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.