Missing out on education

Nabirye is around 9 years old and lives with her four sisters and two brothers in a small village in south-east Uganda. The family’s house is not yet fully built - it has two small bedrooms and a small poultry house which is still waiting for the chickens to arrive.

Although she is blind Nabirye is very capable and every morning she gets up and dressed without help. During the day she helps her mother with washing plates and fetching water.

When her friends are around they play skipping games and Hide and Seek. But all Nabirye’s friends go to school so she is alone with her mother during the day. She did once go to school when she was six, but her family did not have enough money to continue her education. While she was at school she learned to count to a hundred without any mistakes.
Her parents would like Nabirye to go to school so she can look after herself in the future. Nabirye feels bad staying at home when all her friends go to school. She wants to go like them...

Most of the other children with disabilities in the village do not go to school either.