I Thought I Would Fail, Says Kampala Parents' Best Boy

By Elizabeth Kameo FOR the shy and reserved 12-year old Benjamin Ndyareeba, being the third-best student in Kampala district in the PLE is a dream come true. When the New Vision told Ndyareeba the good news, he said, "I thought I would fail the examinations because English was so hard, especially those jumbled stories, I did not expect to even be among the first 10," an excited Ndyareeba said at their home in Bukoto white flats. Ndyareeba, who completed his primary education at Kampala Parents School, said compared to English, the other subjects were fair. "I don't remember getting anything but grade 4 all through the classes where we were awarded marks in grades. But with the PLE examinations, I did not expect to perform that well!" Ndyareeba, whose first choice is King's College Buddo, said he believes God and his daily prayers had a hand in his good performance. "I believe in God, and I am sure he has a hand in my being the third-best student. I often pray and even before we would sit for an exam, we would pray at school," he said. He also believes that his good performance is God's plan to achieve his ambition of becoming an engineer in future. "Engineering involves mathematics, which is my best subject, and I believe my good performance is God's way of ensuring that I become an engineer. I go to church every Sunday, pray hard and just got confirmed a week ago," says Ndyareeba, who hopes to achieve the goals which were once his father's. Ndyareeba said he has never settled for what is not best. The boy, who loves playing football and video games, says since he started school, he has always been among the top three students and hopes to continue as such. "English has not always been my best subject but all the same, I used to revise hard. I would come home at 6:00pm, get refreshed, complete my homework and start revising from as early a 7:00pm to around 2:00am," he says. He is excited about joining King's College Buddo, which he says is a good school with good students who get good grades. For his parents, it was all surprises and excitement when they learnt of their son's good performance. "I am very happy, you can even hear it from my voice. Although I expected Benjamin to perform well, I did not expect him to be the third," his mother Alice Ndyareeba said. An equally excited and overwhelmed father, Grace Stuart Ndyareeba, who rushed home from his busy schedule at Bank of Uganda, could not contain his happiness. "I expected him to perform very well. I have never known Benjamin to get any other grade but four," he said. Ndyareeba's mother's only dream now is that his son should be admitted to Buddo. But for the moment, the small family of four is just happy knowing their son and brother was the third-best student. Ends