"None of us ever stepped at school,thus had to collect waste bottles to have a meal"

Moving from Loro, Oyam district, ten year old Ambrose and his family (mother and five siblings) settled in Te-obia in Lira town in search for a better living.

This was after the demise of their father during the LRA insurgency and at a young age, Ambrose did not get a chance to see or get to know him.

With such a big family, Ambrose’s mother survives on winnowing cereals in a Lira town in order to support the family. With such meager earnings, it is such a struggle to provide for the basic needs of her family members.

Ambrose narrates, “None of us goes to school and we have even never been to school. My brothers used to collect bottles for sale to support mother during which period we would have at least two meals a day but as they grew up, they stopped doing that and we fell back to one meal a day”. Living in such a state, Ambrose had no alternative but to start collecting waste plastic bottles for selling to supplement on what mother was providing.

After collecting waste bottles for about one year, one day the staff of CRO Lira met Ambrose on the streets and requested him to visit them at the centre. While at the Centre, he says; “ I met other children some of whom I had known before and life changed for me because I had meals and played”.

Ambrose states, “The teachers are nice to me and they have been so concerned about my life and our home. I feel much ease and comfort when i am at the centre and I thank God for the opportunity to be among the children of CRO”.

When I grow up I would like to become a motor vehicle mechanic, and I have to be a good and obedient child in order to achieve that goal. I am hoping that CRO will help me to become who I want to be in future.