For Marlyn Somers, seeing Beatrice Tumusiime start her Masters Degree at Aberdeen University was the moment her life’s work came full circle.
Marlyn, of Forres, Moray, founded Uganda Aid Person to Person in 2006, giving Ugandan children access to education.
During a separate humanitarian project, she encountered “four mud huts” serving as a school to remote villages and realised “this was something we could build upon”.
Bunono school in rural Nyarushanje District had 60 pupils, two teachers and little else in 2006.
It now has 600 pupils, around 20 teachers, brick buildings, 10 classrooms, a nursery, kitchen, showers, toilets and dormitories.
Children have gone on to become doctors, nurses, police officers, and in the case of Beatrice, an engineer.
Forres local hero Marlyn Somers tells of the moment she first saw the school
Marlyn said: “When I first went out I had no idea I was going to start a charity. But after coming across the school, something hit me.
“I saw these lovely wee children inside a dark mud hut and I thought, there is something I could do.
“There had never been a private school built in the bush before.
“It’s eight hours from Kampala. We stay in a town called Rukungiri and the school is an hour away over bumpy roads.”
“A lot of people have helped,” said Marlyn, and there are six trustees.
“We are currently extending the dormitories,” she said, as pupils face a walk of up to three hours to school.
As well as donations, including an initial £5,000 from an unnamed businesswoman, around 60 people sponsor children.
One Forres couple sponsored a girl called Precious who is now grown up and training to be a midwife.
Marlyn said: “I’m very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to meet these people.
“The local people are wonderful. They make their own bricks, everything.”
In the early days, children would carry heavy flagons of water from “anywhere they could find it, even the side of the road”.
Now there’s a well and solar panels “so the children can study at night”.
Marlyn sponsored Beatrice, now 30, to attend Bwanga school as Bunono was not complete at the time, even taking her on her first day.
She said: “Beatrice was 12 when I took her to school and she went in to P4 because she was so far behind with her education.
Going to school for the first time was ‘mind-blowing’ for Beatrice
Now gaining her Masters in Petrochemical Engineering in Aberdeen, Beatrice said: “Bwanga gave me a very good foundation of education.
“Before that I was in a government school but I would never have made it to the person I am from that school.
“You are basically taught how to read and write your name but you are not told that you can become an engineer.
“When I went to Bwanga it was a mind-blowing experience.
“It was a different quality of education. I got to interact with children from all walks of life, hear about secondary schools I could aspire to go to and career opportunities.
“The school director inspired me to become an engineer. From those little exposures I became a big dreamer.
“I’m the ninth of 10 children and the first to get a degree.
“I remember the day Marlyn took me to school. It’s a golden opportunity in your hand. That’s what I remember.”
Turning to her friend and sponsor, Beatrice said: “I think that’s the most beautiful part of your story, Marlyn. The whole picture. You touch one person but in the end you touch the whole family.”
Beatrice shares her learning with her brothers and sisters.
She said: “I try to explain what I am trying to do, so when they have an opportunity they are able to dream.
“Exposure is a big thing. Knowing what is out there is the first step to dreaming.”
Meet another local hero: Offering hope and hot meals, Sufian Ali and Aberdeen Muslims’ Foodbox
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