I’m Learning to Dream Without Limits While at The ROTOM School.
The world that 9-year-old Parvin has often seen around her is one of poverty and limitations. But The ROTOM School is inspiring her to dream without limits. When a child is born in poverty, their entire world is what they see and experience. At the ROTOM School, we’ve seen this reality too often among many of our learners being raised by grandparents.
Interestingly though, we’ve also witnessed beautiful moments when our learners like Parvin share their limitless dreams and aspirations over time.
Parvin lives with her grandmother, great grandmother (90+ years) and cousin, Brenda. Her rural community has no job opportunities and her family mainly survives on subsistence farming and support from ROTOM.
"My biggest dream is to see my granddaughters Parvin and Brenda achieving everything I never was able to"
said Parvin’s great grandmother, Roza.
After being abandoned by her mother and her father’s whereabouts unknown, Parvin was left in the care of her great grandmother at the age of four. Its where ROTOM found her and enrolled her in The ROTOM School. While Parvin works hard at school and strives to be a good learner, she aspires to be a nurse one day so she can help sick people in her community. Her joy at being a part of The ROTOM School is evident in the way that she is eager to participate in class and help the younger learners.
When asked what she is most grateful for; her reply is
"I am learning that there are many professions and things that I can do when I grow up. I love coming to The ROTOM School because I have teachers and friends who love and encourage me everyday, and I also get to do lots of fun things"
Parvin sums up her experience at The ROTOM School with a mere few words
"I am very happy to be here!"
Friends, so many children living in the poorest and most excluded corners of the world are deprived of this simple word: POSSIBILITIES.
"They are deprived of the possibilities — they are denied the opportunity of becoming doctors, nurses, teachers, pilots, painters, photographers, chefs and so many other professions because they have no access to good quality education."
We can proudly say that The ROTOM School has now become a safe haven for many children like Parvin to dream of a different future, a new possibility.
The ROTOM Champions’ Project: Turning Dreams into Realities!
While The ROTOM School supports children in kindergarten and primary level, the ROTOM Champions’ project increases access to higher education for orphaned and vulnerable girls under the care of older persons. This program comes with full tuition, accommodation, scholastic materials, stipend, leadership training, mentorship employment preparation among others.
To fulfill her dream of joining the university, Specioza found a job, hoping to save money for her tuition. However, her family’s financial situation forced her to spend all her little earnings to care for her younger siblings and late grandmother. Specioza wanted to study Accounting and Finance but her grandmother and uncle who had helped her through high school couldn’t afford it.
"In 2022, after three years of living with uncertainty about my future, I received good news that turned my life around. I was joining the ROTOM Champions’ program and my wish of pursuing higher education would become a reality. I never imagined that a girl like me could ever have a chance of joining a university and have her long-time dream come true"
Specioza recalls.
Thanks to this ROTOM project, Specioza now awaits her graduation this December 2024 and she will be the first girl in her family to graduate from a university. Moreover, Specioza has also already found employment and she is able to meet her own needs as well as her family.
Lack of education can become a prison, trapping generations in a cycle of poverty. Since 2012, a collective effort between ROTOM and Beautiful World Canada has empowered over 150 girls to pursue their educational goals; turning many dreams into realities.
MESSAGE FROM FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Many African grandparents can always be found with a child or several children under their care. Often times, these grandchildren’s very survival depends on these grandparents. It’s like an unwritten code, when their children die and leave behind children, they are taken to their grandparents. Or when the parents are struggling to survive, they leave their children with their own parents with promises of sending support before disappearing into urban centres.
Because of friends and partners like you, ROTOM is able to support older persons raise children under their care. Your faithful and generous support have enabled us to directly support over 600 children under the care of older persons over the last twenty years. Personally, I was overjoyed to learn from our 2023 impact assessment report that: ROTOM’s support for older persons to raise children in their care has grown from 33% in 2015 to 79% in 2023. And more so that 100% of the grandchildren who have graduated from our children’s programs are gainfully employed and helping their grandparents, siblings and communities. Talk about sustainability, what else would one ask for than rebuilding the capacity of the family to care for its own-as these grandchildren have started to do.
So, I would like to thank you for all your contributions toward supporting the children under ROTOM’s care. I would also like to take this opportunity to invite you to consider supporting a child at The ROTOM School today for only $38 USD, $60 CAD, £27, €30 or ugx 100,000 monthly.
Thank you for your continued generosity and support!
Kenneth E. Mugayehwenkyi
Founder & Executive Director