Our Saint.
Born to a poor farming family in Piedmont, Italy, John Bosco was a playful, joyful boy who loved performing magic tricks and entertaining others. As he grew and discovered his great love for Christ, he used his talent for entertaining people as a method for drawing people to Christ. John had a great passion for teaching the catechism and after his ordination, he developed “oratories” which were meant to be places of prayer, study, and apprenticeship and were especially effective in giving street children a safe place to go, study, pray, play, and discover the love, joy, and freedom of children of God.
Fr. John Bosco was fondly called “Don Bosco” by those whom he served. He went on to found the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Salesian Sisters, and the Association of Salesian Cooperators who were dedicated to the care of young people. By the time of his death at 73, on January 31, 1888, Saint John Bosco had founded 250 Salesian houses, serving 130,000 children. To this day Salesians continue to serve young people in the spirit of their founder.
St. John Bosco is our Patron Saint. Fr. Katende is grateful for the education and help he received from Salesian schools in Uganda. And even though we are not a Salesian organization, we pray for Don Bosco’s intercession and ask for his inspiration in finding the best way to serve children and families in Masindi and Hoima Uganda, to bring them into the fullness of joy in Christ, and also to help them to discover and achieve new possibilities for their future.
St. John Bosco, Ora Pro Nobis!
Our Mission.
DBCF Uganda seeks to love and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ, by serving with joy in HIs name, sharing his Good News, and enacting Christian love and mercy. We deliver economic aid where needed and endeavor to create educational and economic opportunities as well as to help build safer and healthier communities.
Through our ministry we strive to help raise up morally grounded, spiritually strong, soundly educated children and to strengthen and support families who will positively impact the future of their communities, their churches, and their nation.
Our Story.
Don Bosco Children’s Foundation Uganda was founded in Uganda by Fr. Andrew Katende in 2017 and formally registered in the U.S. as a 501 c3 charity in 2019 by Mr. and Mrs. Dan and Rebecca Pettigrew of Pittsburgh, PA . The Pettigrews and Mr. Jorge Pecci of South Carolina comprise the Board of Directors, stateside. DBCF Uganda is dedicated to serving vulnerable children and families in villages outside of Kampala, especially in the areas of Kiryanjagi, Hoima, Pakanyi, and Masindi. Fr. Katende is joined by three wonderful ministers of mercy, Carol Maria, Jacinta, Maria Dianah. Together, these four are dedicated to evangelization of the poor and bringing comfort, aid, and hope to the disadvantaged by developing educational opportunities, meeting critical health care needs, and creating new sustainable economic opportunities where there once were none. DBCF Uganda is primarily a Facebook-driven foundation and as such, our donors have become like a family to us as we work together to bring the vision of our Founder, Fr. Katende, into reality. Explore this Site to see what big things our small foundation has accomplished so far and what dreams are currently being dreamt. As you browse, consider yourself invited to join our little family of prayer warriors and cheerful givers!
“It is not enough to love the young; they must know that they are loved.”
— St. John Bosco
