Saturday, 23 November 2013 00:00
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
“After four years I saw my father and his eyes were full of tears. I could not bear to see him cry… he pressed my mother and me close to him and continued crying. When I got good results at the GCE O/Level, our neighbours said: ‘There is no point in your studying as your father is going to the gallows and no one will ever give you a job.’ Now, I have help from people like you to continue my studies. I am determined to do well at my A/Levels, enter university, get a good job and look after my family.”
“September 7, 2007, is a day I will never forget. That day my parents left us at home and went to Courts. My sister and I were waiting for our parents to return, but only my mother came back. She held us close and started to cry and she took us to Courts. When we arrived there, we saw our father in handcuffs and my mother told us that our father will never come home again because he was condemned to death. I realised then that I would never see my father at home again. To this day I feel the same pain I felt at that moment, every time I think of my father.”
“Aunty and Uncle, you do not know the joy we have when we meet our father each year in January at the ‘prison event’. It is a great day in our lives. When we sit together as a family and when my father feeds us, it is a great delight to my sister and me. When my little sister sits on my father‘s lap and he cuddles her, I think what a great thing it would be if only I could take my father home.”
“My father is in prison for life, my mother is a mental patient, we are living with my grandmother who is very old and I dread to think what will happen to us if something happens to her. Each morning I eat what is available before going to school, sometimes, it’s only a cup of tea.”
“When I won the ‘star student’ prize and my father accompanied me to the stage to receive it, his face was beaming with pride. Leaving the stage, my father rubbed my head and said: “Study hard and be a good boy.’ I will fulfil the wishes of my father and one day I will be a doctor. I wish that no other child will have to experience, having a father in prison. This is my wish for every child.”
“We were a happy family of five even though we faced much hardship. My father was sentenced to life imprisonment for an offense he committed due to financial difficulties. My colleagues teased and told me that my father will never be released. But those insults and taunts only made me more determined to study harder. I did well at my O/Levels. I am now in a new school and boarded, as it is too far for me to travel from home. I want to study and become a teacher. My only dream is that my father will return home. As my sponsor you have given life to a blooming flower without allowing it to fade. I hope you will continue to help me achieve my ambition.”
“My mother did everything to see that my sister and I did our studies well. My mother always tells me that I must study well and be a good citizen of this country. I will do everything to fulfill the dreams of my mother. I will make up for the fact that my father is no more at home. My mother tried hard to get a Government job but failed. Dear Aunty and Uncle, the scholarship you give me is what helps my sister and me with our school needs. Thank you so much for this money. I do not know what we would do without it.”
