the
Mbuyu
Foundation
OUR
FOUNDERS
Rob
Dr Roberts Makanda is a Ugandan medical doctor who is passionate about seeing all people find freedom from the things that enslave.
Rob was born and raised in a small, mountainous village in beautiful
Uganda. While he had a very simple village life, his early childhood was filled with family, working alongside them in the fields from a young age and lots of love. This changed when at the age of 7 he lost his mum and baby sibling to complications during a horrible labour, and then his father died suddenly two months later from unknown causes.
This left him and his five siblings on their own. They were all separated from family but eventually, Rob found his way to a Salvation Army children’s home. He found love and a future there.
Through hard work and sponsorship, he was able to get a good education and eventually made it to Uni to study medicine and surgery.
His passion now is to use his skills as a doctor to help others—especially women like his mum. He is also passionate about seeing orphans like himself find a life worth living and find hope.
OUR
FOUNDERS
Leah
Leah Makanda has been passionate about orphans and Africa
since she first heard God speak to her at 12 asking her
“was she willing for Africa to be her home one day. “
Since then Leah has worked in childcare and social justice for
The Salvation Army and as a foster mum while doing many
mission trips to Africa, where she eventually met her husband.
A whirlwind romance and marriage quickly followed and
resulted with her packing up and moving to Uganda.
One thing Leah is passionate about is people having access to good health services as she was born with a rare medical condition and has known what it is like to need good medical care and surgeries as a young child.
This passion certainly increased and expanded to include good maternal care - when Leah and Rob got pregnant with their first child - a baby Dr's said would never be. With an incredibly rare pregnancy complication occurring, Leah was rushed back to Australia, to ensure their baby's and her survival.
Leah and Rob found out just how important access to quality maternal care was -if they had not had access to get Leah home to Australia during their pregnancy—Leah and their beautiful son would not be here today. This was the same story when they were blessed with their second pregnancy. They also found out how important NICU care is for premmies and special needs newborns with both their baby boys needing these facilities.
This experience has made both Rob and Leah even more passionate
about ensuring that all Ugandan women have the same access to
quality maternal and antenatal care.
Both Rob and Leah are incredibly passionate about seeing orphans
and children experience the love and care that every child deserves.
And see that quality education is the primary way to help orphans
and men and women find their way out of poverty.
Overriding all of this is their deep love for God and their desire for all people to know the love and acceptance a relationship with Him brings. And the desire to show His love in practical ways
It is these things that lead them to begin THE MBUYU FOUNDATION - they have big dreams for the future - far too many to a name yet - but their goal is just to follow God's leading.