‘It was not my time to die’

OUT of eight children, I am number two. My elder is a boy who is now in the Uganda Air Forces. I just happen to come from one of the unprivileged families around Arua District. My parents were not educated so, at that time, we could not access most of the basic needs that normal persons should have. Such as food, clothing, proper shelter and education. We had to walk for over an hour to fetch water from the wells. Now, there are pumps to take it into people’s homes. To wash clothes, you would take them to the river. Sometimes relatives would come in to help but it was survival of the fittest.

When I went to primary school it was supposed to be free education, but even the small fee we had to pay – like, say $2 – my parents could not afford. But being someone who was devoted and dedicated, I just kept going to school, and halfway through, just by luck, someone paid the money. I loved sports; I played so many sports growing up and trying my best to survive. My happiest moments in life were when participating in sports. At one point I was a high jumper, at another point I played volleyball, basketball.

By the time I got to secondary school, I was privileged to be spotted by my PE teacher who started training me in netball and after three years of training I managed to represent my school and the district at large in 2005.

This created exposure for me and was the starting point of my life. On the flip side of it, I was given all the necessities during time for sports, but when sports activities ended, I would be sent away from school because of the school fees my parents could not even afford.