Meet the Children
"When will we teach our children in school what they are? Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique.
In all the world, there is no child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed, there has never been another
child like you. You have the capacity for anything. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is like you,
a marvel?"
Pablo Casals
Meet some of the Rock Foundation students:
Miriam Nabachwa:
 I am Miriam Nabachwa and I am a Baganda and I speak Luganda and I am a Ugandan. I want you to know me and I want to know you too! I board at the Rock Foundation School where I am in 7th grade. Here in Uganda, you have to take a very difficult test at the end of your 7th grade year. If you pass the test, you can continue on to secondary school and if you fail, you can not go to school anymore. I have to study very hard right now, from 7 o’clock in the morning to as late as 9 o’clock at night. We don’t have electricity and so it can be hard to study by candlelight. Here is a picture of me doing my studies. I am working so hard because my dream is to become a nurse. Nurses are always smartly dressed and I want to be like that. If I become a nurse, I will be able to build my mother a house, one with electricity! I will never stop loving my mother because she has tried to satisfy some of my needs although she is poor.
 Let me tell you a little bit about my life. When I was four years old, my father died of AIDS. Here in Africa, AIDS is a big problem and many of my friends have lost a family member to this disease. I didn’t know then what death meant and it was a very scary time for me. My mother cried a lot during that time and I did too. I didn’t want to go to school then because I did not want to leave my mother alone. My mother now supports my sister and me by selling tea and snacks from her kiosk near the Rock Foundation School. She only makes about $5.00 a day so we have to be very careful with our money. I read books about AIDS and I get scared sometimes that I might die too.
Matovu Yahaya:
 I am Matovu Yahaya and I am a Muganda and I speak Luganda and I am an African boy from Uganda! I want you to know me and I want to know you too. I am 15 years old and I am a fifth grader at Rock Foundation School. I have 4 mothers and two fathers and 20 sisters and brothers. I live with three of my mothers, one of my fathers and many of my siblings. My other father is a conductor and we only see him twice a month. My mother sells fruit from her kiosk- things like jack fruit, yellow bananas, avocados and tomatoes. Here are the chores I do around our house: wash the dishes, mop the verandah, wash clothes, and fetch our water in a jerry can. What I love to do when I am not doing chores and when I am not in school is to play soccer and to play games on my uncles' computer like Driving Cars and Tomb Rider 4. When I grow up I want to be a famous soccer player like Ronaldo. Do you know who he is?
Here is what my school day is like: I wake up, brush my teeth and wash my face. I put on my school uniform which is a lavender color. After having some tea and left over dinner from the night before, I walk to the Rock Foundation School which is about eight minutes away. We start the day with a parade, then we clean the school yard before assembling to sing the school anthem and begin classes. What I like about school: learning about the digestive system from my science teacher. What I don’t like about school: we aren’t allowed to play soccer there because they don’t want us to get dirty. How I am ever going to become a famous soccer player if I can’t practice at school? I eat a lunch of beans and posha every day at school. I’m lucky to have lunch because many kids at school don’t eat any because their parents can’t afford it.
Juliet Birungi:
 My Rwandan name is Musabelman Birungi. My name means “pray for god oh beautiful one”. I am now eight years old and I am sponsored by Bead for Life to go to the Rock Foundation School in Kampala. My mother died of AIDS when I was six years old and I do not know my father because he died when I was very young. I saw my mother when she was dying. On that day, my mother was very sick and we were two in the house. She was not eating for some days and then she told me to go out to call the neighbor to come and help her. I saw many people coming in our house and then they started crying. I have never seen my mother again. I now live with my sister, Susanna , her baby and her husband, the milkman in a 10’ by 10’ room made of mud bricks. Bead for Life has bought me a beautiful lavender uniform for school and some shoes and school supplies.
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