I am a graduate of Uganda Christian University. I just graduated last year with a degree in Business Administration. I love reading the Bible and singing gospel songs. I love God. The things that inspire me are being near positive people and those who inspire me a lot. I’m also inspired by hardworking people.
My father, I still remember his face because of the photos people have shown me. He disappeared when I was six years old. I was the only child from my father but my mother had other children. By the time she met my father, she already had five children. She eventually had 10 children and I was the sixth one. There was no relationship at all with my siblings because they had different fathers. They didn’t look at each other as brothers and sisters.
I was taken to my aunties’ place [my dad’s sister] when I was six years old. At that age, I already knew what was going on. I knew that my father was not there so I lived with them and they took good care of me. They were really good, but as you know parental love is more important. My mother was very far and I only went back to her when I was 14 years old.
The challenges I faced were that my aunties never liked my mother because they said that their brother married an old woman [she was about 10 years older than he was], so that was a challenge. I would feel so bad because they would talk ill about her and yet she had done nothing wrong to them…just that their brother married her.
Anyone who doesn’t love your mother you see as an enemy. If you love me and you don’t love my mother, that hurts. But I thank God that he changed their minds and now they’re in touch with her.
When I was growing up, I would see families that were united that had a father and mother, and I wished I had that. It wasn’t that my aunties were bad to me, but because I was not with my mother and my dad, there’s a way that I felt because I missed that feeling of being at home with my mother and father.
I kept on praying for my father. I would tell God, “I need my father. If he’s still alive, please bring him back.”
It affected me so much…even to this day. When I was still in high school, I would keep hoping that my dad would come [back to my mother] so he could have another baby then I could have a brother or sister.
I would advise people who are experiencing the same situation, first of all, to love God. To trust him because that really helped me a lot. When I grew up the good thing is that I grew up with aunties who knew God and loved him. No matter what, trust him because he has a good plan for everyone.
The second point is to love and respect people who help you. I really thank my aunties because they helped me complete university. My mother had no money and she had other children, so I really respect my aunties and I also [encourage] anyone else out there to remember these kinds of people. When you are now successful and you get a good job, don’t forget the people who helped you.
