On average over the past five years, we have sponsored 45 girls per year in Uganda.

The following story is from one of our beneficiaries, highlighting her ambition and the obstacles that prevented her from completing secondary school before she was sponsored.

To protect her identity, the name of the girl has been changed.

Nelly’s Story

"By becoming an electrical engineer, I want to change the perception among my people that women cannot succeed in science”

Nelly dreams of becoming an electrical engineer, just like her father. He used to work as an electrician for the Uganda railways before the government closed the corporation down. He now earns what income he can from electrical odd jobs, but it is not enough to support the education of his four children. The family frequently default on their school fees, forcing Nelly’s father to borrow money or plead with the head teacher to allow his children to continue in school.

However, Nelly loves school: she is the monitor for her class, loves playing netball and rope skipping with her friends, and she excels in science. With the support of the CGEF Nelly has flourished at school, not only in science, but in literature and languages too. She was awarded a prize for essay writing, and is now able to help some of the other girls in her class.

“I am so happy that with the support from you I have had this chance to be the best. I want to put electrification programmes in place in remote areas of Uganda, because access to electricity in rural areas, where most Ugandan’s live, is as low as 7%”