Florence is from the small village of Lukung in northern Uganda near the Sudan border.  One of five children, she never attended school.  Her father passed away when she was young and her mother could not afford the school fees for all of the children.  She spent her childhood working in the fields with her mother and siblings.  At 18, she married and moved to the Acholi Quarter to work alongside her husband in the stone quarry. 

Among the first families to relocate to the Quarter, they were able to buy a plot of land cheaply.  They erected a small home of mud and sticks and have also built eight other similar one room homes which they rent.  Together, they have nine children. 

While her husband continued in the quarry, Florence learned the craft of making paper beads.  When the market for the jewelry waned, she started a small business selling charcoal.  As competition grew, she switched to buying second hand clothes and shoes from Kampala and selling them in the North.  She hopes she can expand the business so she can build a proper cement home in the North for the family.