The past two years have been particularly hard for children in Uganda. Schools remained shut through most of the pandemic. Light a Candle, our program there, worked tirelessly to help these children succeed in their education despite the seemingly impossible situation. Despite school closures, children have remained committed to pursuing education however they can, and several have successfully passed exams to proceed to the next grade. In 2021, three of our students graduated high school and are now preparing for college!
One of these graduates is Job. Job grew up in the slums of Kampala, where his life was defined by extreme hunger, domestic violence, and no opportunity to go to school. As the oldest child in his family, he was stripped of any chance to enjoy a healthy childhood.
“I was seeing other children going to school while I was left home to look after my younger siblings and there was never any sign of me ever going to school,” he said. Job all but gave up on the idea that he could have a purpose beyond just surviving. The violence in Job’s home got so bad that at one point, he decided the only option he had was to run away.
It was then that our program found him and was able to provide tuition so he could go to school, “I was able to finish school without ever worrying of being sent home for [lack of] fees.”
Job is now on his way to fulfilling his dream of going to nursing school. He is the first person in his family, and his entire community, to ever go to college. His dream is to “use my nursing skills to impact lives and be a ray of hope to my family and community.”
Job is a trailblazer. Through faith, and help from Forward Edge, he’s traversing completely new territory into a college education and a career in helping others. We can’t wait to see all God does in and through him in the years to come!
This story was shared in our 2021 Annual Report. You can view our full report here >>
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17 yrs. old
Entered the program: May 2023
Monica lives with her mother and sister in a two-bedroom mud house roofed with sheet-metal. The community has electricity but no potable water. They must walk long distances to find water sources. Access to health care in the community is very poor; they have one clinic but no medication to offer. There is one primary and middle school but it has no furniture for the students. The main occupation is farming but many people in the community are unemployed and live on less than 1 dollar a day.
Monica comes from a Christian family. Her father died when she was very young and she never knew him. Her mother works as a small-hold farmer to prvide food for the family; she cultivates groundnuts but hardly harvests enough to take care of them. The family usually has two small meals a day, but sometimes they go a whole day without food. Providing funds for Monica and her sister to go to school is difficult without the support of Create Hope; additionally, the inability to afford sanitary supplies also keeps them home from school often.
Plus bonus group fundraising ideas!
