Across many parts of Uganda, learners continue to face a major barrier to education, the long and often difficult journey to school. For children living in rural communities, distance, safety concerns, and competing responsibilities at home can make it hard to arrive on time, attend lessons consistently, and perform at their best. For girls, these challenges are often even greater.

Seventeen-year-old Anzoa Grace Kenyi knows this struggle well.

Each morning, she left her home in Pagirinya before sunrise and started the 3.5-kilometre walk to Pagirinya Secondary School in Adjumani District, Uganda. What looked like a short distance on paper often became a difficult journey on foot. By the time Grace reached the school gate, it was sometimes already closed. She would be sent back home, missing valuable learning time and, at times, the entire morning’s mathematics lesson.

“When I come late, they send me back,” she said. “This affects my attendance. Sometimes, when I come and they don't allow me inside, I miss the morning mathematics lessons, and my performance dropped badly last term.”

Over time, the challenge began to take a toll on her confidence. “Sometimes, because of that challenge, I think of dropping out of school because of the distance,” she said.

For Grace, the long walk was more than an inconvenience. It was a barrier between her and her education. That began to change when she received a bicycle through the Bicycle Empowerment Programme. On the day of the handover, Grace was given a Kifaru bicycle, built for durability on rural roads.

For her, it represented more than transport. It represented hope. “Instead of spending one hour, I now spend 20 minutes to come to school,” she said. “I won't miss mathematics. I will always come to school early.”

The difference is significant. With the bicycle, Grace now has a better chance of arriving on time, attending every lesson, and using the early morning hours to revise before class begins. What was once a daily struggle now offers her a better path to stay in school and improve her performance.

For Grace, the future feels more within reach. The long walk that once stood between her and her education may no longer define her school life.

Grace is among more than 700 learners who have received bicycles in the regions of Busoga, Rwenzori, and Acholi through the Bicycle Empowerment Programme (BEP) implemented by Cycling out of Poverty Uganda (CooP-Uganda) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Sports, funded by the European Union and the government of Belgium.    

• 
• 
• 
•