Legkwo Felix Adupe
Legkwo Felix Adupe, aged 25, is from Pader district, Pader Town Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biosystems Engineering from Gulu University. Felix grew up in a family of 21 children with different mothers but the same father, plus other adopted children. He is an orphan and a first-born child who lost his mother in 2013 and his father in 2019.
As a result of the challenges he faced since childhood, Felix sat his Primary Leaving Examinations at Pajule P.7 School in 2009, Pajule Town Council, and did not perform well, scoring a third grade. When he joined Achol-Pii Army Secondary School for O-Level in Pader District, he performed well, scoring a first grade in the 2013 UNEB exams — despite attending a poor rural school that lacked textbooks and teachers. He attributes this to hard work, personal struggle, determination, and guidance from people in his community: “I was the first person to get a 1st grade in that school, and the first to score 100% in mathematics (UNEB) in the district, and I left a legacy there.”
Dream Nearly Lost
After staying home for a year due to lack of school fees, Felix finally secured a half-bursary scholarship to join A-Level from a good Samaritan — a primary school proprietor, headteacher, and director neighbouring his village — who agreed to pay half his fees for A-Level with a science combination of Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry/ICT at Dr. Obote College in Lira District. In return, Felix had to mould bricks used to construct other buildings at the school, in addition to other domestic work. “The other half payment I used to work in the school farm every weekend and trim the school compound every evening to raise money to compensate for the half school fees. I was brilliant, committed, and hardworking, yet disadvantaged. Life and study were never easy.”
At A-Level, Felix scored 12 points in 2016, but the future looked bleak — he missed joining university on government sponsorship and could not enrol for engineering, his dream course. He had been inspired by Dr. Eng. Hillary Onek, a former State Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees in Uganda, whom he had watched on TV. His poor family background made it impossible to enrol on the private scheme at university either. “I was hopeless, got stranded, and just returned home to look for what to do — keeping myself busy during the vacation rather than idling and joining bad peer groups.”
Dreams Yet to Be Re-Awakened
Felix stayed home, praying and hoping to further his studies someday. Amid these difficult challenges, he found motivation in his names — Legkwo, meaning “pray for life,” and Adupe, meaning “God is with you” — along with the saying that “good things follow a living man, not a dead man.” As he pondered his next move, he started teaching O-Level in 2017 at four different schools — Pader Town College, Pader Girls Academy, Pader Comprehensive, the school where he studied O-Level, and one primary school, Pader Christ Church Junior School — a result of his strong performance at both O- and A-Level. This is where news of the FAWE-Mastercard Foundation scholarship found him.
Engineering Dream Finally Re-Awakened
News of the scholarship reached Felix through the District Education Officer (DEO), at a time when he was working hard to raise tuition for university. “My plan was to work hard for two years, then join university for an education course — but FAWE-U rescued me, and that’s how my dream of becoming an engineer was saved.” He rushed to the DEO’s office, was guided on how to apply, and was admitted to both Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Education) and Gulu University (Engineering). He chose the latter in July 2017.
Throughout his life, Felix had suffered chronic financial challenges and always needed funds to sustain himself and his family. Because of the financial support and the Extended Orientation Program (EOP) — particularly its lessons on financial literacy — from FAWE Uganda, he decided to save part of his stipend and proceeds from other projects to build an iron-sheet-roofed house. “We had never had any iron-sheet-roofed house in our village home.” The family had once suffered greatly during the holidays when fire gutted their grass-thatched house, burning everything to ashes. “We suffered for a whole year, lacking food, and barely survived.” This motivated him to work hard and build a three-bedroom iron-sheet house.
This dream became reality through contributions from several projects: a drug shop he opened, which now employs his brother; a mobile money business; farming on two acres of land (beans, maize, and soya beans) for both subsistence and commercial use; sunflower growing for cooking oil, and onions for home use; and free-range chicken rearing, which brings in some extra income. He uses proceeds from these enterprises to help pay school fees for his siblings, investing most of what he earns in agriculture so the profits can sustain him at university for a full semester. He is now planning to open a standard restaurant in Pader district, since most existing ones are substandard. “This will help create employment opportunities for many of the youth who have dropped out of school, improving their condition.” He is inspired to work hard because he earns his own way — supporting himself, those around him, and part of his siblings’ school fees — rather than relying on anyone else.
Dream Finally Achieved
Felix graduated with a Second Class Upper (CGPA of 4.35) degree in Bachelor of Science in Biosystems Engineering — majoring in food processing, water quality analysis and wastewater treatment, renewable energy, and environment and health — and emerged among the best in the engineering class of 2017-2022.
“Yawning and dreaming for yet another opportunity to further my studies — a Master’s degree, and a PhD. So happy to be part of the FAWE Uganda family.”
Looking Ahead
After school, Felix is committed to creating a job for himself, and dreams of leading a unique engineering project in Pader District — applying the knowledge he has gained to address pressing community needs in his village, including safe and clean water; a safe and clean environment; clean and sustainable energy; food security; and support for girl-child and boy-child education in Uganda.
“I highly and humbly thank FAWE Uganda and Mastercard Foundation for offering me the opportunity to achieve my dream in the engineering field, and for giving hope back to me when it was lost, bringing joy to me and my entire family. I will never forget you, and your footprint will always remain part of our family’s story.”