Paul Ntege. Child laborer in rock quarry. Scholarship to African Leadership Academy.
Age 17-years-old
School St. Peter’s Senior Secondary, Naalya
Class Senior 4 (11th Grade)
Village Nakawa / Kampala
Family situation I stay with my Mum. My father abandoned us when I was 10..
I want to be a businessman.
Ambition Make investments and help alleviate poverty in my country.
Hobbies Reading biographies of famous people, surfing the internet
My story
“I had to work in a rock quarry to raise money to go to school and to help look after my family. If I didn’t go, we didn’t have money for food. I worked in the rock quarry even though I was not at the right age to do such a job. I missed so many days of school but I still got one of the best grades in the country on my Primary Leaving Exam. But my family did not have money to send me to high school and so school was only a dream to me. I was forced to forget about studying and it really hurt me. My headmistress took me to a newspaper office. An article was published. Stephen Shames, an American photojournalist, read the story and came to the quarry. It was the turning point of my life. I joined L.E.A.D Uganda and was able to attend Namugongo, the best school in Uganda.
Then, I received a full scholarship to the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in Johannesburg. Living in this community of young talented African students who share the same passion for Africa made me feel the future of Africa lies in our hands. We are the hopes of our ancestors. ALA skipped me two grades, so I never took my ‘O’ level exams. I did well on my ‘A’ level exams, graduated, and was accepted by four American Universities. However, since I did not get full scholarships, I was not able to go. Not having ‘O’ level results made it impossible to be accepted by any Ugandan university. So I am now back in 11th grade. I will take my ‘O’ levels and move on from there.
Africa has a lot of problems. Disease is a problem. If you are sick you might end up in the hospital. If you have money you are treated well. If not, you sit there and they ignore you. Many people in our impoverished village died of illnesses because the health clinics were far away and badly equipped. I will never forget the time my mother fell sick. We had no option of taking her to the hospital because we had no money. We only used herbs to treat her. That experience made me want to become a leader: an agent of positive change. I want to study economics at university and become a businessman so I can help Africa develop and help fight the poverty that keeps us backward.”
