The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
Emmanuel Mwaka Lutukumoi
19 November 2008
Passing Primary seven with good grades is the excitement of all parents, irrespective of their economic status or nationality.
Emmanuel Elima, 13, brought hope and joy to his struggling widowed mother, Christine Aber, a Gulu town vendor who trades in fish locally known as mukene, wanjiri or lacede.
In spite of the distance of about 5km, Elima betrayed all barriers by trekking daily from Obiya village to Gulu town school to study. In spite of his sickly nature and the distance, he persevered over the years. Besides missing classes at times, Elima scored second grade with aggregate 19, getting automatic admission to Sir Samuel Baker School in 2007.
"Elima is a very sharp boy; he used to give us hard time in class," says Olanya Dominic, a Senior Two student of Gulu Central High School who is Elima's former classmate.
Elima missed most of the classes last term due to ill health, but his average mark of 66.8% for all subjects doesn't reflect that setback.
"I am not dreaming by saying that I will read hard to become a doctor," says the confident boy.
The long-running armed conflict in northern Uganda which displaced about 1.6 million people at its peak, besides the thousands killed or maimed, has left poverty and illiteracy in its wake.
That is what makes a story like Elima's quite remarkable.
Even after his mother dropping out of business because of his continuous illness, Elima has not resigned.
"He started complaining a lot about chest pain and fever which comes and goes," laments Aber, Elima's mother. She says it was on the first day of August 2007 when a doctor in Lacor Hospital hinted on Elima having a heart problem.
Till late last month, Elima's mother went from NGO to NGO, looking for support to take Elima to the Mulago Heart Institute in Kampala. She was lucky to get Italian NGO AVSI, which supported them all the way to Kampala.
The sad news however is, Elima's heart condition was found to be acute and needing an operation if he is to survive.
According to Dr. Nyakoojo Abwoli, a consultant physician/cardiologist at the Uganda Heart Institute in Kampala, Elima's diagnosis shows that his left ventricle thickened. He has Rheumatic heart disease. To effect an operation, Elima needs up to Shs 40m, a sum his poor mother cannot raise.
As this terrible news sunk in, Elima's mother bought some aspirin tablets to ease his son's pain as he goes back to Sir Samuel Baker to continue his studies. However, they have to report to Kampala for "control" every three months; and the mother must part with at least Shs 200,000 on transport and other costs.
For now, Elima's dream to become a doctor remains just that - a dream.
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