Death’s blow almost denied me a chance to education
Jul 03, 2007
Rights may be equal, but not luck. When Christine’s father, James died in 1995, she was only two years old. There was no hope that Christine and her siblings Patrick who was seven, Joyce, five and two-day-old Lydia would ever make it in life.
By Simon Peter Esaku
Rights may be equal, but not luck. When Christine’s father, James died in 1995, she was only two years old. There was no hope that Christine and her siblings Patrick who was seven, Joyce, five and two-day-old Lydia would ever make it in life.
Worse still, Christine’s paternal uncles and aunts chased away Christine’s mother, Magdalena, 38, and her children from their home saying they had no right over the clan land in Namasuba, Nakaseke district.
“We moved to my brother’s home in the next village. One of Christine’s paternal aunt took her to Kampala in 1996 because we had no house and I could not feed or clothe the children,†says Magdalena.
She constructed a one-room house made of mud and wattle and a tin roof on a small plot James had bought in Kalagi village.
In Kampala, 70km away from her village, Christine started a new life. Her uncle, John, took her to baby class in 1998 and top class the following year. In 2001, the wheel of misfortune went full cycle when John died.
“I dropped out of school in P1 in second term. For the next three years, my aunt kept me at home doing house work,†says 14-year-old Christine.
“I washed dishes, mopped the house, cleaned the compound and sometimes cooked,†she adds.
“If I made a mistake, she would beat me or lock me outside the house. I would sleep on the veranda with the dogs. She would tell me: ‘You come following me, am I the one who killed your father?â€â€™ Just like their mother, her children mistreated Christine.
Magdalena got a three-room permanent house in Kalagi in 2002. World Vision Uganda, an NGO, struck a deal with her.
“I provided the bricks, sand and water. The organisation gave me cement, iron sheets, nails, timber, doors and windows and paid for labour,†a smiling Magdalena narrates.
The organisation which established Kasangombe Area Development Programme in 1998 also sponsored Patrick, Joyce and Lydia.
The project supported by World Vision US has constructed 280 houses for families of Orphans and Vulnerable Children between 2002 and 2007.
“Now that we had a house, I said to myself, ‘Why don’t I bring Christine back so we can grow some food, sell it and pay for her educational requirements. She is being mistreated’,†Magdalena says.
“I wrote a letter to her aunt asking her to bring back the child. In January 2004, a taxi driver brought Christine back,†she says.
The mother took her to P3 in Mayirikiti Primary School, where Lydia and their youngest brother, Richard, also studied. The people of Kasangombe and World Vision partnered to construct the school.
Though Christine likes to play netball and dance Maganda, she wants to be a nurse.
“Christine is among the top 10 pupils in her class,†says her class teacher, Samuel Natifu. “Joyce, Lydia and Florence, who are among the 3,975 children sponsored by the World Vision in Kasangombe, receive educational support including exercise books, pens and uniforms.
Charles Kaboggoza, World Vision’s community worker, says they also get blankets and mattresses. Through the provision of basic education and shelter, the future of Christine and her brothers and sisters is beginning to take shape again.
Rights may be equal, but not luck. When Christine’s father, James died in 1995, she was only two years old. There was no hope that Christine and her siblings Patrick who was seven, Joyce, five and two-day-old Lydia would ever make it in life.
Worse still, Christine’s paternal uncles and aunts chased away Christine’s mother, Magdalena, 38, and her children from their home saying they had no right over the clan land in Namasuba, Nakaseke district.
“We moved to my brother’s home in the next village. One of Christine’s paternal aunt took her to Kampala in 1996 because we had no house and I could not feed or clothe the children,†says Magdalena.
She constructed a one-room house made of mud and wattle and a tin roof on a small plot James had bought in Kalagi village.
In Kampala, 70km away from her village, Christine started a new life. Her uncle, John, took her to baby class in 1998 and top class the following year. In 2001, the wheel of misfortune went full cycle when John died.
“I dropped out of school in P1 in second term. For the next three years, my aunt kept me at home doing house work,†says 14-year-old Christine.
“I washed dishes, mopped the house, cleaned the compound and sometimes cooked,†she adds.
“If I made a mistake, she would beat me or lock me outside the house. I would sleep on the veranda with the dogs. She would tell me: ‘You come following me, am I the one who killed your father?â€â€™ Just like their mother, her children mistreated Christine.
Magdalena got a three-room permanent house in Kalagi in 2002. World Vision Uganda, an NGO, struck a deal with her.
“I provided the bricks, sand and water. The organisation gave me cement, iron sheets, nails, timber, doors and windows and paid for labour,†a smiling Magdalena narrates.
The organisation which established Kasangombe Area Development Programme in 1998 also sponsored Patrick, Joyce and Lydia.
The project supported by World Vision US has constructed 280 houses for families of Orphans and Vulnerable Children between 2002 and 2007.
“Now that we had a house, I said to myself, ‘Why don’t I bring Christine back so we can grow some food, sell it and pay for her educational requirements. She is being mistreated’,†Magdalena says.
“I wrote a letter to her aunt asking her to bring back the child. In January 2004, a taxi driver brought Christine back,†she says.
The mother took her to P3 in Mayirikiti Primary School, where Lydia and their youngest brother, Richard, also studied. The people of Kasangombe and World Vision partnered to construct the school.
Though Christine likes to play netball and dance Maganda, she wants to be a nurse.
“Christine is among the top 10 pupils in her class,†says her class teacher, Samuel Natifu. “Joyce, Lydia and Florence, who are among the 3,975 children sponsored by the World Vision in Kasangombe, receive educational support including exercise books, pens and uniforms.
Charles Kaboggoza, World Vision’s community worker, says they also get blankets and mattresses. Through the provision of basic education and shelter, the future of Christine and her brothers and sisters is beginning to take shape again.