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Congratulations: 3 Ugandans shortlisted among 10 of Africa’s top female innovators

By
Astone Miya
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The 26th annual World Economic Forum on Africa, was conducted in Rwandan capital, Kigali from 11-13 May under the theme “Connecting Africa’s Resources through Digital Transformation.” More than 1,200 participants from over 70 countries took part in the Forum.

Natalie Bitature
Image source: linkedin

1.Natalie Bitature

Musana Carts, Uganda: Musana Carts has used frugal innovation to develop environmentally friendly, solar-powered vending carts. With a price point of $400, each Musana Cart saves 3,000 tons of carbon emissions and improves the health of cities by eliminating pollution from charcoal and kerosene stoves.

Elizabeth Nyeko

2.Elizabeth Nyeko

Mandulis Energy, Uganda: Mandulis Energy produces electricity from Agri-waste purchased from farmers. Developing 20MW for the grid, and 8MW (16x 0.5MW-1MW) off-­grid in Uganda, to provide clean, affordable and reliable energy to communities, and to rural industries (rice mills, maize mills etc.) that drive economic development.

Evelyn Namara. Image Source: Twitter

3.Evelyn Namara

!nnovate, Uganda: Mobile vouchers that are used by farmers to redeem for seed from agro-dealers. !nnovate Uganda also works on building solutions that run on mobile and can be used in development projects.

The criteria for the challenge required entrants’ companies to be less than three years old, be earning revenue for at least a year, and have proven innovation and positive social impact. The winners were invited to the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, to meet other social entrepreneurs and impact investors, and take part in conversations relevant to their expertise and interests.

The other entrepreneurs recognized were from Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ghana. The challenge to find Africa’s top women Innovators was launched by World Economic Forum in recognition of the urgent need to create a more enabling environment for entrepreneurship to flourish in Africa, especially for female entrepreneurs, whose potential is far from being optimized.

“I strongly believe that the 21st century will be Africa’s century, that its young population has the potential to build a world where they are not only materially better off, but also where things are fairer, more sustainable and more tolerant than at any other time in history. But this will not be achieved unless women are able to make a full contribution. This is why we are showcasing Africa’s best female entrepreneurs in Kigali this week,” said Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum.

The judging panel included: Amini Kajunju, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Africa-America Institute and Member of the Global Agenda Council on the Economics of Innovation; Rapelang Rabana, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ReKindle Learning and Global Shaper; and Arun Sharma, Director-General, Next Einstein Foundation.

More than 1,200 participants from over 70 countries are taking part in the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, from 11 to 13 May 2016. The theme of the meeting is “Connecting Africa’s Resources through Digital Transformation”.

The Co-Chairs of the 26th World Economic on Africa are: Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Abidjan; Dominic Barton,Global Managing Director, McKinsey & Company; Tony O. Elumelu, Founder, The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Nigeria; Graça Machel, Founder, Graça Machel Trust (GMT), South Africa; and Tarek Sultan Al Essa, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Agility, Kuwait.

Uganda – Let’s make love

By
Astone Miya
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0

let’s make love and not a war for we shall lose our identity and original purpose if we choose not!

the safety of our children shall be denied and they shall pay for our misfortunes

Let’s make love and not war and beseech the beauty that springs from the depth of our hearts

that that we are at times shy to speak about lets man up and hide our shy and make some beautiful love.

Let’s sit at the table in the lovely morning and inhale the scents of the flowers as we forgive ourselves

upon the misfortunes that befell us in the night and earlier hours lets sit and make love for the peace

of these our beautiful children that know not our journies darling,

you may be a bit shy little and afraid of the history we both share and thinking

we should play by what has always been but let’s break the rules and make love my darling.

Let’s stare into each other’s eyes with pride and love Darling,

I know you broke a few more promises and I would be feeling like printing a finger but truth be told,

I was a bit unfaithful too and that baby,

I know you know so I am humbly saying sorry for the better and peace of our children Darling, let’s make love and not war!

Baby, when the sun fails to rise the next morning,

and the darkness is still on our courtyard Let’s make love and not war

birds may build nests atop our mansion;

this beautiful masterpiece whose bricks we sweat

let’s make love and not war darling,

when this sun fails to set and the daylight stays on us for the first time

and the beautiful darkness hides from us that our minds depart

and ideas collide like in a debate let’s make love my dearest! Let’s make love and not war!

Jackson Kaguri is transforming lives of people affected by HIV in Uganda

By
Astone Miya
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0

In the South-Western Ugandan district of Kanungu lies a village called Nyakagyezi. In this village, many people especially women and children live in poverty – Mainly due to being orphaned by AIDS an epidemic that killed many people in Nyakagyezi.

Jackson Twesigye Kaguri, however, managed to escape this poverty. He went to Makerere University, advanced his studies at Columbia University, and moved to the United States of America where he planned to stay for most parts of his life. He’d often come back to Uganda, handing out school supplies to children. But he wasn’t settled.

