The BLF Origin
Our Story: From One Miracle
to a Movement of Compassion
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble."
The Balanced Life Family was not born in a corporate boardroom or planned on a spreadsheet. It was birthed from a miracle.
It is a story written in fire, sealed in obedience, and sustained by the relentless, everyday love of ordinary people who simply refused to look away. This is the testimony of Dr. Josephine Kyambadde, and the unstoppable grace of God that built this family from the ground up.
The Reluctant Heart and the Dove
Long before she was a pastor, Dr. Josephine was a woman who firmly resisted the call of God. Raised in a traditional Catholic family in Uganda, she lived a comfortable and settled life. Her housemaid and babysitter were deeply devoted Christians who constantly invited her to the crusades that were organized on the open field near her home. Time and time again, Josephine refused. She had her life mapped out, and she did not think she needed to change a single thing.
But God, in His patient and persistent love, had a completely different plan.
Dr. Josephine preaching at The Balanced Woman Conference, Victoria Station (2011).
One afternoon, while resting in her room, Josephine experienced a vision that would change the entire trajectory of her life. She saw the heavens tear open above her. A brilliant, blinding light shone directly toward her bed. From within that light, a dove descended and landed right where she lay. Then, a voice spoke to her with unmistakable clarity:
"Josephine, Josephine. I am taking you to the United Kingdom. I will give you the money."
She had not asked to go to England. She did not have the funds. She had not even prayed for it. Yet within just two weeks, the exact money she needed miraculously appeared, just as the voice had promised. In April 1991, Dr. Josephine Kyambadde boarded a plane to London, stepping blindly into what would become the darkest and most defining valley of her entire life.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Two Weeks to Live
The journey to the UK quickly turned into a nightmare. By July 1991, just three months after arriving, Josephine's health began to collapse rapidly. She lost her appetite. Her strength drained away. Her weight fell until she was barely recognisable. She was admitted to a hospital in London, where doctors ran their tests and eventually gathered around her bed with grave, solemn faces.
The verdict was devastating. She had an aggressive form of cancer. The doctors told her she had only two weeks to live and advised her to write her will.
She was skin and bones, lying alone in a hospital room in a foreign country, waiting to die. She was not yet saved. She had refused God every time He had sent someone to reach her. And now, it seemed, her time was up.
Then her brother came to visit. Seeing her in that state, he made one desperate request to the medical team: could he take her to a local Christian church for just one Sunday service? Recognising that she was beyond their help, the doctors agreed.
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
The Fire That Changed Everything
Dr. Josephine with her husband, Mr. Peter Kyambadde, standing together in life and ministry.
When Josephine was carried into that church, she was barely alive. Nobody preached at her that morning. Nobody singled her out for prayer or laid hands on her weak body. She simply sat in her seat, fragile and hollow, while the worship team began to sing.
It was in that moment that something happened which no medical textbook could ever explain.
She felt a distinct, physical warmth wrap around her entire body. It was the unmistakable sensation of someone holding her in a tight embrace. The fire and love of God surged through her cancer-ravaged frame. Tears streamed down her face. She could not explain it. She could not stop it. And right there in the pew, without a sermon, without an altar call, Dr. Josephine Kyambadde surrendered her life completely to Jesus Christ.
On Monday morning, doctors took her back into surgery to assess the cancer's damage. By Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM, a female doctor came sprinting into her room, waving her medical file, her face pale with shock.
"Josephine, do you know that we cannot find a single cell of cancer in your body? Where you went, stay there."
God had completely, miraculously, and permanently healed her. She walked out of that hospital a living, breathing testimony.
She did not walk out of that hospital to walk through life alone. Beside her through every season has been her devoted husband, Mr. Peter Kyambadde. Married for over 39 years, Peter has been the quiet, steadfast anchor of their family. Together, they have raised three beautiful children—Davis, Derick, and Lily—and are now the proud grandparents to a growing generation. Their marriage has not only been a partnership in life, but a partnership in ministry, setting an example of enduring love for the hundreds of orphans who now call them "Mom and Dad."
"By His wounds we are healed."
Sweeping Floors to Reaching Nations
Grateful beyond words for the breath in her lungs, Dr. Josephine did not demand a platform. She went back to that same church and simply asked how she could serve. She started by sweeping the floors and setting up chairs.
She joined the intercession team. When members missed church, she called them. Her pastor eventually noticed her deep pastoral heart and made her the Women's Leader. Under her care, the women's ministry grew from just 10 women to over 500.
Dr. Josephine leading the women's ministry at The Balanced Woman Conference (2009).
