Ishimwe Emmanuel, an 18-year-old Congolese refugee, is a Senior 1 student at Rubondo Community Secondary School. Before coming to Uganda, he was in Senior three in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On August 9, 2022, Ishimwe fled with his mother and family to Uganda, where they were granted refugee status and settled in Kyeibare B, Rubondo Zone in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. This move was prompted by renewed violence in early 2022 in North Kivu and Ituri provinces between the M23 rebels and the DRC government troops.
Ishimwe is the eldest of five siblings. He lost his father in 2019 during the ongoing conflict in the DRC, which left his mother, Nyiransabimana Royce, as the sole breadwinner and head of the household. “While in Uganda, life became very tough,” Ishimwe recalls. “Our mother couldn’t manage to take us to school on top of the struggles she was going through to take care of the household.”
As the oldest son, Ishimwe felt a deep responsibility to support his mother and siblings while still pursuing his own dreams.
“I had to look for ways to help my family and also find a means to go back to school to achieve my dream of becoming a politician,” he says.
He rented a bicycle from a neighbour for three thousand Ugandan shillings ($0.81USD) each day, which he used to transport water for sale at Kisura trading center. “I sold a jerrican of water for five hundred shillings ($0.13USD) The money helped me support my family and enroll back in school in Senior 1 at Rubondo Community SS in 2023.”
Reflecting on his journey, Ishimwe highlights a moment of profound relief and joy. “The best moment to remember was the day I reported at Rubondo Community SS, and Finn Church Aid (FCA) gave me school supplies, including a school bag, books, a mathematical set, pens, pencils, and a graph book. At first, it was hard to believe what I had received, but I realized everyone in my class was in the same blissful moment. It was that day I felt motivated to fight hard to achieve my dream, even though I had thought I had lost it all.”
Like Ishimwe, 285 new students at Rubondo Community SS, including those in Senior 1 and Senior 5, benefited from the ACT Alliance funded programme. This intervention has significantly increased the school’s enrollment, growing from 246 students at the end of term 3 in 2022 to 438 students (242 males and 196 females) by the end of term 1 in 2023.
