Ivan Sserugo
Age 15-years-old
School St. Peters Senior Secondary School, Naalya
Class Senior 3 (19th Grade)
Village Kamwokya, Kifumbira / Kampala
Family situation I have both parents, we stay in Kifumbira slum. I don’t like staying there because of the ghetto life style.
I want to be a pharmacist just like my brother Katongole Godfrey.
Ambition I want to help children live in healthier environments because it is their right.
Hobbies Soccer, Movies
My story
“I was born in Mulago, one of the Kampala’s small ghettos where life is really hard. My family resides in Kawmokya, a suburb of Kampala, but I used to stay with my stepmother in Mityana on the western side of Uganda because my mother was a low-income earner and couldn’t pay my school fees, buy my clothes, and feed me. My father managed to get a job as a porter at a housing site. That raised some money for my education, but my chances to continue in school were doomed, because he also had to find money to pay for my sisters. At times I had to remain home to allow my sisters to continue in school.
So I was taken to the village because it is cheaper to live in the village since you grow your own food. But life is much harder than in the city. I attended a small local school that was not very good. The teachers were half-baked and had not completed school themselves. There were no desks. We sat on the floor. It is hard to study in the village. My schooling would be interrupted because I had to wake up at 6 am to fetch water and cut firewood so that I could be assured of getting something to eat after school. No meals are provided at school. After that tiresome work, which could take up to two hours, and after the two-mile walk to school, I was often late and missed the morning lessons.
Despite the struggle I would read so hard and at least be among the best five in my class. But since this was a poor school, being the best in my class might still leave me in the same position as someone at the bottom of the best schools in the city. After I finished 6th grade in 2007, my big brother Katongole talked to Steve Shames about the condition of our family and I was accepted since into L.E.A.D because I was a good performer.
I am doing well at St. Peter’s Naalya, one of Uganda’s top schools. My best subjects are Mathematics and Science. This year I will work even harder than before because I want to become a pharmacist like my broither Katongole, so I am able to treat people with different diseases in my country and also be able to help my sisters.”
