MEET THE 9YEAR OLD CIVIC LEADER BUILDING BRIDGES IN HER COMMUNITY

Jane is a 9year old girl from Mutungo slum, a swampy area in the outskirts of kampala city. Right infront of Jane's house is a channel built to divert rain and sewer water from the mainland to the swamp.

In order for Jane and her neighbours to connect to the mainland a makeshift walkway built from old timber and rusty tin had been built to enable them walk to school, hospital, the market, church or join the main road. This kept washing away after heavy rains and for the time it was being replaced the only option to go accross would be to jump over the channel (mostly adults and the big kids) or climb into the channel and walk out on the shallow end, this meant that the smaller children would miss school.

Last month after heavy rains the bridge washed away; this time Jane did not wait for the local authorities to come! She got a stool and a makeshift wooden box and started to fundraise $3cents from each passerby to build a better bridge (500 uganda shillings). When she had enough collected, a neighbour who works at a building site together with a few youth helped her buy sand, steel rods and they builf a concrete walk way!

Now Jane and her friends can not miss school.

I have learnt from this little girl that we do not have to wait for the government to give us solutions; we can use our own skills and experience to find a working solution to problems affecting our community and the environment where we live. We must support the ideas of the children around us, guide them after all they are the leaders of tomorrow.