An educated family in Uganda

April 2, 2011

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As the oldest of seven children, it suddenly became her job to take care of the family. But even with all her new responsibilities, she refused to stop going to school. She knew how important an education was to the future of her family. “I did all sorts of small jobs,” she says ?including selling chickens after class every day.

But when it came time to start secondary school, tuition fees became too expensive. She could no longer go to the classroom and still feed her family. Grace thought she’d finally have to drop out.

Then she discovered the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), a non-profit organization backed by global partners that works to help make sure that girls all across Africa can go to school. FAWE agreed to help pay her tuition fees for as long as she needed.

Today, thanks to FAWE’s help, Grace holds a degree in information science and owns her own company. She’s paying the way for all of her brothers and sisters to go to school. And she hopes her story inspires other young girls just like her.

“I am so proud of who I am today. I want to be an example for girls in my country and beyond.”

Notes +

Quick facts

Educating girls for five years increases child survival rates by up to 40%.

One extra year of education boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10-20%.

42 million more children started going to school in Africa between 1999 and 2007, as a result of African leadership on education, backed by increased development assistance and debt cancellation.