Asinduru seems shy at first. Her words begin slowly. She sits with her elbows resting on the wood school desk, her hands stacked one on top of the other. Her head is slightly tilted. Like a train heading downhill, she quickly picks up speed. Her words start coming fast. For a few moments, she seems a bit frantic, as though she may run out of time or forget nuggets and details of her story she needs to include. As she continues to speak, her body becomes more animated. Like most of the girls at school, her hair is cut short and close to her head for easy maintenance. It is when she leans in and smiles broadly, you get a glimpse of her beauty and steely determination.

Asinduru describes her father in a detached way, as if she is standing from a distance. She says he married “many women.” She thinks there are at least twenty children who are her siblings. Her father died when she was in primary school and her memories of him are vague. As a young girl, she remembers long days selling greens and vegetables in the market. She desperately wanted to attend school, but her mother had no education, and her mother was powerless to advocate for her. The men in her family, especially her uncles, were pushing her mother to hire her out for labor or “marry her off.” She says she wanted to learn English and try for a better life. Even at a young age, it was clear to her that the females in her family were not doing well. As children, the girls were only valued for their potential economic benefit.

“I never lost hope. I knew I wanted to make a future.”

Asinduru

She had an aunt who advocated for her. Someone who understood her hopes. Asinduru’s eyes well up and tears slide down her cheeks as she describes her “auntie who didn’t give up” on Asinduru’s dream of an education. She says not one man in her family would stand up for her or cared about her. Her aunt worked diligently to connect her with the WCF Mama Kevina school. Asinduru says she also continued to fight for herself and plead to leave her village and attend school in Tororo. Finally, she says she convinced the family members who controlled her to let her go. She says the WCF Mama Kevina school is the best part of her life story. When school is out for holiday each January, she stays on campus and enjoys tending to the garden, pitching in and helping with washing and cooking, and knitting. The WCF Mama Kevina school is the place she calls home.

“Life has been very hard, but I keep on having hope.”

Asinduru

She says she ultimately wants to do something with her life to serve others. “I thank all of you people for all the life-changing help you have given me,” she says.

Anthony taps his foot.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He has energy to spare. He is always busy.
He says his mind is spinning.
“He’s a very smart one,” a teacher says in support of Anthony’s keen intellect.

Anthony’s words are measured. His English, impeccable.

Anthony’s mother died when he was in primary school and his father had a fatal accident a few years later. Anthony lived several years with an uncle, but his uncle had four children of his own to support.

“Life was not so easy. Getting the chance to come to the WCF school and learn has changed everything for me.”

Anthony

“Life was not so easy,” says Anthony. “Getting the chance to come to the WCF school and learn has changed everything for me. I am surprised by the high level of academics, the chemistry, math and physics. I am doing my best,” he says, his bow tie slightly askew. He has dressed for the occasion. He wears his only white shirt and a clip-on black bow tie that all the boys at the school wear with pride on special days.

He says he is grateful for the opportunity and appreciates the environment, the cleanliness of the campus. He is thankful for the “good discipline” at the school. He plans to become an engineer.

“It is a struggle sometimes, at the holidays and Christmas. I miss having a family. But I have made many friends and feel I am really cared for here.”

“I miss having a family. But I have made many friends and feel I am really cared for here.”

Anthony

Tap. Tap. Tap. He taps his foot a few more times. “Could this conversation impact my educational opportunities?” he asks. “No. This is just an informal interview to help donors understand the impacts of their giving,” responds a member of the WCF team.

“Fair enough,” he says. “Because I am going to become an engineer.”

“I felt like I was going to die before I came to school here. I was working, planting fruit, trying to pay my own school fees. I had been suffering since primary school, always hungry and in and out of school. I am one of seven children,” she says. She looks up and slightly to one side when she speaks as if she is visually reviewing the snapshots of her life. She reaches up and touches the bright blue beads around her neck that she has carefully strung together and describes how she loves to sing and how she enjoys the challenge of her biology and chemistry classes at the WCF Mama Kevina School.

“I had never seen a school like this. The campus is so beautiful. The education is everything I dreamed of. I receive good food. I offer my thanks. May God abundantly bless those who are helping to support me and pay my fees.”

“I can see possibilities. A new tomorrow.”

Buteme

“May God abundantly bless those who are helping to support me and pay my fees.”

Buteme

Buteme is grateful that she has a mother and father, but neither are educated and both work in the informal sector in the Manafwa district making small bits of money selling and trading fruits and vegetables. The income they generate is not enough to feed seven children or pay school fees for their children. Buteme says she is the lucky one in her family. The only female with options. The only child who does not wonder where the next bit of food will come from. She looks up to the sky. “I can see possibilities. A new tomorrow.”

Jaliah was living with her mother, her six siblings, and her grandmother who was gravely ill, when she remembers being chased from their one room shack. Her father had died and her mother was no longer able to pay rent. Jaliah was often hungry and spent her time digging through garbage looking for food. Like many of the students at the school who tell us their stories, she cries as she recalls her struggles.

“I did not have anything to eat and my mother could not take care of me.”

Jaliah

“I began to pray to God to help me. I did not have anything to eat and my mother could not take care of me.”

She says her mother heard about the WCF school and reached out to Sister Clare, the school administrator to see if Jaliah could come to the school to live and study.

“This school has saved my life.”

Jaliah

“Thank you, World Children’s Fund. Now, I eat well. I sleep well. I am safe. I am learning. Everything here is beautiful. Nothing bad happens here,” she says.

She loves reading and studying physics, biology and math. Although she doesn’t know exactly what she wants to pursue as a career, she appears be a budding entrepreneur. During a recent school holiday, she took a job washing clothes. She says she is saving the small stipend of money she earned, which she can keep for herself. She hopes to buy a goat someday. She says she will name him Kevin, in honor of the WCF Mama Kevina school. “This school has saved my life,” she says.