She attended Bible College, was ordained as an Associate Pastor, and eventually planted her own church in the UK. The Lord commissioned her as an Apostle, opening doors for her to preach across the United States, Nigeria, and Ghana. Her book In My Darkest Hour, detailing her healing, reached the library of President Obama's personal chaplain. She even became one of the very first pastors in the world to pioneer an online church on Facebook, reaching millions globally.
She had reached the nations. But God was about to call her back to the dirt roads of her homeland to build the true vision He had given her.
"Muchumba!" The Vision of the Forgotten
Despite her global reach, God began giving Dr. Josephine a recurring, quiet vision. Night after night, she saw little poor children calling out to her, begging for help. She saw struggling single mothers sitting by the roadside with their babies, crying out, "Come and help us, we are hungry, we are suffering." She would wake up in tears, her heart heavy with a burden she could not explain. She prayed and asked the Lord what these dreams meant, but the dreams continued for years.
In 2015, she returned to Uganda for what was meant to be a simple one-month visit to see her parents in the village of Ssanga. But the Lord "arrested" her there.
One early morning, while jogging through the village roads near her parents' home, she heard tiny voices shouting after her:
"Muchumba! Muchumba!"
She stopped and turned around. There was a group of dirty, hungry toddlers wandering the dusty street completely alone. They were trying to say "Musumba," the Luganda word for Pastor. But they were so young that they could not pronounce it properly.
Dr. Josephine stood frozen. These were the exact children from her visions.
She knelt down and asked them: "Where are you going? Why are you walking alone on such a busy road? You could be knocked down."
They looked at her and said, "We are hungry. We want food."
When she asked where their parents were, they replied, "We do not know. They go early in the morning and come back late at night drunk. Sometimes they do not come back at all. We sleep alone."
Her jaw dropped. She wanted to cry, but she held her tears back so she could help them. Dr. Josephine did not form a committee or write a proposal. She gathered the toddlers and walked them straight to her parents' home in Ssanga.
Gathering the children of Ssanga: What started with a few hungry toddlers wandering the road became the foundation of The Balanced Life Family home.
"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me."
"We Cannot Fight God" The Roots of BLF
When she arrived home with the hungry children, she introduced them to her mother, the late Samali Lwasa (known lovingly as Jajja Baby). Her mother looked at them with a steady, knowing compassion. She had spent decades feeding the hungry. Her response was simple and final:
"We cannot fight God. If God has sent the kids to us, we have to take care of them."
They cooked for them and fed them right there at the kitchen table. The children then went back to bring their little friends. Dr. Josephine and her mother took them all to the barbers, cleaned them up, and bought them crocs. They were so happy they did not want to leave. They had to get someone to escort them back to their homes because their mothers were nowhere to be found.
The next morning, the children returned, and this time they came with their drunken mothers. They thanked Dr. Josephine and Jajja Baby for looking after their kids and asked if they could take over caring for them. Jajja Baby, with her big heart, accepted. That is how they started staying with these children.
From that moment, God began bringing more children and widows into their lives. Over time, the number grew to 40 children, 20 widows, and many struggling single mothers. Some of these women had been trapped in prostitution. They led them to Christ. Some were transformed immediately, others were not, but they continued loving them all the same.
This is how the ministry of compassion began. It did not come from a business plan, but from a divine calling that God had been showing Dr. Josephine in dreams long before she ever understood it.
The Seed That Jajja Baby Planted
Dr. Josephine was not the first in her family to care for the forgotten people of Ssanga. Long before BLF had a name, her parents had been planting seeds of this vision for decades.
Every meal in their home was an open invitation. Every person who was hungry or lost knew they could come to Jajja Baby's door and find a warm welcome. She gathered the youth of the village to teach them life skills. Recognizing the power of sport to keep young girls safe, she founded the BLF Ssanga Netball Team, giving girls discipline and a pathway to earn academic bursaries.
Dr. Josephine with her mother, Jajja Mukyala, speaking and serving at the annual BLF Christmas Party (2019). Every year, the family hosts hundreds of children from the community to ensure no one celebrates alone.
When Dr. Josephine officially launched the organization, it was Jajja Baby who became the boots on the ground. She was the one distributing food, checking on the widows, and making sure that no child in Ssanga went to bed hungry. The charity was not born in a conference room. It was born at Jajja Baby's kitchen table.
"She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy."
A Legacy of Rescue: The Story of Baby Mukisa
Jajja Mukyala lived by a simple, powerful philosophy. She used to tell the children: "Nga tonabba kuffa, tewevuma nsii" (As long as you are not yet dead, do not curse the world/give up on life).
