Lyazi Denis
FAMILY BACK GROUND
My name is Lyazi Denis. I’m 19 years old in my second year at NIAAD under the Muzot program. I come from a family of 4 children and I’m the
youngest in my family. I live with parents; who are peasant farmers who only grow food for home consumption. My parents can only raise money for basic needs and very little money for school fees. It’s only my mother who takes care of the whole family, while unfortunately my father is an Alcoholic. I stopped in senior two due to the bad situation at home and after that, I had to look for school fees through working for people around the village. One day I told the director of our school about my family problems and that I was a good student. He gave me a scholarship up to senior four. This was a great opportunity in my life; since non of my elder brothers and sisters had ever reached this level. After this level my mother still had not raised enough money to help me continue with my education. I left my parents and came to the city to look for a job, to raise school fees. I got a job in the city where I worked as a sales person in a cosmetics company. I used to be paid a very low wage which was basically exploitation, but I had to continue working however tough the conditions were and however much I had complained to my parents. No one had a solution to my problem.
HOW I JOINED MUSE
My mother went to church and she heard an announcement informing parents who had children not going to school and would like to continue, but studying Art and Design to take them to NIAAD. Having been talented in Art, my mother called me and informed me about this opportunity, I went back home and went to do the interviews at church. After two weeks, the results were brought back that I had passed so I prepared to report to school in August, 2009.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE PROJECT
From the time I joined NIAAD, I have socially changed and am an exemplary youth in my community; this is due to the advice I receive from school. Academically my art skills have improved due to the knowledge I have gotten from different subjects such as sculpture, graphic designing, textile designing, music, dance, drama, drawing, painting and English. I was also introduced to photography by Brit-olam volunteers; they taught me how to use a camera and how to produce good photographs, I thank Brit-olam volunteers for this opportunity; though I still need further knowledge in photography to earn a living from it. In the future I wish to be a painter and I hope that with the skills I have received I will lead a good future. I need advanced skills in painting to enable me compete favorably with other painters. I humbly request the project to give me an opportunity to continue with my education up to the Diploma level after the certificate. 
