Overview
This is the autobiographical account detailing the early life, severe poverty, and academic struggles of Naphtali Kalibbala in Uganda. It chronicles his journey from a childhood marked by extreme hunger to his time at a rehabilitation center, highlighting a pivotal moment of prayer that shaped his life's mission to give back to the vulnerable.
Key Chapters & Themes
1. Family Background & Early Hardships
- Family Roots: Naphtali was born on December 23, 1985, in Miti village, Mukono Town. His father was an often-absent soldier with multiple families, leaving the burden of raising seven children entirely on his mother, Margret Batenga.
- Mother's Sacrifice: His mother sold locally made banana alcohol and wove baskets to pay for school fees. Despite her hard labor—which included traveling seven miles to collect materials—she eventually could no longer afford tuition, forcing Naphtali to drop out by Primary Four.
2. Entry into the Africa Foundation
- Rehabilitation: After spending time loitering on the village streets while his mother recovered from a severe injury, Naphtali and his brother were taken in by the Africa Foundation in 1996. The organization, founded by Rev. Dr. Kefa Ssempangi, was designed to rehabilitate vulnerable and street children.
- Survival of the Fittest: Life at the center was highly unstable. Food was scarce, and during school holidays, children had to work for their meals. Naphtali resorted to breaking stones at a local quarry and searching markets for discarded food scraps to survive.
3. Academic Determination
- Driven to Succeed: Naphtali believed education was his only escape from poverty. Despite suffering from severe hunger that made concentrating in class difficult, he consistently ranked at the top of his class.
- Working for Fees: When the foundation introduced cost-sharing and required unsponsored children to pay 60,000 UGX, Naphtali took on casual labor—such as slashing the school compound, cleaning the dining hall, and later, milking and tending to the head teacher's cows—to fund his education and scholastic materials.
4. The Turning Point: The Desperate Prayer
- The Incident (1999): While in Primary Seven, Naphtali experienced a day of absolute starvation. After finding no sugarcane leftovers in the nearby village, he discovered dry, discarded sugarcane husks on the ground that had been chewed by others days prior.
- The Promise: Before eating the husks, he made a tearful, desperate prayer: "God, if You ever bless me in this life, I will also bless others."
- Outcome: This moment became a profound emotional and spiritual turning point. It shifted his mindset from despair to hope, laying the foundation for his future graduation with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Management from Uganda Christian University and his ultimate goal to feed and assist vulnerable children.