Nickname: Tikol Joseph
Date of birth: June 15th, 1999
Place of birth: Moroto, Uganda
Q&A
What do you want to be when you grow up? A dentist
What is your favorite color? Yellow
What is your favorite food? Rice and Beans
What is your favorite hobby? Playing Soccer And Reading Books
What is your favorite subject in school? Math and English
Tikol’s Story:
Tikol was found in Moroto, Northern Uganda, as a total orphan. Both his father (Longok Paul) and his mother (Otyang Margaret) were killed many years ago during the war with the Lord’s Resistance Army. Tikol has five siblings but does not know where any of them are; he says after his parent’s death people “started owning them” and he never saw or heard from any of them again.
After the death of his parents, Tikol was taken in by an uncle who made his living by raiding other people’s cattle stocks. The uncle used Tikol to stay in the bush with the stolen cattle, and he reports that life was hard there because he could not go to school, eat any good food, or even get treatment when he was sick. Eventually the uncle allowed Tikol to leave the bush and come live with his own family and his new wife in a village. Unfortunately this new situation was also a bad one as the new wife took to beating Tikol and forced him to walk many miles for water without allowing him to eat any food for long periods. Tikol would also be sent to cater for the goats and sheep until late at night when he would finally receive his one meal of the day.
Tikol says ”life is not god in Karamoja, there are very many young children like me who are suffering and struggling to survive throughout the day but am so glad that you have helped me through this terrible situation because I had even lost hope. I am very happy to stay in this nice home-I had never dreamed of anything like this in my life. Thank you…”
Updated January 2, 2013
