At 14 years old, Timothy has big dreams for his future. He wants to become a lawyer! Many young people want to pursue law because of the money, security and lifestyle it affords, but not Timothy. Timothy wants to help others and defend those who are wrongly accused.
Unfortunately, Timothy has an uphill battle to achieve his dreams. You see, Timothy’s mother passed away. His father is a teacher, but has been posted by the government to a distant village school. He only travels back home occasionally, but even so transportation costs use up a lot of his salary.
With neither parent around Timothy and his two brothers usually stay with their aunt. Now that Timothy is in Primary 7, however, he boards at his school during the term. P7 is the final year of Primary school in Uganda. At the end of this year, Timothy will take an important exam that will determine his prospects for continuing to Secondary School (high school). How well he performs on this exam determines what school he can go to as well as his opportunities for scholarships. The exam is so important to a student’s life, that his school requires P7 students to live on site so that they can study more in preparation.
Timothy likes living at the school. He sleeps in a dorm with about 25 other boys, with a room warden who looks after them. In addition to extra studies, as a boarder he also participates in a chore rotation doing everything from cleaning the dorm to helping in the garden where they grow the vegetables they eat. He loves all the extra time he gets to spend with his friends, and the regular healthy meals the school serves.
But the best thing about being a boarder is that he can spend his weekends in the school library! Many of the books in his school’s library were donated by Sister Schools, and Timothy credits these books for his reading and writing ability. He was struggling to keep up with reading assignments in class, but using the early readers in the library helped build up his confidence. Today, he loves reading! Not only that, but his English language skills are quite good, thanks to all the English books he reads.
Timothy is thriving as a boarder at his school, but paying the boarding fees eats up almost all of his father’s salary. There is very little left to live on, and certainly no money for the notebooks, pencils, and other school supplies Timothy needs on a daily basis. Thankfully, Timothy’s school is a Sister Schools partner. Through Sister Schools Timothy has received pencils, crayons, notebooks, and even a backpack – all the basic supplies he needs to pursue his education. When he first saw the gifts of school supplies from Sister Schools Timothy couldn’t stop smiling. He’d previously been carrying his books to school in a plastic grocery bag. A backpack of his own was one of the best gifts he could imagine!
Through gifts just like yours, Timothy is thriving academically and has the tools he needs to pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer. We can’t wait to see where he goes next!