am so proud of the team we have and so proud of all the boys! We want to continue to not just work with boys and their futures, but also the community and the portrayal of the boys. We want to destigmatize the boys on the streets, we want to end the exploitation of the boys, and continue to shift the focus from the bad to just how incredible these boys are.
