Godfrey is a happily married, 33-year-old father with three children, who lives in Lira, Uganda. 

When Godfrey was 24, his brother arranged for him to attend vocational training in Kampala learning phone repairs, as he had been unable to complete his secondary education due to lack of school fees. Unfortunately, after the first year Godfrey’s brother could no longer afford the tuition fees, so again Godfrey was forced to drop out of education.  

Disheartened, Godfrey returned to his village, searching for casual labour in people’s homes and gardens just to survive.  

Out of the blue, Godfrey’s deaf brother Tony was given the opportunity to join Amigos’ child sponsorship program, and Godfrey was tasked to accompany Tony whenever there was a letter writing exercise in the area. It was on one such occasion that Godfrey joined Amigos’ training in growth mindset while Tony was writing his letter.

Joseph, Amigos’ child sponsorship coordinator, asked each participant to pinpoint one thing that they might have in their hands, recalls Godfrey. Many caregivers identified their land, livestock, or fruit trees as potential money-makers, but I didn’t have anything like that. 

Then the penny dropped, I remembered the mobile phone repair training that I had received at Nakawa Vocational Institute, even if it was for only one year. I started gathering a few tools and set up a simple phone repair business on the porch of a local shop. Before long I had accumulated £2,700, more money than I have ever seen in my life! I was able to pay off my debts and have enough to rent a proper shop for a whole year. 

Leaving a legacy

From the phone repairs I expanded my business to include phone sales and electronics like solar equipment, radios, televisions, fans, electric irons and used laptops. The simple mind-set training that I received was a huge eye-opener, and the starting point to push myself to do what I had only dreamed was possible.

We were taught about leaving a legacy, but I was puzzled what legacy I could possibly leave, until I landed on the idea of training young people in phone repairs. To date I have had the privilege to train 8 young people in phone repairs, and I’m also able to help pay my siblings school fees. 

I give my students 3 pieces of advice…

1.  Make God number one in all you do.
2.  Love what you do.
3.  Stop wasting time.

The business has boomed and in the last couple of years I’ve been able to save over £13,000. 

Unstoppable!

I bought two plots of land and constructed eight small rentals and built a family home with enough land to keep a cow. I no longer pay rent or have a mortgage, but happily pay taxes as my business is fully registered.

Amigos opened up my mind to a new way of life. I’m now looking at expanding my business, opening branches in rural areas around Lira. 

Thank you Amigos, for helping me to open my eyes, I am now unstoppable!