Elton's story

A broken childhood

My name is Elton Isaias Mulhui and I was born in 1998. I am the son of Isaias Mulhui and Rosa Mabunda. I started primary school at six. I had a happy childhood until 2009, when I was in sixth grade and my father died of tuberculosis. It changed our small family's life forever. He left behind me, my mother, who was pregnant, and my grandmother.

After that loss, my mother had to work twice as hard to keep the family going. Sadly, the following year, in 2010, she died in childbirth from complications. My baby brother did not survive either. Losing my father, my mother and a brother in two consecutive years leaves a pain that will stay with me all my life.

My grandmother

My grandmother took care of me. A cousin, my aunt's son, also lived with us. Things kept getting harder and we depended on the land to survive. My grandmother, who had always been a farmer, grew vegetables that we sold so we could eat and save a little money for school books.

Despite all the financial hardship, she always encouraged us to keep studying and did everything she could so we wouldn't have to leave school. Thanks to her effort, and after overcoming many obstacles, I finished secondary school in 2016.

Teresa

In June 2017 I met someone who would change my life: Teresa, from Barcelona. She was part of a group that had come to my village with NEPP, a charity project helping orphans and vulnerable children.

One day, while they were handing out food and clothes, I got to talk to her. I told her my story and that I wanted to keep studying and, if possible, go to university. But the extreme poverty we lived in made that dream seem out of reach.

We kept in touch on WhatsApp. She often asked whether I had found a way to go back to studying. The answer was always the same: we didn't have the means. That same year, in December 2017, I suffered another very painful loss: my cousin drowned in a canal.

The message that changed everything

In 2019, Teresa told me I would soon get a message from a Geography teacher. She had told her mother, Susana, head of studies at Institut Joan Boscà, about me, and Susana had told Josep M., who ran charity projects with his students. At the time they were already helping a young woman from Sierra Leone, Abi.

A few hours later I got Josep M.'s message. He then introduced me to his class and I met his students on video calls. He asked me for information about the degree, the university and the costs. When I told my grandmother, she cried with joy.

I sent him everything about Mining Engineering at the Catholic University of Mozambique in Tete. Less than a week later he confirmed they would help me. I cried with happiness and hugged my grandmother: at last, I was going to university.

Tete, university

At the time I didn't even have a bank account. Josep Maria helped me open one so I could receive money for tuition, rent and daily expenses. Step by step, we prepared my move to Tete.

The first time I walked through the university gates I knew my life had taken a new direction. In my first year I passed every subject. In my second, Josep Maria introduced me to his new Year 9 class, and it moved me to see new students getting involved so I could carry on.

I passed my second, third and fourth years thanks to the students, teachers and families of Institut Joan Boscà and, later, Institut Pedralbes and Institut Escola Les Tres Fonts in Les Corts.

Mining engineer

Thanks to the families at Institut Escola Les Tres Fonts and everyone who came to the first charity party in La Fatarella, I finished my final year and completed my professional internship. It has been a long road, but full of learning, hope and people who believed in me.