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“My mom would always tell me, ‘If you’re not the best in your class, then why are you going to school?’” recalls Winnie seriously, but with a smile, as she thinks of how her mother, Mama Oyet, has demanded the best of her. That encouragement has helped Winnie, just 23 years old, attain her current success as a mechanical engineer for Pepsi. Her three older siblings also have all earned university degrees. Mama Oyet, whose own education was cut short by the war in Northern Uganda, is determined that her children have a better life. Thanks to her hard work, they do. Poverty and war are no match for Mama Oyet.
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When Mama Oyet first came to the Acholi Quarter after fleeing the war, she worked tirelessly. She’d make pancakes to sell in the morning and alcohol to sell in the evenings. “I did what I needed to do,” Mama Oyet says in a hushed tone that defies her audacious and resilient spirit. Mama Oyet is a force and she has instilled that same spirit in her youngest daughter.
“The best I can do is to make my mom happy,” Winnie declares with equal parts love, strength and admiration. “My success will be that she is well cared for and happy.”
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"I think big!" gushes Eric. "I want to be the best designer ever!"
His goals aren’t limited to fashioning clothes, but to every aspect of design. With unbridled ambition, a strong work ethic and passion, this 22 year old is unstoppable.
Thanks to Project Have Hope's scholastic sponsorship program, Eric had the opportunity to pursue a course in fashion and design, and is currently employed by a company that manufactures clothes for government contracts.
Eric’s passion for design was ignited when he was 17 years old. His uniform was too big and ill-fitting. He was determined to fix it. “ ‘Let me try,’ ” he recalls saying to himself as he sat behind a sewing machine for the first time to adjust his uniform. “From that day, I loved tailoring.
Pursuing a course in tailoring would have been an impossibility without the financial support of Project Have Hope. Susan has gained both a skill and a confidence that helps her to navigate the future and the challenges that persist.
Much of Susan’s youth was spent rising before the sun and going to bed long after the moon had risen. Her day would start at 4am, when she would rise to head to the fields to work. She’d return home as the sun was setting and begin the time-consuming task of preparing a meal. Day after day.
At 19, a young mother herself, Susan moved to the Acholi Quarter. There, she labored in the stone quarry, often with her infant baby on her back.
When Project Have Hope began, it was a welcome relief to Susan. She could work from home with her daughter seated nearby and roll paper into beads. “It was simple work, easy work,” Susan carefreely recalls. Not only was the work easy, but she’d earn twice what she earned in the quarry. “It was a very great change for me.”
Susan later enrolled in a tailoring course through Project Have Hope’s support. From the beginning, she was thrilled with the opportunity tailoring presented. “You can expect money any day, any time,” Susan beams. “If I return to the village, I can bring my tailoring machine and work from there and earn a living. I can work anywhere.”
