My Nonprofit Reviews

Written by Nabacwa Brendah
“The day Uncle Charles came and picked me from my school and walked me home, we talked and talked. To my surprise, after he talked with my auntie, the next day I went to a new school where I took the interview and an exam and I failed it since I was coming from a bad school. They had me repeat a grade. Uncle Charles and the Head Master told me “if you do well this term we will put you in p5” and I did very well. I started doing well in school.
I have now been in Connect Africa since 2007 and have gotten to know all the CAF students. Funny enough for many years I was the only girl. We spent every weekend at Lynni and lived together happily. Some of these students are my very best friends. We were the first group of CAF and today we take care of the new young ones.
P7 was a very eventful year in my life. All along I knew I was taking medicine but I didn’t know why. I always asked my grandmother and she would always give me an excuse. Then when they knew I was old enough to take ARV they disclosed to me I was HIV positive. I was shattered. I thought I was going to die anytime. I didn’t want to study any more coz it was of no use. I went to my bed and was refusing to eat, go to class and was waiting to die. The Head Master, Uncle Charles and Aunt Lynn comforted me and gave me good support.
I got out of bed, though the whole year was difficult.
My mom died of HIV and my dad is living positive. Sometimes I am concerned for him. I am very healthy, I have learned and continue to learn how to live positive. Now that I am older and a bit interested in boys I am dealing with how to tell people, especially a possible boyfriend.
I believe anytime it can come to an end anytime they will come with a cure. If they have come up with the ARV that are saving my life, in my lifetime there will a cure.
I had a difficult time in secondary school. In Uganda you go from 4 courses to 18. Managing all the new words, the new information and memorizing so much I found hard. After some time Uncle Charles and Aunt Lynn told me they would not focus on my weaknesses but only my strengths. In fact, I was very good with young children so I began going to Jogo on Saturdays and Holidays to work with the children. Jogo is where CAF has a program for enrichment for the poor children in the village. I truly excelled and the better I did the more the teacher gave me to do.
Connect Africa has done better than good. I have received a lot of love and care. It has really done the best in changing my life. It has given me a good education, life skills activities, discipline and provision of basic needs. And with time I will achieve my goals with the foundation they have laid for me. The advice from Lynn and Charles has brought me up to be a good person. Meeting with my classmates, it has helped in solving my problems in some subjects. I feel am different from the time I joined Connect Africa.
I realized my strengths were not in academics though even today I sometimes feel badly. I get scared when there is an exam assuming I will again do poorly. I decided to become a nursery school teacher. I did not have to go onto A level. I finished my O level passing and now I am enrolled in the YMCA early childhood course to become a nursery teacher.
I will finish my training in September 2016. I love it. It is the exact profession for me. My dream come true. It’s the profession that fits. And my sponsor for all these years is a teacher. There were times he was writing me to encourage me to do better in school. He has always been an inspiration.
Thank you Mark.