Nassolo Noeline is from the village of Bukalasa and has five children who live at home with her. Her daughter's names are Naluyiga Claire, Nakyewa Gaude, Nabuufu Maureen and Nakidde Maria Goretti, who are twelve, ten, eight and four years old respectively. She also has a son Sekidde Stephene who is eleven. Noeline's older children attend school on a partial scholarship provided by the Daughters of Mary Sisters and she works cleaning the compound at St Teresa School to pay the remainder of her children's school fees.
Noeline comes from a family of thirteen children, five girls and eight boys. Her parents are subsistence farmers. While the boys spent much of their time working on the farm with their father, the girls were responsible for taking care of the house chores, looking after their siblings and preparing meals for the whole family. They were also responsible for fetching water and firewood. Noeline explained that her brothers were given a chance to go to school but the girls did not have that chance since the family did not have enough income.
Noeline got married when she was sixteen and this was also true of her four sisters. Getting married is one of the top cultural values since parents get dowries. “I guess my parents were very happy when we got married,” she said. This is common among girls that are not going to school and she said that she had no other option than getting married. She understood that the role of a woman was to get married and take care of the children as well as home chores.
Her marriage experience has not been good because of her abusive husband. She said that her husband drinks a lot of alcohol and sometimes when he comes back home he tells them to look for another place where they can sleep. There have been times when she wanted to find a new place to live with her children but this has not been possible. Since her husband paid a dowry to her parents, she has to stay with him otherwise they will have to pay back the dowry to her husband and they do not have the money.
“I want my children to be educated. I do not want them to have a similar experience that I have been through.” She wants her children to go to better schools where they can learn good discipline and the skills they need to succeed in life.
"My family and I are very grateful for the wonderful opportunity we were given to be the first ones to get a pigsty and two piglets. My words cannot express the joy that we have. We have hope that our lives are not going to be the same –I will be able to buy scholastic materials for my children and to pay for their tuition. I want to thank Cindy and her friends that have shared their love, time, and money in order to make a difference in our lives. Be assured of our prayers."
While Sr. Maria and Cindy were in Uganda this summer EYN built its first pigsty and delivered its first pair of piglets. Little Nakidde Maria Goretti looks on as they get accustomed to their new home.
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