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From bricks to dreams: Awori’s inspiring journey to nursing
Mercy Brenda Awori, 21, making bricks post-Covid (L) and as an intern at Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital on October 5, 2024. She is on course to fulfil her ambition of becoming a medical doctor, after enrolling for a Diploma in Nursing at the Indian Institute of Health and Allied Sciences in Kampala. PHOTOS | PHILIP WAFULA
What you need to know:
- The 21-year-old is on course to fulfill her career ambition, thanks to this publication and well-wishers.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Mercy Brenda Awori, then a 17-year-old student at Kololo Secondary School in Kampala, resorted to making bricks to temporarily relieve her father of the fees burden.
When the Monitor visited her in Lukone Village, Baitambogwe Sub-county, Mayuge District, about 12,000 of her bricks were in the kiln, ready for combustion, while about 30,000 were ready for sale.
Her father, Mr Eria Misanga, had mobilised youth from the village to make bricks to sell and raise school fees for his children; but Ms Awori was keen on learning, so that he used what he was paying the youth to feed the family.
It is from these youth her father hired that Ms Awori learnt brick making, and after discovering that she could manage, she embraced the activity until her determination attracted Odur Foundation, a non-profit organisation that empowers the girl child.
Odur Foundation later partnered with then Liquid Telecom (Liquid Intelligent Technologies), which delivered a smartphone to help in her online lessons, and also committed $1,000 (about Shs3.7m) to her tuition and scholastic requirements every year until she completes secondary education.
Ms Awori, who was offering Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics, hoped to become a medical doctor, and four years later, she is on course to fulfilling that ambition after first enrolling for a Diploma in Nursing at the Indian Institute of Health and Allied Sciences in Kampala.
She is currently on internship at Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital. “As a nurse, and through the health sector, I promise to impact positively on the lives of people,” she said on Saturday.
Ms Awori added: “Life was hard when I was making bricks to earn a living and also fund my studies; but a helpful hand from Odur Foundation and Liquid Telecom has enabled my studies since 2021 when I was in Senior Five.”
Mercy Brenda Awori, a then 17-year-old student at Kololo Secondary School in Kampala, making bricks at Lukone Village, Baitambogwe Sub-county, Mayuge District, in 2020. PHOTO/PHILIP WAFULA
Mr Michael Mukasa, the chief executive officer of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, formerly Liquid Telecom, says their partnership with Odur Foundation started with the identification of a young girl who surfaced on social media laying bricks to raise school fees.
“Odur Foundation picked her up and searched for support through which our group chairman picked interest and decided to offer her support to achieve her dreams. Working with our Human Resource team and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committee at Liquid, we decided to give her a full sponsorship for her studies,” he said.
Mr Mukasa added that they intend to have a long-lasting partnership with Odur Foundation and expand the support to touch as many girl children who are in need of education.
