Martin Olupot's Story

Martin Olupot

Born 02nd.Feb.1990, in Jinja, Martin joined Caring Hands in August 2009. He had lost his mother five months earlier to Aids, yet his dad had died when his mother was pregnant with him. Upon his mother’s death, Martin was separated from his brother and sister as each of them lived with a different relative.

Martin was living with his aunt who had also been taken ill by Aids and was getting weaker day by day. Their house had rough walls and the cement was cracked yet it sheltered over ten people. The aunt could not work so Martin was out of school for two years and the family often lacked food.

Martin’s life has however drastically changed since he joined Caring Hands. He is now back in school and hopes to become a lawyer. Caring Hands is paying school fees for his sister while his brother won himself a bursary due to his excellent performance at school. Their feeding and medical needs are also taken care of by Caring Hands (family sponsors from Finland) and above all they are now family again as Caring Hands pays their rent and the three can now stay together.

Being the eldest, Martin is expected to take care of a few little living needs of the family. So, he works as a compound cleaner with Caring Hands during school holidays.