“You don’t even look money; how did you beat the security apparatus to come here (Terego)…. Why are you picking one child? Why not 100 children…..Bring those dollars here, we know where the vulnerable children are…….. ” Said Bessi Ajilong, the RDC, Terego District.
The above and more will come in our Part 3
The Monday morning journey from Arua to Terego District was not any better than the scenes of June 2022 when we spotted Aseru Sharon.
On 12th September, though many school-going children are seen along the road while others are home doing chores, Aseru was supposed to break the same jinx.
Reaching Aii-vu where Aseru was spotted, we quickly called the Youth Councilor Asizo Faiza who later took the Bravo Shoes Community Support Team to the Sub-county offices to meet the L C 3 Chairperson Anguyo Kennedy who was supposed to lead us to Aseru’s home and officiate the function.
One of the team members signed in the visitor’s book on behalf of the organization as we waited for Anguyo who had delayed reaching his office.
After reaching his office, they had a long conversation with the organization’s Executive Director Yesigye Brian Bravo, and Aseru’s grandmother arrived at the offices.
The meeting didn’t yield anything as Aseru’s grandmother allegedly declined to let her granddaughter go to school.
Hayat Comes in the Picture
After frustrating Aseru, another young girl Hayat Leila, 8 years grabbed the opportunity. The reason for Hayat to come in was based on the fact that she was coming from the same community and was a girl.
Her father, Salim Ibrahim is a former British American Tobacco driver who retired to the village and her mother is Afisa Salim who also consented through the father in her absence.
Unlike Aseru, Leila was a Primary 4 student at Akua Primary School about 4 KM from Aii-vu. It took her father courtesy of a friend to lend a motorbike and a few minutes away, Hayat was home preparing to join Sam Bright MUHINDO and come to Kampala.
Earlier, the LC 3 chairperson had told Bravo that despite everything, he did not involve the leadership in these activities.
However, the physical communication link between the organization and the authorities was through the guidance and the coordinator ship of Hassan Papito, a resident from Arua City says lots of communication and visits were done. As well as the phone calls between the same leaders and Bravo.
According to Papito, he had tried to connect with Chairman LC 1 thrice but was never home and he could hardly pick up or return his calls.
“Education is the key to each and every little girl and the boy child as well. The mindset of our people, misbelief, and challenges in the past decades is still the problem,” he said.
Papito says he is grateful to work with the organization on their cause to support education, unfortunately, he has not been at ease since he started traveling with the organization, and his life has been threatened by security and tribal undertones.
“We have a lot of challenges in our region, I have been attacked by unknown people and threatened by the Police and the local authorities,” he added.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2016/17 report, only 11% of children who finish primary school in the West Nile Region proceed to the secondary level.
The 2016/17 National House Hold Survey report shows that whereas 92% of the school-age going children in the region were going to schools within 3km of their home, few completed primary education, and only 11% of those who completed primary level joined secondary school.
The West Nile region was also found to be one of those with staggering levels of poverty. Although poverty in the region had reduced from 43% to 34.9% within the last three years, it still remains one of the highest in the country standing way above the 21.4% national level.