Bernard - From Street Scavenger to Electronics Technician

When Bernard and I walked into the SOM Chess Academy in Katwe, all the children lit up and begun chanting his name. He is as popular here in Katwe, as he is everywhere we have been. He has just returned to Katwe from the Sports Outreach Resource Center where he currently lives as one of the children under care. While in Katwe, he is able to pursue his education at the YMCA Vocational Institute. He is doing a certificate in Electrical Installation. His dream is to become an electronics technician. “I am not far from my dream,” he reckons.

Things weren’t always bright for Bernard nor was he always hopeful. In 2007, at age 9, his father took him to Bwaise, one of Kampala’s slums (probably the poorest of them) to live with an aunt. She was a poor woman without any specific job or guaranteed income. He and his younger sister had left their mother in rural Masaka a few years earlier to join their dad who was fisherman on Lake Victoria. Life on the lake is very difficult for anyone let alone little children. There were no opportunities and future was bleak. While in Bwaise they joined school. Life was hard as it was. Then life took a turn for the worse when their father suddenly passed away less than a year after they joined school. “My aunt could afford at least a meal a day. Asking her to take us to school was asking too much. I gave up,” he says holding back tears.

He then joined a group of 3 other boys in the slum that roamed the streets scavenging metal scraps that they would later sell for a few shillings. After collecting and selling the scrap they would then buy food and use the rest of the money to pay at the make-shift video halls where they spent most of their time. One day, after about two years of this nomadic lifestyle, they met a group of young boys playing soccer under the supervision of Coach Ronie (SOM staff). One of the boys, who knew them called. He told them that if they joined, they would have a hot meal (porridge) every day. At the promise of a meal, they willingly joined the group. Coach Frank (another SOM staff) became very close to the boys eventually visiting their homes. He took them in at Bwaise offering them accommodation at the church. That was a far cry from flood-infested, filthy places they called home.

Things have only gotten better since. He tells me, somewhat confidentially, “This is the first time I really look back. I am very grateful. I no longer only look or think about myself. Life is more than just me.” He dreams of helping others discover and attain their potential.