Turning Adversity into Achievement
Lewis’s Path to Civil Engineering with Action in Africa
At the age of six, Lewis Bisaso Nakabaale, a Primary One student at Ndeeba Junior Nursery School, experienced a stark and sudden change in fortune. Though his single mother had always provided well for her children, her death in 2006 meant Lewis spent several months homeless on the streets of Ndeeba, Kampala—a life of misery he had never known before.
Temporarily, Lewis’s aunt took responsibility for him. However, due to the constant abuse and abandonment she faced from her husband, she was unable to fulfill her duties. This situation devastated Lewis, leading him to leave his aunt’s home and return to the streets. To survive, he collected scrap and often slept in cinema halls for shelter. At his father’s house, he faced severe challenges from his stepmother, who subjected him to physical and psychological torture, severe food deprivation, and excessive corporal punishment—a traumatic repeat of his past suffering. Lewis reflected on the severity of the hunger he endured: “If you deny a young child food totally, you have killed that child, because at times I begged from the neighborhood, and I could not bear the hunger situation.”
Lewis’s family eventually took him back to school, enrolling him at African Junior School in Nakuwadde. However, due to the mental trauma he had endured, he initially struggled academically, prompting his father to transfer him to Happy Times Primary School in Ggangu. After recovering and catching up academically, he was moved back to Nakuwadde, this time to All Saints Primary School.
It was at this point that Lewis realized his father was unwilling to continue funding his studies, despite Lewis not having completed his Primary Seven certificate. Driven by his love for education, Lewis made a promise to his father: “At our home, my father had a business of bricklaying. Due to my love for education, I promised to lay bricks with him so that he could pay my school fees and I could sit for P.7.” To earn his tuition, Lewis incorporated bricklaying into his daily routine, completing the demanding work before school and again late in the evening.
During his Primary Seven vacation, Lewis was sent to the village to work with his grandfather under the promise that this labor would secure his secondary school fees. By 2014, when his peers who had completed P.7 were already attending secondary school, Lewis realized the promise was not being kept. Consequently, he escaped from the village and confronted his father about resuming his education. His father’s response was direct: “My father only told me, ‘Lewis, you know our deal—resort back to bricklaying, then I will have no problem with you. School fees will be paid after selling the bricks.’”
In 2015, Lewis’s former P.7 classmate, Moses Musaazi, told him about Action in Africa (AIA), an organization dedicated to transforming lives through its community library, scholarships, and various programs. Lewis noted, “We were attending the same school with Moses, so he knew how often I was pushed back home for school fees compared to him.” Upon arriving at the center, Lewis initially focused on the library books, avoiding other programs due to his reserved nature: “I was an introvert and I could not associate with my fellows,” he recalled.
His isolation ended when Brent Davis approached him for a talk, prompting Lewis to share his struggles. After Brent explained the breadth of AIA’s offerings, Lewis became highly active, committed, and serious about attending every holiday program—especially Salsa, drama, and debate—with the goal of earning a scholarship. His efforts paid off dramatically in 2016. Lewis shared his emotional response to his initial recognition: “I can't forget the day I was declared the best attendee for the holiday programs, and on that day, I won school fees for two terms before even getting a full scholarship. I knew I had reached the sky.”
With the support of the AIA Secondary Scholarship, he was able to attend his desired school, Light Secondary School Nakuwadde. Lewis emphasizes that AIA’s support far exceeded parental care. He specifically recalled a major setback in 2020: “I recall in 2020 when I failed S.6 at Lubiri Secondary School, where others laughed at my results, but AIA proved that failure is never the end of life by supporting me until I went back to re-sit S.6 at Mackay College Nateete, and I passed with flying colors.”
Through AIA’s University program, Lewis—the boy who had to drop out in P.6—achieved a remarkable milestone by graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the International University of East Africa. He concluded by expressing his triumph: “I am happy to say that the boy who had to drop out in P.6 has achieved a great, remarkable milestone of graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering at the International University of East Africa through AIA’s University program.”
Lewis shared that his life story should not be viewed as sad, but as an inspirational narrative for young people and orphans who may feel self-pity. His message is that they should not give up hope prematurely: “You shouldn’t cry out before death.” He emphasized the importance of self-effort: “If I had denied the bricklaying activity, I would have dropped out from school at a tender age, but it pushed my studies. By the time AIA came in, I had made a fair trek.”
Lewis also commended the comprehensive support AIA has offered since 2016, specifically highlighting the free services, such as medication and scholarships for the vulnerable, and the organization’s overall transformative impact on lives in Nakuwadde. He then made a powerful promise: “I promise to use the skills and knowledge I have gained from the university to build shelters for the vulnerable at no cost so that I also make a footprint like AIA. I will praise Action in Africa wherever I go because it was AIA that helped me even win an award from my campus as an outstanding leader.”
Lewis’s Father:
“I am truly grateful for the Action in Africa project. As one of the parents present today, I am perhaps the most excited of all. Back then, I was unemployed and I could not pay his school fees, but my son, Lewis, was proactive in seeking opportunities. His love for studying and his drive led him to this organization; however much we were neighbors, I personally could not recognize this place. Despite facing the significant loss of his mother at the age of seven, he never lost focus. He persevered because that is when I think he would have paused from moving forward. I used to work at Lewis's former secondary school, Light Secondary, just to earn supplementary income for his education. However, the relief that came into our lives with Action in Africa was immense. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, I feared he would be forced to drop out and his goals buried, but AIA stood firm, and their unwavering support continued until this very day, his graduation.
Lewis is the first of my children to earn a degree. His three older sisters, unfortunately, became pregnant at an early age, halting their education. But Lewis has achieved this great milestone, and I am proud that he has followed my footsteps into engineering. Thank you, Action in Africa.”
