Of Uganda’s 32 million people, half are under the age of 15. 2.3 million children have been orphaned by HIV/Aids and a further 1 million by the 20-year conflict with the LRA in the north, not to mention the millions more whose parents die of malaria, yellow fever, cholera and other preventable diseases. The problem of what to do with so many helpless children is enormous.

Education may be one solution to this problem, but it is not an effective one if the quality of education is poor, the access is restricted and the cost is too high for the average Ugandan household. The Ugandan government’s Universal Primary Education initiative has increased primary school enrollment by almost 5 million pupils in last 11 years. However, even ignoring the very high drop-out and truancy rates, primary school enrollment is still only 7.4 million, less than half of Uganda’s 16 million children

Furthermore, the growing numbers of primary school leavers find themselves unable to afford the limited secondary school places.

These are a few of those children who are lucky enough to be enrolled in secondary school.