Lessons for Life Newsletter January 2009

For 2009 our estimate of the annual cost for each child to attend school is £550 which for a UK taxpayer roughly equates to £420 (£35/month) thanks to income tax being recoverable through Gift Aid.

For a fees-only student (where we assess a guardian can afford to pay for requirements), the total cost is £375 which for a UK taxpayer roughly equates to £300 (£25/month).

If you or someone you know would like to sponsor one of these children, please let us know.

Name and Age

Profiles

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Ssali Godfrey
Ssali Godfrey
17 years old

Godfrey lives with his grandmother who sells vegetables for an income. He has 4 brothers and 2 sisters and is the last born of the family. They all live with the grandmother. One brother is a plumber, one works on a Matatu and another brother is a safari worker.

Godfrey would like to go onto study vocational catering as he enjoys preparing and cooking food and would like to become a chef one day. He has just sat his PLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) at Banunule School and would need ajuan@traderforce.comto study to S4 before joining a vocational culinary course.

Christian Ngabo
Christian Ngabo
18 years old

Christian is Congolese and lives with his mother in Kampala. He has one brother and one sister who are both younger than him. His mother is a hawker who sells clothes. Christian wants to be a doctor. He sees secondary education as an opportunity to study science to get to university and a way to get a decent job so he can support his family in the future.

I asked Christian to tell me a little about his life story. These are his words.

“We are Congolese. We came to Uganda due to political instability in Congo. Our father was killed in the war and we fled as our mother was in fear of being killed also. Here in Uganda we don’t have any relatives to support us so we look to our mother for our every need. Our mother’s health is not good, she has a lot of health problems because she was operated on several times during our birth. Sometimes it becomes difficult for her to provide us with our basic needs due to her health problems.”

Mugisha Mark
Mugisha Mark
17 years old

Mark lives with his aunt who already has 4 children of her own. She has been his guardian since he was 11 and arranged for him to attend Banunule Primary School. Although he feels she is very encouraging and positive he knows that her vegetable business will not cover the cost of a secondary education.

Mark has been interested in architecture since the age of 4 so his ambition is to continue with education and become an architect. He is a very ambitious and well disciplined boy.

Okot Richard

Richard Okot
17 years old

Richard and his younger sister live with his aunt. She has a job selling vegetables. Richard was head boy at Banunule Primary School and is a talented musician. 

During his free time he ‘tinkers with bikes and repairs radios so it is no surprise when he says he wants to become a mechanic. He would like to spend some time at secondary school to improve his English and learning new skills but eventually he wants to go on a vocational course to become a mechanic.

Bonyibyombi Gerald
Bonyibyombi Gerald
13 years old

Gerald stays with one of the teachers when it is term time and goes back to Kisoro to stay with his grandmother during holidays. He lived with his father who worked in Kampala until he died 5 years ago. No relatives came to collect Gerald on his father’s death, so he has stayed with one of his teachers from Railway School ever since. All his brothers and sisters live in his village and don’t go to school.

Gerald had already returned to his village when Janet arranged the interviews. Olivia’s (headmistress at Railway School) sister lives in the same village so organised him to travel back to Kampala for the interview. 

He wants to become an engineer.

Unavailable
Natasha Ndangu
(unknown age)

Natasha has a long story. She was taken in by her uncle who looked after her until the recent troubles in Kenya. He put her on a bus to Kampala to stay with her aunt but on arrival the girl did not know her aunt’s name, only the district she lived in. Through a chain of events, she has ended up staying with Rahema, a teacher at Banunule Primary School.

Rick Armstrong, the last volunteer, paid for Natasha to go to Muyenga High School for the third term. To date Janet has not met the girl nor seen her report. We will provide further information when possible.

Unavailable
Majara Nabwire
15 years old

Majara lives with her brother and his wife. Her brother is a business man but she cannot explain further what he actually does. They have 2 children. Majara has a sister and young brothers.

Her future would be to become a house girl for the family, minding children and cleaning.

Yahaya Jamilu
Yahaya Jamilu
14 years old

Yahaya has the ambition to one day becoming the president of Uganda!

He lives with his grandma. Limited information is available as Yahaya did not get the message to attend the interview with Janet. Vanessa (headmistress at Banunule Primary School) states that he is a happy boy who is well motivated but struggles academically. 

He is very disciplined and would do well at Namugongo School.

Naitende Debra
Debra Nakiteade 
13 years old

Debra lives with her Aunt and her children. Her dream is to become a teacher.

Limited information is available as she did not attend the interview.

Vanessa (headmistress at Banunule Primary School) states that she has had a hard life but given the chance she will excel.

Unavailable
William Musisi
13 years old

William lives in Kibuli with his aunt and 2 sisters. He has 4 brothers and 3 sisters, some live with his grandfather in his village. She sells matoke to raise money for the family. If he does not get to secondary school then he will return to his village and look after his grandfather or stay in Kibuli and look after his younger brothers and sisters.

William loves school and is an accomplished sports man. He aspires to being a mechanical engineer and wants to achieve so he can help other people as he has been helped.

Unavailable
Rahema Naiga
14 years old

Rahema lives with her grandmother, 4 brothers and sisters. Her grandmother is a housewife. If unable to attend secondary school she will return to her village and live with her grandfather.

Rahema has a very strong passion to become a pilot.

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