Month: December 2022

Barbra is the eldest of her 3 sisters. She is the second born of her father’s 6 children.

Their mother passed away in 2006 after she was knocked by a vehicle. Their father died about 7 years later from rabies, following a dog bite.

Her father re – married after their mother’s death and although their stepmother is alive, she has since moved away from home. The children are at home alone.

Barbra has since realized that she has to take leadership in the home in order for her and her siblings to survive.

In order to get basic needs like food and to stay in school, Barbra and her siblings have had to do whatever they can from brick laying, to receiving handouts from neighbors and sometimes begging from the streets.

They sometimes have to rent out their customary land in order to afford basic needs.

As a child headed family, Barbra and her siblings are always faced with the burden of guarding the boundaries of their land. They also face hostility and death threats from neighbors who hope that they can take over their land.

Barbra was struggling to stay in school when this program came to her rescue! Recently, her 2 sisters were enrolled on the program too and so the future looks bright!

We are continually in touch with leaders in her community to ensure that this family is protected! We are working towards partnering with Uganda Christian Lawyers Forum in order to provide any legal support and protection for Barbra and her family!

Erivaida Nambogwe lives in Zanyiro parish, Kiyunga village with her mother who takes care of 15 people in her homestead. Erivaida’s father moved to the Western part of Uganda in search of a better job to look after his family. Erivaida’s father works as a farmer in Hoima. He visits his family once in a while.

At 16 years and in her 1st year of secondary school, Erivaida got pregnant. The father of her child was a fellow student. Erivaida knew she would get discontinued from school if she disclosed her condition to anyone, so she kept it to herself. She managed to complete the school year.

During her holidays, she joined her father to work in the shambas within Hoima. She was able to save UGX 50,000 to help her during delivery because her due date was drawing closer. Erivaida had no idea where the father of her baby was, so she needed to fend for herself. While living with her father, rumours went around that she was pregnant. Her father promised to cane her if what he heard turned true. When she started Senior two school year, her pregnancy was challenging to hide. She confided in her mother with a promise to get support.

Erivaida stayed in school until she gave birth. She loved school so much that she would ask for permission to go home and breastfeed her baby when her mother was not at home. She would go with her niece to school to keep the baby as she attended her classes. Her peers made fun of her though that did not deter her.

When her father discovered that she had given birth, he lived up to his promise. She was caned 20 strokes as a condition for her to get access to school fees. To Erivaida’s disappointment, her father did not pay her school fees even after having her caned.

It was a great relief for Erivaida when she heard about and joined this program. The opportunity to get a scholarship to go to school was like music to her ears.

My name is Nafuna Janet Pamela. I am in S.3 at Mpoma School.

I am the 4^th born of 5 children; 4 girls and 1 boy.  I am a daughter to Mr. Mayende Benoni and the late Ms. Alice Nandera.

One of my earliest memories as a child is feeling unwanted. I was the 4^th girl in a row and yet, my father preferred to have boys. He made it very clear that he hated having girls. He said girls were a curse. He never got involved in our well-being and he certainly wasn’t interested in paying school fees for us. He declared that I would never go to school.

Unfortunately, my mother passed away while giving birth to her 5^th child; my brother.

My mother’s death was the saddest event in my life because she was the parent interested in my education and so had been paying my school fees. When she died, she took my dream to ever get an education with her to the grave. I was in Primary four.

When my mother died, my father detested us the girls so much that he chased us away from home.

I lived between the homes of my grandmother and one of my elder sisters; who eventually took me in when my grandmother passed away.

I did odd jobs to raise my school fees and thankfully, I completed P.7.

There was no hope for me to advance in school and out of frustration, I went to Police and reported my father for neglecting me and refusing to pay my school fees. He committed to pay; found a school close by and deposited some fees for term 1 of my S.1. However, he warned me to take note that that was the last school fees he would pay for me. He said I was old enough to prepare “Kalo” (millet bread) and so, I should get married like my mother, who despite the fact that she hadn’t gone to school, could prepare very good food and run a home. That was the last I heard from him.  Currently, I am not in touch with him. He doesn’t know where I am or what I am up to.

I left school at the end of S.1 first term. I had not even completed payment for that term.

It was in the midst of all this that I met the father of my son. I was 16 when I got pregnant, he run off and refused to take responsibility. I haven’t heard from him since.

In November 2018, I heard about this program and was very excited when I got enrolled.  I was very excited at the prospect of going back to school. I had lost all hope of ever going back to school. School has been my highlight since.

I have always loved sports and so as soon as I got into Mpoma School, I started engaging in sports, especially football. I recently contested to be a Sports prefect and I won! I was excited and grateful for the opportunity! Also humbled because, I Nafuna who was said to be a curse and would never go to school is a leader in a school like Mpoma.

Nalubega Medinah is the 2nd youngest daughter of her father’s ten children. Born in a polygamous family, her mother was the 4th wife, who gave birth to 2 children; Medinah and her younger brother. Despite the big family, Medinah’s early memories of childhood are good. She was well provided for and attended good schools.

All that changed when the relationship between her father and mother went sour. She remembers being at the police station with both parents but leaving with her father. She got separated from her mother and brother. After the separation, Medinah stayed with her father’s new wife, which she says became her worst nightmare. She became a house help, faced physical abuse and denial of food and access to school each time her father went away for a business trip. She remembers a day after washing dishes and pouring the dirty water into a trench was ordered to pick leftover rice out of a dirty water trench using her mouth. A very hurting experience and would have probably gotten worse if a neighbour had not stood up for her.

Her misery escalated when her father suddenly got ill and had to be admitted to hospital. Medinah became her primary caregiver, meaning she had to stay out of school. He is said to have got poisoned. She thought he would receive treatment and get better. One fateful day, he disappeared from the hospital. Later, his body got recovered. He had been tortured and murdered by unknown people. She believes he died a painful death and often wishes she’d been there to help him.

After her father’s burial, Medinah moved back to live with her mother. She was now her only hope, but life was tough. They rented a room at UGX 10,000/= per month, which she later realized was a bathroom. She remembers them taking shelter at the verandahs of banks with the guards every time her mother was late in clearing the rent.

Medinah realized she needed to pitch in and help her mum if she was to stay in school. She did odd jobs like selling plastic bottles and working at a mobile money shop.

In school, she was working hard and getting bursaries bailed her out. That is how she completed Senior 4. During vacation, she decided to work as a house helper in Kampala at a friend’s home. She thought my life would take a turn for the better but watching herself work as a house helper at a friend’s home was more painful than she had anticipated this forced her to leave.

Back home, she met the father of her child, who promised her a better life, including fees to continue her education. All that changed when she told him she was pregnant! He said she was “spilt milk” and wanted nothing to do with her.

Life became very challenging. She became the laughingstock of the community where she lived. After going through a difficult delivery, she had to find work so as to contribute to the home income. She started working as a cleaner. Later, her mother supported her start a stall where she sold charcoal.

She was the youngest person in the trade within that area. However, that did not deter her. She got mocked countless times though she held on. When she heard about the opportunity to go back to school, she gladly went for it and finally, her dream of becoming a midwife was beginning to take shape!

One of her best moments has been meeting one of her clients from the charcoal stall business at the nursing school studying and in the same class. She approached her and asked if she really was the one. Who would have thought that a girl selling charcoal would enrol in a great nursing school?