Ayinkamiye Gloria
My name is Ayinkamiye Gloria, I’m 15 years old and in my second year at NIAAD under the Muzot program. I stopped in primary seven with my education in 2007. My father died in 1999 when I was 3 years old. After the death of my father, my mother also left for Kampala city to look for employment. She became a house maid until she got married and she is now a mother of three children. When my mother left the village, I stayed with her sister who was to provide all the basic needs and education for me. Unfortunately, my Aunt was very poor and I lived a life of suffering because I had to raise money for basic needs myself. I went to a government school where I didn’t require school fees, apart from the school requirements that I could get by working on people’s farms and gardens.
HOW I JOINED MUSE PROJECT
In December, 2007, as I was doing my casual work, I met a woman who asked me whether I wanted to know where my mother is; I was happy about her idea and I collected all the money I had worked for to cater for my transport. After a week, she took me to the city to meet my mother. I left the village after completing primary level education; upon reaching the city, I was very happy to see my mother, but she was living a miserable life in a slum and married to a very poor man. After a week, this man started complaining about me all the time and beating my mother asking her to send me away from his home. I started doing house work for people, coming home only to sleep. One day on my way home from work, I met a stranger who was startled by the expression on my face and asked me about my family; I explained everything I was going through, and she told me about the Muzot project that gives orphans free education and also asked whether I was interested in Art and Design. I was very happy about this opportunity. She gave me the all the school requirements and brought me to NIAAD.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH MUSE
My behaviors have changed, because of the behavioral change lessons we receive in school, like the spirit of togetherness and social development built in us to live in harmony in all communities. I deeply appreciate the knowledge and skills I have gotten from the institution and from the project, because I have grown to be capable of handling most of the difficult situations I come across in life. At school I study fashion designing, drawing, English, entrepreneurship, textile designing, painting, graphic designing, life skills, print making and other Art related subjects. I thank Brit-olam volunteers for introducing me to photography since I did not have any knowledge about the subject as an art. I still want more practical skills in photography so that I can live a bright future. In the future I want to be a fashion designer, but the knowledge I have acquired for the junior certificate can only drive me a short journey into the fashion industry. I therefore ask for an opportunity from the project to continue with fashion designing to an advanced certificate.
