Dennis Lutaaya Believes In Education

My name is Lutaaya John Dennis. I am 16 years old and  was  born  on  the  9th  of  January  1997. I am from Uganda. I was born in Nsambya Hospital. I am from a poor family. I  am a Tennis  player  as  well  as  a  pupil  of  Malezi  School. I train  at  Sadili  Oval. My  parents  work in the Industrial  Area  of  Kampala whenever they can get jobs. My  father  works  as  a  carpenter  and  my  mother is a cook.
I  love  and  treasure  my  education  because  it  will  make  me  who  I  aspire  to  be  someday - a  mechanical  engineer.  I  also  love  Tennis  because  it  helped  me  to  come  to  Sadili, a  place  where  I  can  improve  my  game. This  happened  when, Dr. Liz Odera came to my  club  in  Uganda,  and she  coached  over  20  of  us  free of charge and  chose  two of us  to join Sadili's players.  This happened in  2009 when  I  was  12  years  old. I was really scared that I would not be picked, because I wasn’t the best, but when my name was called out, I became overjoyed because I knew that this was my one big chance in life. When I came to Sadili, my  tennis  wasn't  that  good  but  now, I  have  tremendously  improved  and  this year, Malezi called me to play for the school team for the second year running in the national school games, where my partner Jamin Luvembe and I won the District, County , Regionals and Nationals, and represented Kenya at the East Africa Ball games in Lira, Uganda, where we won the doubles title again. I have also had a great chance to play for Uganda in the 14 and Under Circuit in April, I and I am now number 2 in the Under 16 boys in the Tennis Africa Cup (www.tennisafrica.info). I hope to perform even better next year, so that I my scholarship can be extended and I can remain in the Africa Talent Training Academy - SATTA. I have seen many tennis players who behave very badly, and my  dream  is  to  become  a  well  educated  professional  tennis  player!
If you would like to support me, please go to http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-child-education-sport-talent-fund-in-africa/
    

Henry Ayesiga Aiming High

My name is Ayesiga Henry. I am from Uganda. I was born in 1997 and I am 13 years old. I came from one of the small slums found in Kampala, Uganda. Life in that area is hard because of the Hygiene and Health of the place. I was brought up by my Father and Mother. My family is made up of five children. We are four boys and one girl. I am the second born child. I was introduced in tennis by my father because he was working in a tennis club called Kampala Club as a grounds supervisor. The salary that he was getting was not enough to sustain us with all our needs. That made our life hard, because my mother had no job and staying in school was very difficult. I joined tennis at the age of 8 years, while picking balls for members at Kampala Club to earn some money and help my mother and I found the game very interesting. I started working very hard with the encouragement of my father and a member of the club, Mr. John Nagenda, who told me that tennis was my talent. One day, I was told that there was going to be a free tennis camp for all children at Lugogo Stadium, and many children went, and I got to meet Dr. Liz for the first time. Because of my efforts and hard work, I was given a tennis scholarship in Kenya, I have never been so happy and my parents are very proud of me. I finally got to go to Malezi School and I train to improve my tennis at Sadili Oval. My dream is that one day I will become a professional tennis player and a Lawyer after school. I also play basketball and football during my leisure time. I one day dream of achieving my goals and help my family, relatives and friends who need my help. Malezi has helped me to know myself and to discover who I am, and I managed to complete the primary school with good passes in KCPE and graduated to high school this year, where a few of us are now part of Sadili Talent Training Academy, which helps us balance between school and tennis. Through Sadili, I now play very well and have represented Uganda in Under 14 tournaments, and I am also number 2 in the 16 and Under and number 1 in the 14 and Under in the Tennis Africa Cup tournaments (www.tennisafrica.info). In April this year, I played the ITF 14 and Under Circuit, and was runner-up in the first event and won the second one, making me number 18 in the Confederation of Africa Ranking. I also work with younger children from the slums of Kibera every Saturday, helping coach and advise them, all of us are expected to do this at Sadili, and I find it very interesting mentoring other children and watching them improve. I know that it is not easy to look after me, and hope that more people will come out to sponsor more children, but this is my home now, and I am sure that Malezi and Sadili will help me to achieve my goals for the future.