I've raised £2500 to pay school fees for a budding entrepreneur - who is an eight-year-old refugee!
Organised by Jazzmin Jiwa
Story
Living in poverty in a slum in Uganda, this entrepreneurial eight-year-old would be a rising star in Silicon Valley given the opportunity.
Denis Okello builds toys from clay he collects from the roadside and makes money to buy soap for his grandmother.
When he was four-years-old, his grandmother carried him on her back as they fled the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Ugandan photojournalist Odongo Jimmy and I have collaborated to raise money for school fees for the child innovator until he's 18-years-old.
I learnt to make toys for children in the slums using clay from the swamp. I make toys which they buy for 3 Ugandan shillings (less than £1), which can help my grandmother buy a bar of soap for washing her clothing.
£984, $1,200 or 4.5million Ugandan Shillings will pay for Denis to go to school for the next 10 years, until he graduates. Fees at East Kololo Primary School cost £32 per term or £96 per year. The remaining funds will pay for other items he requires like school uniform, books and a solar-powered battery to give his home enough light to study after the sun sets.
I love to make toys since it makes me forget my problems and children like me as well. I don't want to go back to DRC because of the unstoppable wars, which took my parents."
The village where Denis lived with his family in DRC was destroyed by armed militia. His grandmother carried him until they reached a refugee camp in Western Uganda. From there, they moved to Kampala a year ago.
Among the creations he has built are children’s toys, a mansion with a rooftop terrace where he would like all children to get the chance to live and his latest project: the scene at his own village before he and his grandmother fled to safety (pictures below).
He was just four-years-old when the village where he lived was burned to the ground. But it has singularly been the biggest influencer of his life so far and is etched in his young memory as he holds out hope for the future.
Click here for more on this remarkable boy's story.
