In the second week of January, Teach a Child - Africa selected 6 new students. We cordially welcome them to the sponsorship programme! We are excited to have enrolled Jecinter and Janet in St. Francis Rangala Girls, the school which did so well in the exams in 2010! Our new boys, Francis and James as well as Fredrick and Alphonce were enrolled in pairs of two in Sawagongo and Ramba respectively, another two of the well performing schools shortlisted for further cooperation during the evaluation mission in 2010.
The six scored between 351 and 376 marks in KCPE, many of them without having books to study or paraffin to read after sunset! All of them come from extremely poor backgrounds; some of them probably have lost count on how many relatives they have buried. One boy has lost his entire family and now stays with a neighbour. The gate of his homestead is shut. We thank the wise woman who took him in for having brought the boy to the selection venue in Ukwala! Most of the children went to bed without food on countless days, some depend on the irregular handouts by chuch members or neighbours. This has now changed for the six: there are four years of learning and safety ahead of them. Those children are so determined, I have no doubt they will make it far.
And the best part about the selection 2011 is: none of the applicants was left without a perspective. Our cooperating partner OGRA absorbed 8 orphans into their OVC programme, while the remaining 4 could be referred to other sponsoring bodies, such as Equity bank, Palmhouse Foundation and Aiducation International. One even found a private sponsor. 18 talents with a perspective! 18 lives turned around 180°...
