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Jewelry
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Lifestyle
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Impact
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Sponsorship
“When I was younger, I wanted to be an engineer,“ states 25 year old Opio Jotham, quite matter of factly, a bit surprising as one of eight children raised in the Acholi Quarter, a slum on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and a haven for refugees from Northern Uganda who fled to escape the civil war. His mother’s education ended in the sixth grade while his father took up a vocational training course in carpentry after completing senior 4, the equivalent of American high school. “In senior 2, I learned that two of my siblings have sickle cell anemia. That’s when I became passionate to be a doctor,” recalls Jotham. In December, Jotham completed a three-year course in clinical medicine and is now working alternating shifts at three separate clinics and sees 30-35 patients a day.
Besides the obvious scholastic challenges to completing his degree, the financial hardships imposed on him and his family cannot be dismissed. Jotham recounts how whenever his father would get a carpentry job, it became a family affair. They’d all work together. That strong family bond persists today. The bulk of his 250,000 Uganda schillings weekly salary, or about $70, goes directly into the family’s coffer to help pay the school fees for his three younger siblings.
Jotham envisions a future with even greater success than he has already achieved. He hopes to pursue a five-year course in medicine and surgery or a four-year course in anesthesiology. “Although I would love to stay around Kampala, I’d go wherever the opportunity is,” he acknowledges as he contemplates his future. Ultimately, Jotham hopes to open his own clinic so he can balance his work schedule with having a family of his own.
Jotham believes the real impact of his work goes beyond the treatment he provides to his patients. “It’s about the feeling you give,” he counters. “It’s about giving hope.”
“You give hope to the hopeless,” Jotham modestly continues. “I don’t want to say directly that you give life, but you make life better.” He beams. “It makes you feel extra-ordinary.”
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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.”
