Girl makes 30,000 bricks to raise fees
Ms Mercy Brenda Awori prepares mortar she she uses to make bricks at her home in Mayuge District. PHOTO/PHILIP WAFULA
A 17-year-old student and resident of Lukone Village, Baitambogwe Sub-county in Mayuge District, has resorted to bricklaying during the lockdown to temporarily relieve her father of the school fees burden.
Ms Mercy Brenda Awori, who offers Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics at Kololo Secondary School in Kampala, has since made about 30,000 bricks, according to her father, Mr Eria Misanga.
“I had mobilised youth from the village to make bricks to sell and raise school fees for my children; but one of my daughters, (Ms Awori), was keen on learning so that I divert what I was paying the youth to feeding the family,” Mr Misanga said at the weekend.
On Saturday when Daily Monitor visited Awori at their home, about 12,000 of her bricks were in the kiln, ready for combustion.
“I learnt brickmaking from the youth my father hired, and once I discovered that I could manage, I started,” she explained.
Ms Awori, who hopes to become a medical doctor, has vowed to continue making bricks even when the lockdown ends.
Mr Misanga said her daughter’s determination has since attracted the attention of Mr Jacob Odur, the chief executive officer of Odur Foundation, a non-profit organisation that empowers the girl child .
Mr Odur later brought on board Liquid Telecom, which delivered a smartphone to Awori to help in her online lessons.
The company also committed $1,000 (about Shs3.7m) to her tuition and scholastic requirements every year until she completes secondary education.
“As a foundation, it is our dream to see many lives in our communities touched but we cannot do it alone,” Mr Odur said.
