The founding trustees were part of the way through registering an educational charity for Uganda with the Charity Commission for England and Wales when Solomon Ochaya, a great friend of one of the trustees, died suddenly in Mulago Hospital, Kampala. It was felt fitting to name the nascent charity in his memory. Himself a humble man, Solomon consistently strove with a single minded determination, and in the face of numerous hardships, to provide the very best education for his four children. He believed that education is the key to a brighter future, for both individual and society. The trustees of this charity share the late Solomon's determination and vision.

Solomon Ochaya was born in 1958 in Paboo, Gulu District, Northern Uganda. After completing his O Levels in a local school, Solomon joined a Commercial Institute where he graduated with a Certificate in Motor Vehicle Mechanics. A good vocational qualification, the certificate enabled Solomon to secure a series of driving and mechanic jobs with the Uganda Police, the Uganda Revenue Authority, and later with Britain's DfID in Kampala. Solomon was working as the head driver for a DfID project at the time of his death.

Solomon's various paid employments gave him a solid, if modest, income. However, he soon realised that if he was to send his children to the best schools in Uganda - as was his main desire - he would need additional funds. He therefore saved up to buy the tools necessary for the creation of his own mechanics yard. In May 1992, he began this business. From 1992 until his death in 2003, Solomon worked in the cramped compound of his mechanics yard during practically every weekend and holiday.

In addition to providing school fees, Solomon's mechanics yard enabled him to save up enough money to build a small mud and wattle home in Kampala. It was necessary for him to build in the capital, because his family had been cut off from their ancestral homes in the North. From 1987 onwards, Solomon's home village in Gulu had been caught up in the increasingly vicious insurgency of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). By the time of his death, a large number of Solomon's relatives had been killed in civilian massacres perpetrated by the LRA. Solomon's ancestral land is today home to a government-protected refugee camp, set up to provide refuge for those trying to flee the fighting.

Because of the way in which Solomon's family were scattered by the LRA war, few of the relatives had been able to stay in touch with each other. As a result, no one was available to take over the guardianship of his children after his death. Solomon's death was extremely sudden. At the beginning of February 2003, he had begun to complain of a headache, and a pain in his right eye. He sought medical advice, and was told that only he had malaria typhoid (a very common disease in Uganda). However, the pain continued, and within just a few weeks, Solomon was dead. In the last days of his life he was diagnosed to be suffering from meningitis. It is a very important custom throughout Uganda for all dead people to be returned to their ancestral lands for burial. However, because of the LRA war, this was extremely difficult in Solomon's case. Nevertheless, a number of Solomon's work colleagues did eventually manage to smuggle his body back to his home village. They drove to Paboo at night, at great personal risk to themselves. The actions of these colleagues, perhaps more than anything else, are indicative of the esteem in which Solomon was held by all who knew, or ever met him.

Richard Vokes, one of our trustees, adds:

I first got to know Solomon while I was in Uganda completing my D.Phil research. He had a most warm and loving personality, and a wonderful sense of humour. I shall always remember him with a smile on his face. He never failed to make time for others, as a good listener, but also as someone capable of giving sound advice. His work colleagues remember him as something of a 'father' figure. However, one memory of the man stands out above all others. As anyone who had ever met him will readily testify, Solomon's most striking quality was his extraordinary love of children. Whenever he was out on fieldwork 'up-country' as part of his work, he would make friends with the children in the homes he visited. But his main devotion was to his own children. As one of his closest friends recently joked, Solomon could barely pass five minutes without mentioning his kids! Ensuring that his children grew up with high moral standards and a good education were always his top priority. Towards the end of his life, he began to worry about the escalating cost of his children's school fees. As another friend recently remarked to me, at least he is now free of such worldly worries.