Ayao Oliver aged 17 years old hails from Apac districtand is the second born in her family. Since her childhood,she dream tof becoming a successful lady in life but all this faded at the point when her father passed onwhileshe was in primaryfour (4).
As their mother tried to fend for their survival, she(mother) moved with them to Lira town and started selling cassava (chips) to at least get some money for food and family upkeep.
Oliver laments,” Young as I was,I dropped out of school in P.4 and started supporting mymother with hawking chips in town.” “But one early morning as I was moving on the street withmy chips, some two people asked me “why am not in school?”,as they were buying my chips.
After telling them my story,they got so concerned and asked me if I could follow them totheir office at CRO Lira. I hesitated thinking that they are kidnappers. Little did I know that it was a turning point tosuccess in life!”, Oliver explains.
Ayao at her sewing machineAt CRO, Oliver was enrolled intothe rehabilitation class, subjected to counseling and other educative cre-ative activities that transformed herlonely thinking to a communal andsocialist thinking - making manynew friends.
Additionally, Oliver was enrolled for the tailoring training provided at CRO. Lira center. “This training brought my long faded dream back tolife. - that I will serve my communitythrough my tailoring work. Gratitudeto CRO.”.
Brian(16) dropped out school in primary four(4) in 2018. In 2018, he joined the streets of Lira town after the separation of his parents that left him and his siblings with their grandmother and uncle.
He hails from Mwongot village in Sironko district. He came to the streets because his family was facing constant torture, discrimination and harassment from the neighbors who sold them land. The father had bought a piece of land and came to stay on it.
Isaac(15) left his fathers’s home in Otuke District in May 2018 andjoined the streets of Lira town. This was after the demise of his mother in 2017. His father married another wife who subjected him to intermittent beatings,torture and falsely accused him before his father. Isaac says,“my father would get so annoyed with me and one day he said that he would kill me if he heard anything again.This scared me so much that I ran to the streets in Lira town in a bid to save my life..“