Nanyonyi Goes to School

When we were working on the Community Learning Center in Luwero last June (2018), we met this sweet girl - Nanyoni - who lived near the job site.  She wasn’t able to go to school because her family didn’t have enough money to send her, and her mom needed her home, to watch the baby while she went to work. Almost every day, she came to the site and quietly start working along side us - always with her baby brother on her back. She would move bricks and help clean the site for hours - using one hand to work and the other to care for the baby. At the end of each day she would smile and let us know that she would return the following day. 

We’ve thought about her a lot - while we were there, and in the months since we came home. We’d like to think that she went home each day, excited about the resources and opportunities that would be housed in this building... The adventures and worlds of imagination that lay inside each book, and the stories of strong and resilient people who overcame adversity to become something extraordinary -something more than what seemed possible at one point, given their circumstances. We hope that since the completion of the Learning Center, that she visits frequently. I hope she dreams, and dreams big.
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We posted the story above on social media in November, and a friend reached out to us, asking how they could help Nanyoni attend school. Through a series of miracles, we were able to get her registered! She started in February, and we couldn’t be more excited. Our hearts are full of happiness, and gratitude for the kindness of so many people, who give of themselves to bless the lives of children on the other side of the world.  (The first picture is of Nanyonyi helping us at the Community Learning Center in June 2018; the second picture is her with her mom in January 2019, when we told her that TTC would be paying her school fees so she could attend school; the third picture is recent (June 2019) of her at school. She's healthy and happy, and loves school!