Our story
S.A.L.V.E. International was founded in February 2008 by Helen Huthwaite, Nicola Sansom and Mike Asiya.
Helen and Nicola were both working as teachers in the Jinja area, and were struck by the large number of children who were not able to access education of any kind. Mike, a trained counsellor, had experience of being on the streets as a child during the civil war, and wanted to make sure that other children also got their chance to leave the streets and build a better future.
So, through this joint passion to create opportunities for children on the street, S.A.L.V.E. International was born.
Our eternal thanks go to the Henderson family, who were the first to believe in our work and gave us the funding to get started. Over nearly two decades of operation, S.A.L.V.E. has developed into an organisation that now works across Uganda, and we can support over 1000 children across our services each year.
Our founders laid the foundations for the success of the organise we see today. Mike worked hard to manage S.A.L.V.E.’s work in Uganda, then chose to retire in 2018 after 10 years as Country Director. Nicola was the CEO of S.A.L.V.E. until 2024, when she changed roles to became a UK Board Member. Helen now works in publishing in London, and remains a committed board member in the UK, helping to support the charity to keep developing.