About us
The idea behind the organisation:
Intercultural exchange: Stays for volunteers from different cultural backgrounds in authentic environments and families. This promotes and enables immersion in and understanding of the respective culture.
“Interdependence”: Mutual sponsorship and partnership. Stays and partnerships based on “mutual dependence” offer a rich experience as a form of education.
International understanding and friendship: Respect and understanding of others or strangers as the basis for “knowledge.”
These are prerequisites for any kind of international activity. Also for any kind of international relationship.
Management of the Orutindo Organization
Chairperson/Founder: Joseline Amutuhaire
Vice Chairperson: Jurij Vasiljev
Treasurer: Tomas Ondrusek
The Orutindo project is coordinated by various volunteers:
Byamukama Innocent (Uganda), Uta-Alexandra (Germany), the Winter family (Austria), “the aunts” (Switzerland), Eric (Belgium), Jitka (Czech Republic), as well as various other friends who volunteer to coordinate or organize various activities to support the Orutindo children in Uganda.
My name is Joseline Amutuhaire-Ondrusek, founder of Orutindo.
I was born in Rushooka, Uganda, in 1983. My parents died in 1994, leaving us children completely orphaned. I moved with my two little sisters to my aunt in the village. Ivica Peric from Bosnia, a priest from our parish, took care of us like a parent and fortunately enabled me to attend school and university, where I graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in ethics and development studies. Ivica Peric taught me that it is more joyful to give than to receive.
In 2007 I also met my husband Tomas, in 2008 we got married and today we have three wonderful children. We see and know how important it is for children that their basic needs are met.
My dream was to give other children in Rushooka access to education as well. That’s how Tomas and I started to realize this project. On a property inherited from my parents, we set up a center to be used as an intercultural education and information center and handed it over to the Orutindo Association as a sponsor. We rented out my parents’ house to one of the schools in the area. Instead of charging rent for it, we can send some students to this school. Further, we have set up a small resort and campsite on Lake Bunyonyi. Every year we bring tourists there to travel around Uganda. Half of the income we earn from these travelers is used for our projects.
During our first year together in Uganda, many children came to ask for accommodation, food and school fees. Yes, this project is real and necessary to provide a home for some children who have no shelter, to host volunteers who work , for example with children and so on… In Uganda, education is very expensive, but many people have no income, and without education, people remain trapped in the cycle of poverty.
I believe in the words of Nelson Mandela: “Education is the only weapon in the fight against poverty…”“
You can read the full story of my life as a book: “Fatherless is Rootless.” Please order by e-mail for only 10 euros – the amount goes to Orutindo. Email for order:
I am Tomas Ondrusek, a musician and ethnomusicologist. Over many years, I learned from other cultures and realised more and more how much more enriching it is to learn than to teach. After our first stays in Uganda and the experience of a fruitful intercultural exchange, my wife Joseline and I founded the Orutindo association. Since then, we have developed several projects for Orutindo and built a number of buildings on the site. The number of children has also increased more than tenfold! And although we have had our own family with children for a long time, Orutindo remains our child, which we lovingly care for.
Yuri Vasilyev is a theatre professional from St. Petersburg and was an important driving force behind Orutindo. Shortly after the organisation was founded, he visited Uganda and contributed ideas for the first projects. It was he who wanted to personally sponsor Orutindo’s first sponsored child – whom he met and grew fond of while there – and send him to a better school. This is how the idea of ‘personal sponsorships’ came about. Today, Ronadi has a job and a future, because Yuri insisted that his supported child should go to the capital to see and experience new things.
I am Innocent Byamukama, coordinator of the ORUTINDO KIDS FOUNDATION.
I am a teacher and have a master’s degree in educational psychology.
My job is to ensure that all school programs and activities run smoothly and that the children attend school.
Amelia Niwahereza
26 years old, house mother at Orutindo Kids Education Center. Talented in sewing and knitting; currently completing secondary school. She takes care of the Orutindo house and the children in Orutindo.
Amelia joined Orutindo in 2019. She does not know her parents. However, her grandmother was unable to pay for her secondary school education and asked Joseline Amutuhaire to give her granddaughter a chance. In 2027 she will join the St. Francis School Sisters. After that, she may go on to study at the university.
Robert Aguma
Age 24, reliable caretaker from Orutindo House, Aunties Resort and more. He has been in this role since 2019 and hopes for many more years.
Desire Ayebare
21 Jahre alt, Verwalterin, Zimmermädchen und Managerin bei AUNTIES. Freundlich und neu in dieser Rolle, gibt sie ihr Bestes, um das AUNTIES Resort sauber, ordentlich und gemütlich zu halten, damit sich die Gäste sicher und geborgen fühlen. Desire ist die erste “Alumni” des Orutindo Kids Projekts. Mit 16 wurde sie nach der Hauptschule in eine Haushaltslehre aufgenommen und wurde dort nach deren Abschluss weiter beschäftigt. Nun wendet sie ihre Erfahrungen für Orutindo an.
“This project brings so much joy when we can put a smile on the faces of unfortunate children. We ask everyone to join us, come with us, and help us to help others. You can either support a child at school or in everyday life with food, clothing, medicine, etc., donate used laptops for our children, or volunteer at the center.”
(Joseline Amutuhaire)
