MY LIFE IN AND OUT OF THE STREET OF UGANDA

• I am Joshua Mukulu,20 years old,a ugandan by nationality,an orphan and a student in a high school.It was not my wish to be on the street but it was because of the an bearable situations tha forced me to abandon my home.We were five children in our family and i was the only boy.

In 1990,my home village was attacked by the rebels in northern east of uganda.my four sisters including my dad were killed and this forced my mamand i to move to the eastern part of uganda where we settled in one of Mbale slums called Namatala.In namatala life life was hard for us.we lacked shelter,clothes and food.I remember my mam and i were living in a small hut and used to have only one meal which was super.This forced my mam to get another man who latter became her husband,this man never at any time liked me maybe just because i was not his biological son.He always punished and put blame incase something went wrong at home at times he could tie me under a tree and beat me without mercy. This happened and my mam could not say anything like protected me because she was affraid of being divorced incase she tried to protect me.A feeling developed inside me that i was a mistake to my mam.One day i was sent to the market to buy flour and on my way,i lost the money without my knowledge and getting home,i was beated up seriously and this i felt i could not handle.I decided to go to the street and met some friends whom i knew before and they helped me how to cope with street life.

Life on the street was not easy but since i had no other alternative, it was a place for me to call a home.We used to pick from the gabbage like food,help people to carry their things from the market and we also used to beg, i remeber the first day i started begging,it was at mbale taxi park wherei asked one of the passengers inside a taxi for money.This man opened a side mirror of a car slaped me and spat on my face,told me that he was not my father and was not the one who brought me on the street.I really at that time the ground to open and swallow me.that was a day i have never forgotten in my life. i feeli could just meet this man a gain just to tell him that it was not my wish to be on the street.We also used to take drugs glue,petrol and marijwana. we used this drugs because of the cold at night,forget the stress of the day and to chase a way fear of being affraid of sleeping at the grave yard because at times we were attacked my police men at night who could beat us and took way the small money we worked for during the day.We also used to sleep inside broken pipes.

One day i and my friends were picking from a gabbage when this two ladies came to us but when we saw them, we got affraid thinking they were police but they talked to us in swahili language telling us not to ran.Is then when we got the strength of facing them .They told us of the up coming project called child restoration outreach(C.R.O).How it was going to help us since i really needed help, i decided to go with them and some of my friends but others refused to go.

Life in C.R.O,On getting to c.r.o we were given water to bathe and new clothes then food with some counselling.fro the project i would go back on the street since they did't have a partment for us to sleep.So i could go to the project in the morning and in the afternoon i would go back to the street.After some time the project went a head and talked to my mam who accepted me back home after she divorced the man since he never wanted to see me in his family.then latter my mam was given some money to start a bussiness of selling charcoal and we had a meal of the day and some money to take care of our needs.From that time my mam became an inspirational to my life she brought back the smiles that i missed during my stay on the street. In 1994, i was taken to northroad primary school wherei started my primary one.Joining a primary school was so interesting but i used to walk on bare feet and other children would laugh at me. I remember one day i had to go back to the project because i was embarrassed by one of my classmate because i was walking on bare feet but the project staff strengthened me by telling me that one day i would also put on shoes until i get fade up of puting on shoes.this really made me give a deaf ear to people who looked on my feet and laugh at me.I got popular at shool when i joined the school football team and athletic where i was the best and other children started admiring the talents that i feel would have been destroyed if i was not helped.This is when i came to realise that i have a future.when i joined school, i was performing well in class better than other children whom their parents were financially stable. I joined my secondary in 2001 and joined high school in 2005 and competed in2006 though it was not easy for me because my mam was sick so i had to go school and came back to take care of my mam.But she could not make it,she pased a way in june-16-2006.though she has gone, i have a story to tell of a good mother she was.I am to join university next year when i get back to uganda and i want to become a social worker because i want to work with street children. help them the same way i was helped.

My reason of sharing my life experience is to urge people helping C.R.O and other NGOs not to give up.go a head you are saving lives,talent and great people of the coming nations.my great thanks goes to STROMME FOUNDATION for supporting c.r.o to help street children have a bright.I am not a shamed to say, I AM A PRODUCT OF YOUR HELP.who knows that i would come to Norway maybe i would be dead if it was not for your help.MAY GOD BLESS YOU.

Joshua Mukulu.

My reason of sharing my life exp