Paul’s Story

Paul lives with his mother, Rose and his two siblings Jonathan and Peter in the village of Mbiko, Uganda. Rose had been married to Paul’s father for many years before things turned south. It was not until the birth of her third child, that her husband began using drugs and drinking to excess. Once he started taking drugs, he began abusing Rose and their children. The fighting escalated to the point that her husband began using stones, knives and even a panga to hurt his young family. Rose realized that she could no longer keep her boys safe and so they fled. After running away, Rose returned to the home of her own single mother. Her mother is elderly and not able to work and so the burden of caring for the entire family has fallen to Rose. Rose has tried many things to make money for her family, and has worked as a maid, a gardener and a babysitter. She has tried to sell firewood and to wash clothes for people too. The money she makes is rarely enough to provide one meal per day for the people in her home, let alone pay school fees for her children.

Now with a hand up from PFP’s Junior program, Rose is able to send all three of her children to school, as they all work toward a better future, together.  Paul is enrolled in a local primary school and he hopes to one day become a teacher. Life is looking up and Paul hopes one day to help pull himself and his mother out of the poverty they were both born into.