Proscovia missed her official graduation from Gulu University in October because she was on tour with Invisible Children in the United States. Since returning to Uganda in December, she celebrated her graduation again with other recent graduates of the Legacy Scholarship Program from across the region. She also began working at Sacred Heart Secondary School, one of Invisible Children’s partner schools. Her job? As the academic secretary, Proscovia’s role is a perfect match for her diploma in secretarial and information management.
All the same, she never stops planning.
“I also have a plan and want to work for this year. If I save my money well, I will start up a small business alongside my work to help me support my siblings and others as well,” she said.
Legacy Scholarship Program graduate and former roadie Proscovia poses during a recent visit to the Invisible Children office in Gulu, Uganda.
She believes that LSP graduates have a role to play in supporting students across northern Uganda. They set an example to other youth by working hard in school and seeking out employment opportunities. These graduates also help to pay school fees for their siblings, relatives, and friends where they can. As LSP students finish their education, they are becoming job creators and viable employees to businesses and organizations across Uganda.
“We still have the young ones that are coming up so the students who have been in the scholarship program are trying to support where necessary. We have joined [our donors] in helping the people of northern Uganda, and in Democratic Republic of Congo, to progress,” she said.
The fact that LSP graduates are finding and creating jobs is striking, considering high rates of unemployment across Uganda. Proscovia believes that the success of these graduates is a good sign. As more and more young people, including hundreds of graduates from the Legacy Scholarship Program, take advantage of the educational opportunities they have been granted, they can shape Uganda’s future and remind future generations that education can be a ticket to success.
Proscovia gives a speech at the LSP graduation ceremony.
Proscovia says that the scholarships she received from Invisible Children for secondary school and university solved many problems. Since she no longer had to worry where schools fees would come from, she could focus on concentrating and performing well.
“Some of my friends who did not have the opportunity to join the scholarship got married, some of them are child mothers and most of them are really suffering. They cannot work, they cannot support their siblings. It has moved me from where I was and now I’m a person that people can recognize and respect. It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the support of Invisible Children,” she said.
Proscovia also has advice for students around the world. She wants to remind them to take advantage of the knowledge and opportunities that they can gain through schooling. You can lose physical objects, but the strength of knowledge is that someone can never take it away from you, she notes.
“Education is the source of everything,” she said. “Sometimes, as children in northern Uganda, we feel ‘Let me just stop here. I cannot manage because I have so many problems.’ You might be determined that you can even drop out of school…but you should not give up no matter the situation, no matter the pain or the suffering that you are going through because if you move around you will find that most people went through a similar thing.”
She believes that students across the globe and from all walks of life should work hard and remain in school. In doing so they can grow as independent youth and become empowered individuals with a knowledge of other cultures and the world beyond their immediate experiences.
Think people should hear about this?