Patrick Jawiambe a native in Uganda born in the outskirts of Nebbi, founder and chief executive officer(CEO)of EPAFU(Elders Poverty Alleviation Foundation Uganda).
Patrick was born to a single mother, he never had the slightest glimpse of his father who passed on before he was born. At the age of 4(four) his mother left the home and took along with her Patrick to his maternal grandmother and left him with her as his care-taker. This was because she couldn’t provide for him where they lived. He began a life with his aged grandmother who was weary and sickly. With her was a brother to Patrick’s mother as a dependant.
For survival Patrick started burning charcoal and selling it to be able to support his ailing grandmother and maternal uncle. He had to travel barefooted in rugged clothes over 30km in order to sell the charcoal because the business was the source of income. The little money that he got out of the sales was barely enough to feed him, his Grandmother and the uncle. Therefore due to financial constrains, he was unable to attain his education at that time and on top of that food was inadequate and life was really challenging. He had to do chores for the neighbors which made life so hard but through God’s grace, Patrick’s rescue came with the arrival of World Vision at the age of 7years. These provided education to him up to when he was 12 years old. Unfortunately at the age of 9 years, his grandmother (mother) passed on leaving him with his uncle. He lived with his uncle till he was 15 years old when he left him to join his auntie in Masindi-Buliisa where he was able to sit for his primary living education in 2014. Patrick was unable to proceed with his education because his auntie was had many dependents, all he did was cultivating her land.
Patrick’s journey from childhood met a lot of challenges and hardships, Therefore with what he went through he felt he should come to the plight of the elderly who are facing similar challenges as that of his grandmother, seeking ways of improving on the livelihoods of the elderly. my Story, my plight, my Inspiration gave birth to EPAFU (Elders Poverty Alleviation Foundation Uganda), in 2020.
