Mateba Vincent is a 17 year old who has spent 5 years on the streets.

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.

However, the seller who was the husband had not informed his wife who had gone to do some business in another place. When the wife returned and learnt about it, she did not agree to the idea and started harassing Vincent’s family. At first it begun as a simple joke but later culminated into breaking of structure and killing of animals.

The father went to court and won the case but this even made it worse for his family. The father decided to leave the land and went to stay with his mother in the village. Unfortunately the place was too small for the new family, getting food and other basic needs was a challenge. Vincent who was already in P.6 had no hope of resuming with school.

Vincent decided to come to town to work so that he could get some food but also if possible pay his for his school fees.  He started by picking scrap which he would sell to get money for food. He later want a head to help in the garage by flattening scrap metals using a harmer and then loading them onto lorries to factories. He started by sleeping on the streets. However when Child Restoration Outreach (CRO) started paying his school fees, he decided to sleep in video halls so that he could get time to revise books.

Today Vincent is in Senior three and has hope of continuing up to university. He wants to become a lawyer to fight for the plight of street children. He says there are children who have interest and a focus.

At Namakwekwe center, Vincent is very instrumental. He is in charge of the welfare of other children. He also takes time off to read books.