This was not just something she said; it was something she lived. A perfect testament to her heart was the rescue of Baby Mukisa. When he was brought in, he was fragile, sick, and abandoned. But Jajja Mukyala took him into her arms without hesitation.
The transformation of Baby Mukisa. Left: Held by Jajja Mukyala on the day he arrived, fragile and sick. Middle & Right: Safe, happy, and held by Mathew years later. Who knows where Mukisa would have been if God didn't use Jajja Mukyala to take him in.
A Family With Many Rooms: Building to Today
Left: Dr. Josephine with children at the Ssanga Home. Middle: An early picture of Dr. Josephine with the kids when they were in primary and nursery. Right: Children gathered for a festive party at the Ssanga branch.
What began as one mother and daughter feeding toddlers at a kitchen table in Ssanga has grown into a massive foundation of hope. God kept sending children, and BLF kept opening its doors.
Today, The Balanced Life Family operates through three distinct branches of care, all carrying the exact same heartbeat:
- 1The Ssanga Main BranchThis is where it all began. The family home of Paul and Samali Lwasa remains the core headquarters of BLF. Today, over 40 children live and are fed daily here. It is the hub for widow support, vocational tailoring classes, the BLF organic gardens, and community school fee sponsorships.
- 2The Kabale Branch (off Semuto Road)This is Dr. Josephine's personal home, where God arrested her again in 2023. What was meant to be a quiet home quickly turned into a bustling sanctuary. God began sending children, single mothers rescued from banana plantations, and young men off the streets directly to her doorstep. Today, this branch operates its own farms and community feeding programs entirely by faith.
- 3The Kawempe Partnership HomeLed by Aunt Nam (Senga Nam), a dedicated BLF family member who extends the same love and care to vulnerable children and families in the Kawempe area of Kampala. This is how BLF multiplies its reach without losing its deeply personal, family touch.
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families."
What We Do: A Living, Breathing Family
Across all branches, we do not operate like a cold institution. We operate by radical, daily, unshakeable faith. Here is what The Balanced Life Family does, every single day:
Children from Ssanga gathered to receive food and celebrate together at the annual Balanced Life Family Christmas Party.
Feeding the Hungry
Between the branches, dozens of children are fed daily, alongside widows, the elderly, and anyone who arrives at the door without food. During festive seasons, BLF organizes community-wide gatherings, cooking for orphans and the most vulnerable freely.
Education for the Next Generation
Since its founding, BLF has paid school fees for over 500 children, from primary school to university level. We negotiate payment plans with schools to keep children in classrooms. The ultimate vision is to purchase land and build our own dedicated school.
Rescuing Mothers & Restoring Young Men
We go to where the broken are. Heavily pregnant women found sleeping outside have been housed and supported. Teenage boys deep in street crime have been welcomed in, transformed, and redirected through initiatives like the Mata Soccer Academy, going on to pursue university degrees.
Building Homes & Healing the Sick
We build homes for widows by faith, gathering bags of cement one by one. We partner with local doctors to ensure children and the elderly receive medical care, paying bills in installments when funds are tight.
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was a stranger and you invited me in."
The Proof Is in the Lives
Education & Tech Visionary
Mathew Sekanjako's Story
International Business
Kyambadde Samson's Story
Education & Mentorship
The Journey of Pius Muleme
Emergency Care & Rebuilding
Sylvia's Story
The truest measure of The Balanced Life Family is not a statistic. It is a face.
It is Mathew Sekanjako, who arrived with no money for his UNEB exams, and today is a software engineer studying in the United States, building the very website you are reading right now. It is Pius Muleme, who came buried in debt, and today is pursuing a Degree in Information Technology. It is Sylvia, found sleeping in a plantation while heavily pregnant, whose baby was born safely inside a BLF home. It is Nakyaze, who spent twenty years scavenging food at funerals, whose son Kazungu is now in Primary Six and thriving.
Every one of these lives is a chapter in the same story: what happens when someone simply refuses to look away.
Why We Exist
Dr. Josephine Kyambadde knows what it means to be handed a death sentence. She knows what it feels like when the world gives up on you. And she knows what happens when just one person, or one family, refuses to walk past.
The Balanced Life Family does not preach a comfortable gospel. We live it. Every single day, through a plate of food, a rented room, a school fee paid, a medical bill covered, and a pregnant woman brought in from the cold, we declare to every forgotten and abandoned soul:
God has not forgotten you.
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Become Part of the Story
The Balanced Life Family is sustained by the faith and generosity of people around the world. Stand with us to rewrite the future for the forgotten.
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