Our Story

When he finally arrived in Kampala, he found himself at another police station, this time in Nakasero. He slept there for almost two weeks before being told, “This isn’t a refugee camp, you can’t stay here.”

He was then directed to Old Kampala Station, a police station that worked directly with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). When Bolingo arrived, he was told that he couldn’t enter the refugee camps set up around Uganda, as he didn’t yet have the proper status. He could apply for refugee status, but that process could take months.

Looking for a place to sleep, Bolingo was told about a broken-down bus, where a group of refugees had supposedly been staying. Men, women, and children—about sixty people from different countries—were living and sleeping on this bus, where water and sanitation facilities were scarce. Bolingo spent his nights on the bus and his days walking around Kampala, telling his story and learning as much of the local language as he could. He made connections with fellow refugees and locals alike. One of these connections was with Father Anthony, a priest sympathetic to the plight of urban refugees. The two formed a fast friendship, working together to create Agape Penda la Mungu, a foundation that funded a refugee transit site in the Ndejje Central Region. Bolingo became the house manager of the site, maintaining a cooking and cleaning roster for the residents and managing the day-to-day operations.