Maria’s Story

The impact of education as a tool for social change

Maria is 14 years old. Her mother was a single mother, taking care of her and her 3 siblings and 1 cousin alone. They were living in a slum and every day was a financial struggle. This meant that Maria was unable to attend school as her Mum could not afford the fees. She had been attending our girls Drop in Centre for some time and after a home visit, we were able to empower her mother through our Business Empowerment programme. The business was going well and her mother had managed to enroll her into a cheap local school with the profits she made.

But life changed for Maria and her siblings in a split second. One day, whilst hanging out the washing her mother was very sadly electrocuted and passes away instantly. This left these children alone, grieving and with no hope for their future.

The eldest of the siblings stepped up and started taking care of the family, taking over the mum’s business to ensure they could survive. We stepped in to provide counselling and support, and after lots of discussions, Esther, the eldest was enrolled into a training programme with our partner organization EAP, where she trained as a welder, whilst her siblings were enrolled into boarding school under S.A.L.V.E.’s Education Support programme.

After completing her training, Esther was kept on to work at EAP and she used this money, along with the money she earnt from the business (when she was not working at EAP) to support the family. Eventually, Esther married and fell pregnant. She moved out of the family home to begin her own life, leaving her siblings alone (though she still helped support them with rent and food costs).

Last year, Maria was able to complete her primary education. Despite all that she has gone through, she is one of the top performers and so well behaved in class. The head mistress at her school had observed her over the years, offered her additional support and been there for her during the difficult times.

When Maria finished her exams in November, the head mistress took her into her home and is now acting as a foster parent for Maria. She told us that she sees so much potential in Maria and she was worried that if Maria returned home to Masese for the long holidays, she would be at risk of falling into bad groups of friends, or falling pregnant and unable to continue her education. Maria has now joined one of the best secondary schools in Jinja and despite her difficult life, she has a very bright future ahead of her. We can’t wait to see how she progresses in the coming years.