This year the May Howard Student Council has selected the following girls to help sponsor their education at Atanga Secondary Girls School in northern Uganda. "Schools are not free in Africa and many parents cannot afford the fees for uniforms or tuition. This is one of the reasons that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest dropout rate in the world for girls in secondary school." (from https://onegirlcan.com)
Here are the names of the students and their biographies:
Akullu Fomolina
Age 17 years
Bar-Apwo Ward
Elementary School: Patongo
Applying to Atanga Secondary, Senior 1
Father: Disabled
Mother: Peasant Farmer
Siblings: 3 brothers and 4 sisters aged 3- 16years.
When she was just a toddler, Fomolina and her family were forced to live in an IDP camp during the Northern Ugandan civil war. Malnourished, homeless and witness to unspeakable violence, still, she dreamed of becoming a nurse.
In 2002 her father suffered a back injury and is unable to cultivate his gardens to support his family. All of the financial burdens fall to her mother and elder siblings who have dropped out of school because they can’t afford it.
Her community and extended family do not support her educational goals and tell her she should stay home to help with farming and housework. But her mother doesn’t agree and works tirelessly to meet the financial fees for Fomolina to continue her studies.
Although Fomolina has now graduated from Patongo Primary school, she did so as an older student; A hearing impairment caused her to repeat some years over again, adding an additional 4 years to the primary cycle. But she preserved, worked even harder and has passed first year of Secondary very well. She now has her sights set on becoming a nurse.
In her own words: “Education helps me to acquire knowledge and skills in life. Education also trains me to become self-reliant. Education leaves me with knowledge to live in and serve my community. My favorite subject is mathematics.”
Acen Nancy Peace
Age: 16
Lives: Agirikaca Village, Agago District
Elementary School: Patongo
Applying to Atanga Secondary, Senior 1
Father: Deceased
Mother: Peasant Farmer
Siblings: Brothers are deceased
Like most children of this Ugandan District, Nancy grew up during the war. Spending more than half of her life in an IDP camp, she now lives with her mother, the only surviving family member she has. Now that the war has ended, they have since been rebuilding their life, even taking in and caring for an orphaned child who has no parents.
Despite growing up in this time facing starvation, homelessness, and great loss, Nancy has thrived on the encouragement from her teachers to continue her studies. Only a peasant farmer, her mother works very hard to buy her schoolbooks, often going without food to pay Nancy’s school fees and often travels a great distance to visit her at school. Her mother has been a great strength and support for Nancy and always reminds her to stop focusing on her past hardships and concentrate on her studies and her future. But still, night and day she worries about how her mother will afford her school fees and is terrified the money will one day stop. The peer pressure from friends and community elders to drop out of school and stay home to help her mother farm, puts great pressure on Nancy. Still, she rejects their discouragement and continues on, knowing that education is the key to a better future.
In her own words: “I feel hopeless with studies because night and day I do think about where am I going to get the money to pay my school fees.”
Adong Fiona
Age: 14
Lives: Ajali Atede Village, Agago District, Uganda
Elementary School: Patongo
Applying to Atanga Secondary, Senior 1
Father: Deceased
Mother: Ran away
Lives with Grandmother
Siblings: 2 sisters, both in school sponsored by another NGO
As the eldest child in her family, Fiona has had to grow up very fast. After the war, her father died and her mother fled the village on her own, leaving Fiona at the age of 10 to care for her two younger sisters; Luckily, their grandmother found them and has cared for the 3 girls since.
With no other means of income, Fiona’s grandmother struggles to grow enough food, on the limited amount of land she has, to clothe the girls and pay their school fees. In addition to walking 2 miles each way to school, as the eldest child in the family, it is often expected of Fiona to miss school and help her grandmother tend to the crop, or collect firewood and water. Her studies have been repeatedly interrupted for weeks, sometimes months and it is a struggle for her to keep up and do well.
But this does not discourage her. In fact, one teacher at Patongo Primary recognized how bright and determined she is and offered to pay her boarding fees so that she didn’t have to miss school and spend so much energy getting to and from school. This has further fueled her determination and she is very hopeful that she’ll have the opportunity to attend Secondary School.
In her own words: “I want to be an Engineer in future so that I build schools and help orphans.”