A Better Job for Mama

Thank you everyone for helping us reach our $370 goal of getting Melon her documents and registered for school! July 9, 2023 she received those funds. In December 2023 she is taking final exams for her first semester.

Now she is in need of continuing tuition and travel assistance. Tuition is $200 each September, January, and May until May 2025. She travels 108 kilometers almost every weekend to get to the Bishop Barham University College campus to attend the executive classes offered on the weekends. Her travel and board fees each weekend are around $35; $27 for the bus and a little more for her food, water, and electricity wherever she stays. Altogether this adds up to just under $4000. She will be able to take care of some of it so we're requesting $3500. Thank you for considering ongoing assistance!

Original fundraiser post:

Hi, I’m Bridget and in June 2023 I spent 18 days in Uganda. At one of the guest houses I stayed at, I met an employee named Melón. Melon would like to make enough money to keep her three children in school, but she doesn’t have the documentation she needs to get a better job. All it takes is her showing up to get the documents printed, but she cannot possibly save enough to make that happen: $370USD. With her printed documents, Melon will be in a position to do the work to improve her family member’s lives.

Melon is a dedicated mother of three (pictured above), and has obtained certification in her field as a hotelier. Her income potential in this field has topped out, and it’s not enough to keep her children in school. In Uganda the public school fees are prohibitive. Many parents spend a significant percentage of their income just to keep their children in school. They know that the education will provide a better life for their children, so they make huge sacrifices to keep school fees paid.

Melon would like to get training in the IT field. There are IT jobs available at the hospital near her, and the income would be enough to meet her family’s needs. In order to enroll, she is required to present documentation of her former schooling: her hotelier certification.

In September 2013, Melon was crossing Lake Bunyonyi with two other young women, hopeful of obtaining an internship on the other side. There was an accident and the two other women drowned; Melon was the only survivor. During that experience, all of her education documents were lost in Lake Bunyonyi.

Melon’s mother in village Bunyonyi

In order to reprint her documents, Melon must make the 12 hour trip from the southwestern region to the capitol city Kampala. Once there she can present her National ID and background information, and sign for the release and reprint of her documents. The cost of reprinting, transportation, and accommodations ($370) is something she cannot even begin to save for if she wants to keep her children in school.

Providing Melon with this money will allow her to reset from this decade-old trauma, as well as put her in a position to do her best going forward for her family, her community, and her country.