‘We are orphans but we made it’
Oct 09, 2006
MANY students find it hard to get out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to study, but Sheila Arimpa and Gloria Kobusingye, who graduated last week at Makerere University, say it takes determination.
By Carol Natukunda
MANY students find it hard to get out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to study, but Sheila Arimpa and Gloria Kobusingye, who graduated last week at Makerere University, say it takes determination.
“We went to class before other students woke up,†says 23-year-old Arimpa, “One day, we opened up… We cried together.†She pauses and looks at her agemate, Kobusingye, who nods in approval.
The girls were classmates at Valley College School in Bushenyi district, in 2000. They shared memories of misery. Arimpa says her paternal grandparents have been her caretakers since childhood. They are farmers.
“I was told that my mum conceived before she got married. When I was born, my dad took me to my grandparents. Dad married another woman,†she says.
“All I know is that he died in 1997, years after my mother had passed away.â€
For Kobusingye, everything was going on well with her family, in Rwampara, Mbarara, until her father passed away in 1992 when she was in P.2 and her mother in 2000, when she was in A’level.
Kobusingye, being the first-born, had to look after her siblings.
“Dad had a coffee plantation. I would sell the coffee and use the money to pay fees and look after my siblings,†she says.
Kobusingye has not forgiven her relatives who wanted her to get married when she was still a teenager and those who didn’t value her education.
“Someone told me to join a remote vocational college, yet I had been admitted to Valley College. So I sold a plot of land and paid fees. Sometimes, I would tell the headmistress, that my mother (who was dead) was sick,†Kobusingye says.
The two young women, smile at each other, pause and laugh as they recall the past.
Without many resources, getting to Makerere University was something they had deemed impossible.
But as luck would have it, they got sponsors. Arimpa’s uncle sponsored her for a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, while Kobusingye got a scholarship from Carnegie Female Sponsorship Scheme.
“Someone can deny you a chance, but he cannot stop it. I got this saying from my step mom and I believe it can comfort other orphans,†Arimpa says.
MANY students find it hard to get out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to study, but Sheila Arimpa and Gloria Kobusingye, who graduated last week at Makerere University, say it takes determination.
“We went to class before other students woke up,†says 23-year-old Arimpa, “One day, we opened up… We cried together.†She pauses and looks at her agemate, Kobusingye, who nods in approval.
The girls were classmates at Valley College School in Bushenyi district, in 2000. They shared memories of misery. Arimpa says her paternal grandparents have been her caretakers since childhood. They are farmers.
“I was told that my mum conceived before she got married. When I was born, my dad took me to my grandparents. Dad married another woman,†she says.
“All I know is that he died in 1997, years after my mother had passed away.â€
For Kobusingye, everything was going on well with her family, in Rwampara, Mbarara, until her father passed away in 1992 when she was in P.2 and her mother in 2000, when she was in A’level.
Kobusingye, being the first-born, had to look after her siblings.
“Dad had a coffee plantation. I would sell the coffee and use the money to pay fees and look after my siblings,†she says.
Kobusingye has not forgiven her relatives who wanted her to get married when she was still a teenager and those who didn’t value her education.
“Someone told me to join a remote vocational college, yet I had been admitted to Valley College. So I sold a plot of land and paid fees. Sometimes, I would tell the headmistress, that my mother (who was dead) was sick,†Kobusingye says.
The two young women, smile at each other, pause and laugh as they recall the past.
Without many resources, getting to Makerere University was something they had deemed impossible.
But as luck would have it, they got sponsors. Arimpa’s uncle sponsored her for a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, while Kobusingye got a scholarship from Carnegie Female Sponsorship Scheme.
“Someone can deny you a chance, but he cannot stop it. I got this saying from my step mom and I believe it can comfort other orphans,†Arimpa says.