OUR STORY
Finding Purpose
Peace for Children, Africa (PCA) was established by Alitia Paul Alishton (“Uncle Paul”) in 2009 as a street child outreach program in the Kisenyi Parish of Kampala.
Paul is a former street child himself. Like many of the children PCA helps today, his parents had no money to look after him, feed him, or send him to school and he left home at a young age. He lived on the streets of Jinja, Uganda for a year learning how to survive by collecting bottles and metal scraps to sell for food. Street life was challenging, and, like many homeless children, he became addicted to drugs to numb the suffering.
The Path Less Traveled
In 1998 he made his way to the capital of Kampala with some friends where they would sleep on the veranda of the nakaaero market and get up early to look for scraps and to sell drugs in Kisenyi to get by.
Eventually he was approached by Cornerstone Development Africa to join a youth corps program. He was placed into school and participated in culture and arts programs and eventually served with Cornerstone to help other children with behavioral and lifestyle changes through similar outreach programs by sharing his own personal story to spread hope.
Initiating Change
As he gained experience, he decided to begin reaching out to children on his own in the same neighborhoods he had been homeless in. He met many children who were addicted to drugs, many who had untreated wounds and infections, and others who had malaria or were suffering from hunger and exposure.
Empowering Communities
During this time two of the children he had been reaching out to died on the streets and he realized he needed to do more.
He immediately started cooking food for children in Kisenyi and taking them to get medication when they were sick. He invited his friends and families to volunteer and help and this eventually turned into the PCA outreach program.
Providing Support
In 2008 he rented a large room to give some of the children a place to sleep and began sponsoring them in school and attempting to find their families and resettle them back at home when possible. From there PCA grew into the program it is today.
Helping Children Grow & Succeed
Paul is married and, beyond the hundreds of children PCA supports each year, he also as four children of his own. Through PCA Paul has been able to realize his passion to help other street children, homeless individuals, and at-risk women rise above their circumstances.