Scholars

Voices from Adjumani

Behind every number stands a girl with a name, a path to school and a plan for her life. We tell two of those paths here — standing in for the 24 children we support in the Adjumani district of northern Uganda together with the Jesuit Refugee Service.

To protect the girls, we give only their first name and what they want to become. No surnames, no details about family or where they live, nothing that could identify them — these are the safeguarding standards of the Jesuit Refugee Service, and we hold to them.

Education gives South Sudanese refugee children in Uganda perspectives for the future — whether they stay on in Uganda or one day are able to return home to South Sudan.

Jo sits upright and self-assured in front of a blackboard — Foto: JRS Uganda · Sensitive images modified with AI – the people shown are not real.

Scholar

Jo would have been married at 15.

At around 15, Jo was close to marriage. In her settlement that is a familiar path — and for many girls the end of their schooling. A scholarship interrupted that path: it let Jo stay in school.

Today she is class representative. She stands in front of her class, takes on responsibility and is one of those the younger children look up to.

Her goal is concrete: she wants to become a midwife — not just anywhere, but in her own settlement, so that mothers there can give birth safely. A school place turns into a whole working life that saves the lives of others.

I want to become a midwife, so that mothers in my settlement can give birth safely.

For safeguarding reasons: first name and aspiration only, no identifying details (JRS safeguarding standards).

A student's hands write with concentration in an exercise book — Foto: JRS Uganda

Scholar

Mary could not read when she arrived.

Mary fled South Sudan with her grandmother. When she arrived in Adjumani, she could not read. Her mother had left school at twelve — because of an early marriage. Mary is the first in her family to attend secondary school.

By now she is among the best in her class. She loves mathematics and biology and already passes on what she has learned: she helps the younger children with their studies before she sits down to her own work.

She wants to become a teacher — so that the children who come after her have a teacher who understands life in the settlement from her own experience and trusts that their path, too, can lead forward.

I want to teach, so the next children have a teacher who knows life in the settlement.

For safeguarding reasons: first name and aspiration only, no identifying details (JRS safeguarding standards).

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One school year costs €800. Your membership turns a school place into a dependable future — for one more girl in Adjumani.

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