Atyang Derrick is the eldest son of Susan Laker, one of our artisans, and has two younger sisters. Susan was only 13 years old when she had Derrick, during the war in Northern Uganda. After she fled to Kampala, Derrick grew up and went to school there with the support of 22STARS. His favourite subject was maths.
After school, Derrick did welding work for a few months to earn a living, but without proper safety masks, and it badly affected his eyes. Today he is working towards a safer future. With the support of Bastian Barami, he completed a driving course and, now that he has his national ID card, he is processing his driving permit and repeating the course for a month before his test. Alongside this, he is studying videography at E Song Institute, where he is in his second semester.
Derrick has also returned to Northern Uganda, where part of his family still lives. There he works in construction and farming and helps care for his grandmother. He loves looking after his mother, his favourite colour is blue and his favourite food is posho.
Full story coming soon.