Uganda has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, which at 3.3 percent, is three times the global average of 1.09 percent.
According to several analysts, this growth rate has not only had an adverse impact on economic development but also on the provision of quality education services.
Today, it is hard for children in rural areas to access quality education and the few who have succeeded, have had to struggle to access it.
Gloria Alele, a 23-year-old recent graduate from Makerere University, narrates her struggles to access quality education while living in a rural village in Lira district in Northern Uganda.
She was finally connected to an NGO called Fields of Life, which gave her the scholarship to complete her secondary school education.
Gloria’s story is similar to that of Sam Lukas Lugolobyo, also known as Levixone, one of Uganda’s top gospel artistes, who might have remained an unknown young man in the Kosovo slum found in the Kampala neighborhood of Lungujja.
His life was transformed in the same way as Gloria’s.
The two are among the 50,000 who have benefited from the work of Fields of Life over the last 25 years.
The organisation's founder Trevor Stevenson narrates how it all started.
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His intention was initially to start up an agricultural school, but when he shifted to Gayaza in Wakiso district, locals there changed his mind.
The organisation celebrates the establishment of more than 150 schools across East Africa, most of them being in Uganda.
Most of these schools are located in rural areas which come with many challenges like difficulty in accessing safe water supply.
However, this has been concentrated in specific regions due to geographical difficulties.
Last week, Fields of Life celebrated 25 years of it’s services in Uganda at a ceremony in Kayunga district.
With challenges of accessing quality education still in abundance, the organization looks to continue giving hope to those that would otherwise be left out.
Fields of Life continues changing lives and building hope for many disadvantaged Ugandans.