By Andrew Irumba
The management of Victoria University has surprised Sharron Mbabazi, who recently graduated from Kabaka’s Mutesa 1 Royal University with a Bachelors’ Degree in Mass Communication and Journalism, by offering her partial scholarship for a Masters degree in public administration and management.
Mbabazi, whose parents couldn’t afford her tuition, made headlines a few months ago after featuring in the media as a very dedicated and resilient university student, who paid her tuition throughout university by engaging in bricklaying.
So, after hustling with getting her tuition without staging a strike like students at Makerere University did, Victoria University has decided to give Mbabazi an opportunity to advance her education by pledging to foot the bills of her Masters degree.
Mbabazi, who hails from Gayaza, started laying bricks in P.6 and was paid her first Shs1,000 with which she bought a new pair of knickers.
She later continued laying bricks and selling them so as to get money to buy most of her basic needs.
Born to Steven Ssemasaka and Margaret Nagasha, in a family of five raised in Masoli- Gayaza Wakiso district, Mbabazi’s life has always been steeped in abject poverty, but that didn’t impede her from excelling in her education.
She recalls her early childhood as a time of pain from being rejected by her peers because she came from a peasant family.
“During my kindergarten, children would laugh at my tattered uniform and a lack of break time snacks. No one wanted to sit next to me. I had no friends. Teachers would force them to sit with me but they would complain that I had a bad ordour,” Mbabazi, who is now a graduate, recalled.
It should be noted that Mbabazi’s partial scholarship at Victoria University, which will require her to source for more sponsors, will be shouldered by the Ruparelia Foundation, which also offered a scholarship to young Ugandan rapper Patrick Serunjogi aka Fresh Kid.
