African Girls Can Co-Founder, Phoebe Mulinde, gives helpful context to the serious unemployment situation in Uganda this way:
While secondary education lays a crucial foundation for personal and intellectual development, it often falls short in equipping students with the practical skills needed to thrive in the job market, especially in places like rural Uganda. Our curriculum of secondary education tends to emphasize theoretical knowledge rather than hands-on skills, leaving graduates ill-prepared to tackle real-world challenges in the workforce. There is a huge gap between education and employability where the job market demands a range of technical, vocational, and practical skills. Therefore, additional skilling beyond secondary education is imperative to bridge this gap and empower young women with the tools they need to secure meaningful employment and become self-sufficient.
“A story at its root is a human transforming something or a human being transformed.
A story is a bridge between something I know and care about and something you don’t yet know and care about.”
Ruth Milligan, Miami University Class of 1990
Keynote Speaker Miami Women’s Leadership Symposium, Spring 2023
If you are reading this, you already believe in girls’ education. But, you are not yet aware of this particular young woman in Northern Uganda. We’d like to make that connection. As a follow up to Babra’s story, we share Sharon’s dream of opening her own pharmacy. It is important to think of the Ugandan pharmacy as not only a public health entity, but a business.
Note: Sharon and Babra share the same family name, Akello (very common, like Smith in the US), but they are not related.
Sharon’s Story
I am Akello Sharon and I am 20 years old. I am part of the Lango tribe and my home district in Uganda is Otuke. I am the youngest of four children. There had been six children, but two died. My two parents and three older siblings do not have any work other than farming. The land around us is not very fertile. My father had an accident and now cannot hold anything heavy, not even a hoe.
Growing up, my family had a lot of difficulty getting food and paying school fees. My brothers and sister were always being chased back home for unpaid fees. I had to stay home for one year and only made it through Aliwang Primary School and to sit for the Leaving Exam (required to enter secondary school) with a sponsorship from the Catholic mission there.
During the year I spent out of school I actually regretted being born. Who could I become in the future without studying?
I am my Family’s Hope
To understand what motivates me, you have to also know about my very bright sister, Susan, and how her potential has not been realized.
Except for Susan, my siblings all stopped school after four years of secondary because there was no money to push them to the next level. Susan stayed at home for two years after finishing her Ordinary Level. Then because she had achieved a 1st grade (highest possible score) in S4 and because she was from a very poor background, she qualified for a BRAC sponsorship. This is how my sister completed her last two years of high school. But, the scholarship did not extend to university or any post-secondary education and our parents could not afford to pay. Sharon dreamt of doing an accounting course, but she is now 29 and still at home working in the field.
Susan has pushed and pushed to find the money to send me to school (African Girls Can pays 80% of tuition, room and board, so Susan has had to come up with the remaining 20%), even though she did not reach her own goal because of poverty. She is so dear to me.
My family’s hope now rests with me.
My Path is Pharmacy School
I am happy and excited to have just begun a two-year program at Jerusalem Institute of Health Sciences in Lira for a Certificate in Pharmacy.
I took an interest in this course after visiting many pharmacies here in Lira. I saw how people who had opened their own pharmacies were earning good money and had improved their standard of living. This pharmacy course is so marketable – you come out with your job at hand. As a Senior Pharmacist, I will serve the people of my community to their maximum expectations.
I also chose the course because I wanted to become well-versed in knowing about medicine and drugs and the particular diseases they heal or cure. Since we began in July, 2023, the classes have been teaching us theory before we move on to the practical work. We have already learned about some of the pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria and viruses) and the diseases they transmit in the course unit called microbiology and parasitology. There are also courses in first aid, pharmaceutical chemistry, human structures, organs and functions, etc.
Thanks to African Girls Can, I have reached a level that no one in our family has reached and will become someone I never thought I would be. I am so optimistic now.
An Investment in Akello Sharon
$500 per term for 4 terms, or $2,000 in total.
Invest in Sharon by donating HERE. Thank you!
