Our students have just started the 2017 school term. Reflecting on their return to school, I can't help but think about how I feel the just before school starts. I still get a thrill out of the new pencils and supplies laid out around my classroom. This year I got a new whiteboard, and I about died. I didn't, actually, but I did a dance.
Welcome to Aphoyo, Beifield.
Gloria is an orphan; she was left with her JaJa (Grandmother) when she was very young, but due to her JaJa's declining health,her home life was unstable. For a while, JaJa was able to send her to a school run by an NGO, but soon, even the tiny amount due for school fees was too much and Gloria had to drop out.
Gloria has been left on her own for the last two years without school fees and with little to do. Gloria is 15-years-old. For most Ugandan girls, this would be the gateway to seeking solace in an older man, but all Gloria wanted to do was study. She searched for options.
Aphoyo was able to except Gloria into the program as a boarding student. Now that she lives at school, she not only is receiving an education, she also has a place to call home. Gloria's teachers say she's a hard worker, just rather behind. Gloria wants to become a lawyer, "because they help people."
When we came to meet Gloria at school, we told her about her supporters in the US who believe in her enough to take on her school fees. She cried. She said she hasn't ever had a family. So now, we, Aphoyo, are her family.
Adorable dark and dirty faces are compelling to the American pocket. And it's not only swindlers who have done something wrong here, surely even well-meaning westerners have photographed these faces and told them they would do something to change circumstances for them back at home. But the memories fade with the jet lag, the bustle of western life starts up again. People forget the images stored on their hard drives.
Right now, 10 children defy the odds by sitting in a school desk.
Ronald is his own man.
We're going back to the start.
We're going back to some of Aphoyo's first stories to share them with you all over again.
