By Daniele Reisbig | Development Coordinator
He told her that he loved her and that made her feel special. Then one day he was gone and it was time to go back to school.
Part of her knew what would happen but she went anyway, hoping that maybe the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach was wrong. Every semester when the girls came back to school, the principal made them take the test. She told herself it could be nothing but the test didn’t lie.
She was pregnant.
While the other girls went to their classes, she had to pack her things. She had dreamed of becoming a nurse but now she would never get that chance. She walked out of the school with every eye on her. She did everything she could to keep from crying but the thought of her lost future was too much. What would she do now?
Unfortunately, this story isn’t uncommon in Uganda. Many secondary schools test girls for pregnancy as soon as their students arrive at school. If they are found to be pregnant, they are expelled immediately. Some girls drop out of school if they have had sex or have been raped to avoid the shame and embarrassment of expulsion. Without education, these girls and their children are trapped in poverty.
This isn’t a small number of girls in Uganda. Nearly 1 in 4 girls will become pregnant before the age of 18. This leads many girls to early marriage and unsafe abortions.
YOU are making sure that YOUR students are given good health education to help them avoid pregnancy and HIV/AIDS but we also want to help all of our students reach their dreams even if they make mistakes. That is why YOUR Secondary and Vocational School will not expel girls if they become pregnant.
YOUR support in building YOUR Secondary and Vocational school is helping us work towards the dream that every girl will have the opportunity to reach her dreams. Just look at the pictures of your school under construction.
Look at the beautiful roof YOU have built over the Girls’ dormitory! To the girls who will one day sleep under that roof, every rain drop they hear hit the tiles will remind them of YOUR gift.
The school is scheduled to open February 9th, 2015! That’s only a few short months away but we have faith that YOUR love will open our doors!
Here are a couple ways YOU can help us get there!
Right NOW! YOU can vote for our photos in the Global Giving photo contest. It doesn't cost anything to vote and you can help Nyaka win $1,000! Here are the links to our two photos in the running to win: http://buff.ly/1AN7FDa & http://buff.ly/1AN7FDb
You can also share these links with your friends and ask them to vote too!
September 3rd--September 10th GlobalGiving will be offering a one-time 100% match on all new recurring donations! If you have been waiting for a good time to start giving monthly, this is it!
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