My name is Marvelous, I am 17 years old. We are 6 in our family. My father’s name is Charles. Back in 2015 my father divorced my mother and abandonded our family. This is when life became very hard for us. My mother is not educated and was only able to sell vegetables to try to earn a living for our family. The burden was too much for her and our family and eventually we had to be separated in order to survive.

I started schooling in grade 1 at Emmas Kids community school, when I wrote my grade 7 I passed at Tang up Secondary School, but due to finances uniforms were expensive and my mother could not afford so I started going to Twashuka Primary School.

Due to the poverty levels at our house I moved out of the house to live with my grandmother from my father’s side. When my father left he has never come back to help us or assist us in any school or home requirements. He abandoned us.

My grandmother does not work, only does farming for survival, we are just the two of us. In 2022 when I sat for my grade 9 school I passed to and was able to proceed to grade 10 at Kalanga Secondary School. But because of a lack of finances, I have a shortage of school supplies and my former teacher after seeing my struggles helped me with a school uniform, some notebooks, and a used school bag. There was no one else to help me with my other requirements.

Most of the time due to my grandmother’s situation we only eat once at my grandmother’s place. My elder siblings are all married and I want to finish school and keep my family, especially my mother. I want to be a doctor when I finish school and join the military.