Tony Olenga's Story

‘Picked from the dust………….’

We met Tony, a pleasant, quietly spoken man of 25 at Kikira Sugar Works in Eastern Uganda, where he is employed as an electrical instrument engineer. Tony, a graduate in electrical installation from Nile Vocational Institute, has come a long way from his humble and indeed difficult background in Northern Uganda and is proud of his progress and very appreciative of the help he has had along the way.

Tony was one of six children brought up together, though not all had the same father. They lived in Kitgum near the Sudanese border. His father died in the army in 1980, and his mother had just died when we met him early in 2004.

His childhood was traumatised by rebel activity, which has happened relentlessly in that area since 1986. Rebels frequently invaded his village, shot at inhabitants and recruited people to their cause by kidnapping them. Both boys and girls were trained for fighting and girls given to the men for their purposes. Consequently, villagers fled to the bush for weeks or months at a time.

Tony’s own education was severely disrupted and he did not complete what we would understand as primary education until the age of 18. No money was available for the modest school fees, though Tony did some work to try and raise the necessary funds to further his education. However, his brother was involved in crime, and Tony had to bail him out, putting further strain on the finances.

In church one day he heard about Nile Vocational Institute, and with the support of his pastor and school head applied and was accepted to study electrical installation. This was the turning point for Tony. Joining in 1999, he took both basic and advanced courses, which took him through to 2003.

Shortly after graduating he was taken on at Kikira, the largest sugar processor in Uganda. He has been given further responsibility in the few months he has been there, and now has his own instrument workshop, which he is proud to show us. He now has plans to study for City and Guilds qualifications by distance learning.

Today Tony lives in a house in Kikira, for which he receives an accommodation allowance from the company. Tony’s responsibilities stretch beyond himself, and his success is automatically shared with his family.

Tony decided to bring his younger brother Samson, aged 15, to live with him. He feeds, clothes and pays school fees for Samson. The ‘last born’ brother, Calvin, is now 12 and next year will bring further responsibility for Tony who will pay his school fees too.

Tony happily and without question shares his financial stability with his family, despite the fact that in due course at least 25% of his income will be spent on education for his younger brothers. He also is hoping to support his sister back in Kitgum.

Tony is very grateful to Nile Vocational Institute for the opportunity and stability it has given him, realising the value of his technical training and the input into his personal development.

Without this sort of opportunity he would most likely still be in his village, married very young, scraping a living from digging the soil to plant food, smoking and drinking his only pleasures.

His view is that people who do not appreciate opportunities like these are ‘foolish’.

Near the end of our conversation he made a powerful and poignant comment:

‘I was picked from the dust….and raised up’

What more can you say than that?

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Tony Olenge’s story

‘Picked from the dust………….’