Read the CEO & Co-founder's Story!
When you join KACS Ministries, you’re helping us unleash the potential in everyone, from employees and supporters to children and their families.
Philemon is the founder and CEO of Keep a Child’s Smile Ministry, a Christian, locally registered, child focused, social development community-based organization with a strong reputation for providing Education, Mentorship, Discipleship and Healthcare needs to over 52 vulnerable children from the fourteen sub-counties that make up Kisoro district in south western Uganda between the ages of three and fifteen.
When Philemon was 3 years old, his father was sucked from a local government job over tribalism matters in 1996 after the genocide of Rwanda that was made against the Tutsi in 1994, His father was left jobless with a responsibility to raise nine children. The family was left with no income, where they experienced intense vulnerability, poverty and exploitation.
It is through the years of struggle that, Philemon realized that although his father had lost his early job, he had a heavenly Father who loved and cared for him deeply.
Philemon’s long term dream towards advocacy and community change from his own childhood experiences. For him, as the youngest of nine children raised in a small village of Kisoro district, Uganda, survival was for the fittest. While he was still a child, after the sucking of his father from a local government job, the father resorted to being a mere peasant to a small piece of land so he can be able to bring food on the table, and his older siblings, apart from two brothers all dropped out of school.
When he was six years old, his father sought help from the church leaders for Philemon’s education support, Philemon was invited to participate in Compassion’s child development program. Compassion’s sponsorship provided him with Bible study lessons, mentorship, healthcare, schooling, and the opportunity to pursue higher education.
In 2017, Philemon graduated from Uganda Christian University with a Bachelor of Social work and Social administration. He was the second in a small village to graduate from University. In May 2019, He went on to acquire a post-graduate certification in Project Planning and Management. His degree and Certificate gave him an opportunity to pay back his debt of gratitude to those who are vulnerable to exploitation like he was while a child.
After graduation, he served with the Life song for Orphans as a Business consultant researching for the business case and needs, also worked at Amani Baby Cottage as a paid intern to rescue, stabilize and reintegrate children who had been abandoned or neglected and abused. During this time, he also began to serve as a young missionary pastor, spreading the gospel of the lord Jesus Christ through his social media handles and sharing with his friends.
Philemon remains passionate about using his experiences and God given gifts to advocate for the destitute and to provide them with a transition that is meaningful in all forms of life.