“Life threw me lemons, I made lemonade” - a story of the girl who would not give up
Edith Nakawesi
What you need to know:
Chain, where edith found solace
The Child Health Advocacy Initiative Network is a project by the Uganda Joint Religious Council funded by USAID under the Martin Nkoyoyo Inclusive school. According to Charles Kintu Mwanje, the project officer in charge of orphans and vulnerable children, the school, which started in 2004, was an initiative by retired Anglican Bishop, Livingstone Nkoyoyo, to equip such needy children as Nakaweesi with skills to support themselves and get an opportunity to grow up in a home like any other child. The school currently supports 170 children.
School and home: Although it is called a school, it is more of a home than a school because most of the time the children are out in the community offering their labour to learn a skill or two, which will enable them to fend for themselves in future earning a living from decent work.. “We have apprenticeship programs where we get these children to work with artisans within the community. They are placed in those work places and they learn on job,” says Mwanje.
She worked as a housemaid. Made bricks. Dug up people’s gardens. Begged her way around. Done neigbhour’s laundry. All to save up for an education. Now this determined and gutsy 23-year-old’s efforts are about to pay off. She will be graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in October from Uganda Christian University, Mukono, writes Stephen Otage
A popular inspirational quote, goes, “The Road to Success is not straight: There is a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called friends, caution lights called family, and you will have flats called jobs”.
It adds, “But, if you have a spare called determination, an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, and a driver called God, you will make it to a place called success”.
This saying sums up 23-year-old Edith Nakawesi’s journey from humble beginnings to Uganda Christian University where today she is finalising her Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Born in a family of nine where she is the fourth, Nakawesi’s parents used to live in Mukono as squatters. She says the landlord asked the parents to pay for rent but they could not afford it. They decided to return to Masaka.
A family friend convinced her parents to let Nakawesi leave Masaka to stay with her in Kampala and work as her housemaid, promising her a monthly wage of Shs100,000.
I laid bricks and did laundry for fees
She says she never saw that money, which made her start making bricks and wash other neighbour’s clothes when her boss went to work. She earned Shs2,000 per day from making bricks and between Shs3,000 and Shs5,000 for washing the clothes.
She saved the money to top up what her parents occassionally sent her for her school fees. She continued her work as a maid for the free shelter and food, but it meant missing school sometimes because of the domestic chores.
She did her primary school in St. Aloysius Primary School in Nansana. For her Senior Four, she went to Alliance High School, also in Nansana, skipping Senior Three to sit for the Uganda Certificate of Education exams, where she scored a second grade.
Endless hurdles with no help in sight
“For my A-Levels, I joined St. Augustine in Wakiso. I explained to the Director of Studies that I would be on and off from school because of school fees. I kept looking for bursaries but I never got any,” she recounts. With tears occasionally flowing down her face, Nakawesi remembers how the one month grace period schools give students to pay fees became the only time she stepped in class, before she was eventually sent away for fees. Then, she went to make bricks and dig in people’s gardens or wash clothes.
“In senior six, I begged fellow students to contribute money for me to attend seminars. They paid for my mock examinations. I would wait for them to come out of school in the evening to borrow their notes. I remember teachers canning me for not having study notes,” she narrates.
She scored 17 points at A-Level , but did not know where to get fees for a tertiary institution or University. “I remember one time asking a friend for Shs100 and she told me to get a boyfriend, but I was already stressed and did not want any boyfriend.”
Help at last
She explains that it was the time she was introduced to the Child Health Advocacy Initiative Network (Chain). When she presented her case to the school authorities, they did not believe she was that needy. Besides, they had closed receiving applications for assistance. Nakawesi narrates that she refused to leave the school premises. “I camped at the school for three days at the stairway of the administration block until management became concerned,” she recounts. Charles Kintu Mwanje, the Chain project officer in charge of orphans and vulnerable children, recalls that they did a background check and found that Nakawesi was indeed needy.
Wages for her commitment
Nakawesi was placed in a computer training school in Mukono town and when she graduated, she was given a job as an Internet Café attendant in Reste Gardens in Bweyogere, Bishop Nkoyoyo’s family business, where management liked her commitment to work. When there were scholarships, Chain selected her as a beneficiary. She was enrolled at Uganda Christian University for a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
Come October, Nakawesi will be graduating, but her dream is to become an auditor. Such is a story of a little girl who kept focus on her goal for life amid an environment where several distractions today cannot allow the girl child to make personal decisions.
