Ms Twikiriza during a practical course. She is one of bout 327 academically gifted but financially
challenged young Ugandans who has been supported to acquire education. PHOTO/D. NAKABIRI
Maliza Twikiriza, speaks softly, but firm enough to push through her point. She is a perfect description of a girl on a mission - ready to take on the world.
Born 24 years ago in Buliisa District to Siema Mbabazi and Gerald Tusabe, Twikiriza experienced the trials of life early enough. Her parents separated when she was only a baby.
Thus, she did not experience the love of growing up with both mother and father. However, the firstborn in a family of 10 children – some step brothers and sisters from her mother and father – survived through the hard childhood, when her grandmother – Ms Rhodah Kunihira took her in, shaping her into the woman she has become.
“I grew up with my grandmother. A lovely woman and the reason for all you know about me today,” she says before breaking the line into a 10 second silence.
It is about 7pm when I finally catch up with Twikiriza to share the story of how she has survived through one scholarship to another to do a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering – now in her final year at Makerere University.
The journey thus far
Kwikiriza started her elementary education aged four spending just a year in nursery school, before joining Kigumba Intensive Primary School, where she sat her Primary Leaving Examinations and obtained Aggregate Seven.
However, the good grades notwithstanding, it was always going to be difficult for her to get an education that would fulfil the dreams she carried of bettering her life and that of her grandmother, whom she had seen struggling for years to bring her up.
“She is a strong-willed person, but at times she would break down. I think it was too much. I was young but I would see her struggle. It gave me the courage to dream, but how would I fulfil the dreams I carried if I had no way to attain the kind of education that matched the level I wanted,” she says.
However, unknown to her, she shared the same dreams with her grandmother, who through a radio broadcast chanced on an announcement that presented an opportunity that would change the life of her granddaughter and perhaps her own.
“My grandmother stopped somewhere in Primary Five, but she was able to, of course with some assistance, fill forms and apply for a scholarship programme that pushed me through secondary school. She did everything. She wrote the letters that were required and submitted them,” Twikiriza says, looking back on the start of a journey that would take her through St Andrea Kaahwa’s Senior Secondary College in Hoima for her O’ Levels, where she obtained 13 aggregates, before proceeding to Kings College Budo, for her A’ Levels.
The journey to Kings College Budo, enabled her to travel to Kampala for the first time, giving her the exposure in an elite school, from where, after two years of hard work, she was able to score 19 points in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and ICT that presented her an opportunity to join Makerere University as a government-sponsored student to do a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.
Twikiriza, now in her final year in school, is full of hope and the life that she had only dreamt of as a child is slowly beginning to take shape.
“I have been blessed with a good education, gone through some of the best schools and now I am doing my final year at one of Uganda’s premier universities. My childhood was difficult, but God had a better plan for me,” she says.
She hopes to use the education she has attained to build a better country, support efforts towards achieving a solid infrastructure sector that is sustainable. And she will be among the very few female engineers in Uganda.
A report by the Engineers Registration Board indicates that male engineers continue to dominate the engineering spaces, of which, out of the 1,915 registered engineers, only 190 are female.
If you had not got that scholarship, do you think you would have gone so far with books?
Yes, I believe my parents and guardians now have the capacity, but what differs is which schools I would have gone through. I guess I would go through average schools, not the elite types of Kings College Buddo. The scholarship gave me a lot. I was part of the girls who were the first beneficiaries. In Buliisa, we were the first beneficiaries when TotalEnergies started the girls’ category for A’ Level. At first, the girls' scholarships were only for O’ Level, but during our year, we were allowed to continue up to A’ Level.
How did the scholarship programme change your life as a person?
As a person, it exposed me, especially when I went to Kings College Buddo. I don’t think I would have dreamt anything bigger than that. It gave me a picture of what happens in real life and that if you work hard, you can be anything, irrespective of your background. At the family level, it lifted the burden off my grandmother, allowing her space to look after my siblings. I am the firstborn in a family of 10 children. Our parents, who are separated, are smallholder farmers, so it would be very difficult to take me through a school such as Kings College Buddo.
Enabling youth in the Tilenga project area to access education
Just like Twikiriza, about 327 academically gifted but financially challenged young Ugandans from Buliisa, Nwoya, Pakwach, and Masindi districts have been supported to acquire education at some of the country’s top secondary schools since 2013.
According to the TotalEnergies Social Report, the company provides support through a secondary school education scholarship programme that seeks to foster science, technology, engineering, and math education. The initiative also contributes to Uganda’s skills and labour pool and supports the government's education sector goals for capacity building and knowledge transfer.
The scholarship beneficiaries are well-equipped and prepared to effectively compete for employment or establish small and medium enterprises. Many are already working in the energy sector, while others have pursued careers in health, telecom engineering, education.
