One month ago, at our school Edenset Nursery & Primary School, Mercy 5 years old in Nursery, and top of her class, succumbed to death from food poisoning. Some unknown woman took the child to her home after finding her on the road going back home from school.
The girl had no shoes and being that it is a dry season the ground was hot. Some children walk along the grasses besides the road to lessen the intense burn. This exposes them to risk of snake bites and thorns. It was told, Mercy decided to first rest under a tree after walking a distance of 3 miles going back home from school. She was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. The killer found her in such a dire state and lured her to first go with her at her home as to give her some water and food.
Later she went home. During the night the child complained of persistent stomachache. She was rushed to the hospital. Upon the doctor’s examination she was found to have been poisoned. It was too late to save her life and she breathed her last.
During our recent school term’s parents – teachers’ (PTA) meeting, parents expressed deep grief for such a sad happening in our school. They proposed that the school finds ways to construct a dormitory to help such other at risk children that walk between 2-8 miles to and from school. The distance makes them weary before they even get to learn and hence contributing to their poor academic performance.
One child Ruth aged 7 in Primary 2 said, ‘I am tired walking to school everyday, my parents force me to come. They don’t know that I get pain in my feet. Stones hit, prick, and wound me.’ She walks 6 miles to and from school, always passing through some thicket that endanger her life. No wonder some students dropout of school due to such factors as this.
Some Parents from distant places first escort their children on foot and if they don’t these children fear to come to school alone. One day while escorting Julie and Catherine, a leopard was seen just crossing the road. The mother Toepister narrates, ‘I held them, stood still and breathless as if dead until it went its way.’
We have always desired to construct a boarding section but only being bedeviled by funding that is quite high. We can’t go it alone, we need the intervention of God and therefore, request your prayers. We believe God to make a difference.
Reverend Eve Clive Nansereko
Director of Education
Edenset Nursery and Primary School
Nabinaka Village, Mazzi parish, Kamira Sub County, Luwero district, Uganda
To learn more contact: Reverend Eve Clive Nansereko.
P.O Box 349, Luweero
Tel. 0782154254,