Reaching “Forgotten” Communities

It was a long trek to Jupamatho village in the Lendu community in a hard-to-reach area of Uganda to visit a community school. It was a hustle to reach the school, even with a car; we had to leave the car and trek for three kilometers. Reaching the village was a blessing in disguise, it seems no one cared about this community school, it was like a forgotten village. Lendu community borders Ituri province in the DRC. It is a school where children do not even know the alphabet, saying a word in English is a real problem, repeating a word being read aloud is also challenging. But still, we did not hesitate to inspire learning in these children.

“I am 12 years old, in my family I am the only one studying, all my other two sisters already went for marriage, I love school and also I wish to read like these kids in this book (A Boy Named Justice), I love these pictures.” Urinigi John, a primary three child.

We also conducted parenting sessions with the parents in the small trading center of Jupamatho village, speaking about parenting with love. It was this conversation that prompted the parents to share their stories. I showed the book to the parents about demonstrating love for their children, hence supporting their children back to school. I distributed copies of the Parenting with Love book to the parents to read.

Mr. Dan, who has attended our Uplift Training with me, revisited Adusi primary school which we visited during lockdown where we met only a few pupils due to COVID-19 restrictions. We had great engagement with the children, reading and singing, sharing stories with the children on different books like Smelly Fish Island, A Boy Named Justice, etc. It was a successful trip to Jupamatho village.

By Joshua Oyergiu

A STEPi coordinator