imartinc
- Feb 10, 2020
- 3 min read

Winnie Ezaru's Story

Updated: Feb 17, 2020

Four years ago, we presented the story of Jennifer Onzia, the best performing girl in Aroi whom we salvaged from the slums of Arua city, Uganda; and took to high school. With help from friends like you, Jennifer now graduates from Ediofe Girls High School, with a big dream to be a nurse. Jennifer will forever be grateful to those who supported her to attend school!

This year, we tell the story of yet another girl, Winnie Ezaru (see picture below, blue blouse), a winner in Uganda’s 2016 National Examinations, the best in the sub-county, who stayed at home for sometime because she was too poor to afford a secondary school. Winnie’s story is touching!

Winnie at Home

Following the death of Winnie’s father earlier in her life, Winnie’s mother married her uncle through a customary arrangement. This stepfather of Winnie's, who had other children from his first wife, had total control over all decisions in Winnie’s home.

Winnnie's Village

So when Nile Care offered Winnie an admission and a scholarship to a high quality boarding school because of her excellent performance at National Primary Leaving Exams (PLE) of Uganda, he overruled Winnie and her mother about the scholarship and acceptance. Winnie’s uncle/stepfather was not keen about educating Winnie, a girl and a step daughter/niece. He wanted the money given to him to place Winnie in a local, day low-grade high school whereby she would be available to do chores at home in the evenings. However, the Nile Care policy is that scholarships are given to girls to go to high quality high schools so that they can increase their chances of going beyond high school. So Nile Care refused to release the money to Winnie’s stepfather to send her to a day school; and fought the stepfather for two years to release Winnie, because Nile Care is about disadvantaged girls, typified by Winnie.

Winnie's former teachers at negotiation with parents

Before his death, Winnie’s father had left her mother a goat, the only inheritance that she had control over. So when Nile Care was still fighting with the stepfather and Winnie was at home, her mother decided to sell the only inheritance they had to send Winnie to school. Since she could not afford the fees for a good high school, she sent Winnie to a distant poor village high school with no record of success. Winnie walked eleven miles one way to Micu Secondary School for the first term, but could not continue in the second term because her mother had no other goats to sell to raise the fees money. Winnie sat at home!

When Nile Care published Winnie’s story, a friend of Nile Care, Mrs. Margaret McSheehy got

touched and offered to pay for all of Winnie’s school expenses. But the stepfather had to be

wooed. It took the President of Nile Care to travel from the USA to Winnie’s home with a group of Winnie’s teachers before the stepfather could change his mind and allow Winnie to go to a quality boarding school, Muni Girls High School where she is completing the first four years of high school.