Rihanna’s Story

Nagawa’s mother Alice was abandoned when she was a small girl. After the death of her father, all of his assets were transferred to her brother and Alice was pushed out to make a life for herself. She was married off at an early age, but her husband was an alcoholic who abused her terribly, so she eventually separated from him. At this time in her life, she was a young single mother with one child. A kind neighbor helped to build a mud house for her so she could have a place to live in exchange for keeping his property safe. While living in this village, Nagawa’s mother Alice met another man and became a mother for a second and third time. Sadly, the second husband abandoned her, leaving her with three children and no income.

Nagawa is the third born in the family, and she is carried by her mother while doing casual work for people such as digging, fetching water and collecting wood from the nearby Mabira forest. The family sells wood to restaurants to try and make enough money to eat. Neither of Nagawa’s elder siblings have had the opportunity to attend school, and instead have had to focus on helping their mother with work in order to survive.

Now with a hand up from PFP’s Junior program, Alice is able to send both of her elder daughters to school. As soon as she is old enough, Nagawa will be enrolled in a local primary school as well and will continue to spend time with her mother in the evenings. Life is looking up for the entire family and PFP will continue to stand by her side until Nagawa can rise up out of the poverty she was born into.