Change the Truth: Changing the Reality of Ugandan Orphans

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Change the Truth is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the children of St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood in the small town of Kajjansi, Uganda. About 2.2 million children in the country have lost one or both of their parents and are often left to fend for themselves. Many end up living on the streets, while others are taken in by relatives who have few resources themselves. Those who are lucky find their way to a boarding school or orphanage.  St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood houses approximately 180 children, providing them with food, shelter, security, clothing, medicine, care, education, and vocational skills training. Due to lack of government support, the orphanage has limited resources.



Since partnering with St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood, Change the Truth has significantly improved the lives of the kids living at the orphanage. The non-profit's major accomplishments to date include ensuring the children get three meals each day, acquiring new bedding, establishing a computer lab and textbook library, providing glasses and hearing aids to those who need them, and installing a safer kitchen. Change the Truth has also provided more than 30 kids with academic scholarships for secondary school, college, or vocational school. In addition, musical instruments and uniforms have been supplied to form the SMK Marching Band, which serves as an enrichment opportunity for the children and an extra source of income for the orphanage.

Change the Truth was founded by fine art and portrait photographer Gloria Baker Feinstein, who traveled to east Africa in 2006 as a participant in a photography workshop. It was on this trip that she met the children of St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood. Feinstein couldn't stop thinking about the children after her return home, so she decided to do something to help and launched Change the Truth within three months. She visits the orphanage every year and continues to take on photography projects.