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Purpose, Joy and Satisfaction

Epoke Nixon and his sponsor Eleanor Cryer

The student….

Epoke Nixon has just spent six months on industrial placement at Bidco, which is an enormous, brand new Malaysian-Kenyan owned palm oil plant just outside Jinja. Bidco, with a workforce of over 1000 people, was where Nixon was sent to develop his plumbing skills. He stayed with a friend in nearby Bugembe during this placement. He explained that this period has been a challenging time for him as he learned the realities of the workplace, but was a very valuable learning experience. He has just six more months study to do at NVI, then will take his final exams. Nixon comes from Lira, near Gulu in the far north of Uganda, where war has rumbled on for nearly 20 years, claiming countless lives and leaving thousands of displaced people in camps. Nixon has two younger brothers and a sister, all of whom he hopes to support through the rest of their education once he has gained employment.

Once he has finished at NVI and finds employment his plan is to study for his advanced level qualification at weekends.

Asked what message he had for his sponsor he said;  “without your support I don’t know where I would be now”

One can only speculate about that, and be thankful somebody wanted to give Nixon a chance…..

…and the sponsor

Ignorance, lack of education, being untaught - we all know is a great disadvantage.

In Britain education is available for everyone, be it academic or vocational, but this is not so in many other countries.  When I heard about UgandAid offering support and education to people in Uganda I knew I wanted to be part of it.  

Having the opportunity to sponsor Nixon has given me much joy and satisfaction.   The chance of giving just one person the opportunity to learn a trade and improve his basic education which I knew would not only benefit him, but his whole village and larger community, was a privilege.  The amount of money this cost was so modest compared to the outcome.  To set someone up for life was an opportunity I could not let pass me by.

The theme "God is working his purpose out" has been running constantly through my mind.   I feel some of God's purpose for me is to use some of my relative wealth and the opportunities I had been given, to support another person, in this case Nixon.

Being part of the UgandAid programme has made my life more purposeful; knowing Nixon is now fully trained has encouraged me to sponsor another person through the scheme, and hopefully, many more as the years progress.

History has always shown that the way forward for anyone is education, education, education.      

Eleanor Cryer, sponsor