“Do not give up. Many bad things happen when you give up”. Says Jovanis
Jovanis is 23 years old. She currently lives with her grandmother Claudine who is 65 years old.
In 2012, she lived in DRC. She was 12 years at the time and home by herself as her parents had gone to the garden. They grew maize, beans, cassava, and potatoes. As she was playing, she heard screams and saw people running in fear. Without hesitation, she joined them and started following the crowd.
She says they walked for the next 3 days and she was on her own without her parents .” I cried until I could cry no more. I did not know what had happened to my parents” says Jovanis. Together with everyone else, they stopped at Nyakabande transit center in Kisoro, which is a border between Uganda and Congo.
Luckily for her, she saw her grandmother at a distance and run to her. “ It was when I saw my grandmother that I gained hope. I knew nothing bad would happen to me since I had a family member” says Jovanis
From that center, the AIRD transported them to Nakivale settlement camp, Isingiro district. She settled there with her grandmother and they were given household items like buckets, clothes, blankets, and soap among many other items to help them.
She started school and completed her primary education. When she joined the secondary school, AIRD started paying for her school fees and she completed her secondary education with a score of 14 points out of 20.
She wants to continue to the University level and study accounting so she can be a banker and help her grandmother have a comfortable life as well as help refugee girls stay in school
“ I do not know if my parents are alive or dead as I have never heard from them but I will live to make them proud”. says Jovanis