Brighton Namanya
Brighton was dropped from sponsorship when he had completed senior three and was moving to senior four. The news of this incident was certainly frustrating and dropping from school would mean all the previous years in education were to be wasted.
JOCFU Uganda communicated to the family about the loss of sponsorship of Brighton, fortunately the mother was willing to go an extra mile to sell her goat in order for her son to at least complete senior four. A part from selling her livestock, she engaged the school to
negotiate for a special consideration to have school feel slightly reduced to enable her to support him. This was granted by the school but in the second term the mother of Brighton was unable to raise the agreed instalment of the school fees. This prompted the school to dismiss him because of inability to raise even half of the school fees. For 2 weeks he was seated at home while others were attending school. One of the businessmen in the Engari trading centre offered to give him a part time job of working in the bakery before and after leaving school. Although it meant waking up quite early and going to work after school, Brighton did not have any alternative but to accept this offer as the only way to raise some bit of money to enable him to attend school. He did this for two consecutive terms including the third term in which he was to sit for his final senior four exams. Whereas other students would wake up to study or stay behind in the evening to make some remedial lessons, Brighton would run to the confectionery to offer service in baking and cleaning to earn some money for school fees. As much as this was destructive to the life and performance of a student, we are pleased that Brighton successfully sat for his exams this year and we are eagerly waiting for the results. However, as Brighton is awaiting his results, his mother feels relieved that finally lower secondary is complete and the boy can start to fend for his life. We would like to point out that without a professional certificate, completing lower secondary in Uganda does not guarantee the candidate any form of employment as someone who has not specialized in any discipline. Again, institutions that offer certificates such as bricklaying and carpentry are not located within the Engari community. They are in Mbarara and Kampala, and are a little more costly than secondary schools, meaning Brighton can no longer work at the confectionery as a part time job to raise his school fees. It is going to be extremely hard for him because of distance and high cost. It is upon this background that we appeal for all ways of support to raise tuition for Brighton for at least two years in an institution.
He had previously wished to become a doctor which takes more time and resources but from our discussion with him, he would now prefer to pursue a paramedical course in Environmental Health Sciences which takes two and a half years. Health Science Environmentalists who possess certificates can work with the local government at a sub-county level but can also work with NGOs and earn a reasonable salary to sustain their livelihood.