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Connie Frisbee Houde describes the work of Jajja's Kids' staff, including director Ronnie Sseruyange, whom Reiner met in 2006 and was an inspiration for starting Jajja's Kids and he has been integral to its sustained success. (Paul Grondahl/For the Times Union)

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Grondahl: Transforming lives of Uganda's former street kids

Paul Grondahl

Wed, October 22, 2025 at 7:05 AM EDT

TROY - Mark was 13 and waged a daily battle of survival, begging for food and searching for a bench to sleep on as an orphaned teen in the sprawling slums of Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Today, at 23, Mark is completing a civil engineering degree at the International University of East Africa in Kampala. Capital Region donors pay his $5,000 annual cost for tuition, room and board through Jajja's Kids, a not-for-profit organization formed in 2007 by Diane Reiner of Troy.

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Photo coustesy of Diane Reiner

Grondahl: Street kids from Uganda’s slums now university students - 4/10/2024

How a man in Uganda and an organization in Albany helped pull children out of impoverished conditions

By Paul Grondahl, Columnist April 10, 2024

Diane Reiner, 77, who is called "jajja," which means grandmother in the Ugandan language, on a recent trip to meet Ronnie Sseruyange, 37, who oversees the Jajja's Kids home in Kampala. They consider each other family after 15 years leading the grass-roots, all-volunteer organization with an annual budget of $90,000. Diane Reiner, 77, who is called "jajja," which means grandmother in the Ugandan language, on a recent trip to meet Ronnie Sseruyange, 37, who oversees the Jajja's Kids home in Kampala. They consider each other family after 15 years leading the grass-roots, all-volunteer organization with an annual budget of $90,000.

See entire article here

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-street-kids-uganda-s-slums-now-19393101.php