OUR STORY

It all began with a little boy named Joseph Kitimbo.

At just four years old, Joseph found himself abandoned on the streets of Uganda after his parents separated. Alone, hungry, and scared, he had no one to turn to. Yet, through hardship and resilience, he learned how to survive.

When he was seven, a kind-hearted family visiting from the UK found him crying alone on the street. They took him in and cared for him while they lived in Uganda. But when they returned to the UK, Joseph was left behind with distant relatives. There, he suffered mistreatment and eventually ran away, finding himself once again on the streets.

Joseph, once a street child himself, grew to become a trusted mentor and protector for other homeless children in Uganda. At 23, while working as a shoe shiner, he began helping street kids by offering food, hygiene support, and guidance. One of the children he helped, Emma, received life-saving surgery through a fundraiser Joseph and supporters organized.

Though temporary help came from a Kenyan man and later a church, both efforts ended, leaving the children vulnerable once again. 

A turning point came when a compassionate school teacher, Jacqueline, took in several of the boys, allowing them to live and attend school where she worked. 

Joseph then set up the Step Up Family Salon, training street boys as barbers to provide them with a livelihood. A tragic incident involving a child’s suicide after being abandoned motivated him to commit his life to protecting vulnerable children.

In 2015, Joseph and a small volunteer network officially founded the Step Up Family Organisation ; their mission was to keep children off the streets, supporting them with education, food, and a safe place to grow.

Kizzy Lovell visited Uganda some time after and met a girl called Suubi who she undertook to sponsor so she could stay in school. When she got home to the UK she started looking for sponsors for more and more children known to Joseph and so the Sponsorship programme began.

Meanwhile Joseph was building a school, Lovell Nursery and Primary School on land that belonged to his friend. In 2023 they began building a safehouse for children who have no family or have been illtreated by relatives

In 2023 Ally Gruber was successful in getting the Step Up Family Organisation registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Our charity number is 1203953. She also set up a Charity Business Bank Account with the Cooperative bank and remains as Treasurer sending your sponsorship to Uganda to pay for school fees, food and other things the children need to be able to attend school.

In 2026 there was a big change in the organisation with Kizzy Lovell and 2 other trustees leaving but we are continuing to build a stronger, resilient, transparent organisation with the children very much at the heart of all we do.

Although formal education is our main purpose we also try to ensure that the children are well fed, learn farming and other skills that they may need in the future and have fun!

Your support can make a difference. By sponsoring a child, you can help cover school fees and daily meals, offering them a real chance at a better future.

Together, we can help them step up—one child at a time.