“In Uganda HIV/AIDS came striking like a machete in a cornfield, killing men and women, leaving 1.2 million children orphaned,” Jackson told CNN shortly after winning the 2012 CNN Hero of the Year Award.

As a young person growing up in Nyakagyezi during the HIV/AIDS pandemic, he knew that it was up to him to make a difference. He had lost his brother, as affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic when he lost his sister and nephew to HIV/AIDS.

The burden of looking after his deceased brother’s three children lay on his shoulders. He paid for their education and made sure they had food, clothing, and shelter. But this caused him to think about his whole village. He wondered who would care for all the other young AIDS orphans.

“These are women who saw me growing up in the village. They had carried me when I was hurt. They prayed for me when I was away studying. What was I supposed to do?” Jackson told The Spotlight recently.

He rolled up his sleeves and he took his life savings — the $5000 he and his wife were going to put towards buying a home — and built a school for the orphaned children in the village brick by brick.

In 2001, he founded the Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project. It began in the Nyaka Primary School, a two-room school on a small plot of land which would later provide free education and school clothing. The school officially opened in 2003 to 55 students, all HIV/AIDS orphans.

Jackson later realized that he needed to expand the project beyond just two classrooms. He had to do one job — tell his friends in Uganda, the United States and anyone who was willing to listen to his story. This was the only plan to see more classrooms. Fortunately for him, many people he talked to listened to him mostly because they believed that education could help the orphans of Nyakagyezi. They believed it could help them escape poverty and achieve basic human rights. So, they offered money to support the project.

Life for the children orphaned by AIDS in Nyakagyezi has greatly improved. In December 2008, the school held its first graduation ceremony. The whole village celebrated as the first students of Nyaka School finished their primary education.

Today, there are two schools – one in Nyakagyezi and one in the village of Kutamba. Together the schools serve almost 43,000 orphans whose parents died from AIDS  as well as helping over 7,004 grandmothers learn a trade to help them support themselves.

over 43,000 orphans have benefited from the Nyaka Schools. Photo credit: Matt Stauble

Kaguri’s work is now even larger than the schools. He has also helped build a health center, more clean water tanks, and a library for books. Kaguri continues to dream of doing even more. And he encourages other people to do the same.

In 2010, he resigned as Interim Senior Director of Development in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University to focus full-time on The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project.

Jackson was officially named the winner of the 2015 Waislitz Global Citizen Award in New York City. in 2010, he was recognized in Time Magazine’s Power of One, has been named a Heifer International Hero, was a 2012 CNN Hero of the year, and has given a TED Talk based on his book A School for My Village: A Promise to the Orphans of Nyaka, which remains one of the best-selling autobiographies to ever come out of Uganda.

As Nyaka AIDS Orphans clocks 15 years this year, growth is the only word that can explain it. On this year’s World AIDS Day, Cornerstone a documentary movie based on Jackson’s life journey will be premiered. Watch the trailer here.

Want to get involved in Jackson Kaguri’s life-changing project?, visit the Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project website.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: thisis256@gmail.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Big-heart is synonymous to Ugandans.

By
Astone Miya
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On a random evening, people will be gathered in restaurants, bars, and homes to fund-raise for a wedding or a surprise birthday party. We are not only generous with our money but with our time as well. If you happen to lose your way on the street, the chances that someone will take you to at least where you can see the place you are going to is pretty many.

The Lion of Buganda launching Masengeere.

Last year, we had the “Etofaali” contributions as fund-raising for the completion of “Masengere” which is a reminder of the military occupation that Buganda kingdom underwent in the post-1966 crisis and the building was completed.

With the phenomenon of social media, we have taken this generosity a notch higher. Significantly, last year, Ugandans raised over 100 million Ugandan shillings to treat Rosemary Nankabirwa (RIP) who unfortunately succumbed to Cancer.

Carol Atuhiire whose smile never fades(L)

On Saturday past, Ugandans in one day raised 57 million shillings in a car wash organized by Kyamutetera the Chief Editor of the CEO magazine and so far, 200 million shillings of 270 million shillings has been collected to save Carol. This is a Nobel virtue that we ought to uphold, but not one to be taken for granted.

Heard about bike ambulances? They are reducing maternal mortality rates in rural Uganda

By
Astone Miya
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0

Before 2015, health and community workers in hard to reach areas in Uganda lived in a dilemma. They had to trek to impenetrable villages trying to save expectant mothers lives. Most roads were not friendly to cars and they had one solution- carrying the pregnant women on their backs or on homemade stretchers. To cut the long story short, many did not make it to hospital. They died on the way.

Fast forward to 2015 and now, a light is beaming bright at the end of the maternal health care system tunnel in Uganda. Bike ambulances are the reason. The reason why many pregnant women in rural Uganda are now singing to the glory of a simple, fast and cost effective way they are reached in, in remote areas.

Bike ambulances are unstoppable. On the dusty and muddy roads in remote areas whether Uganda or in any other low developing country, two wheels are better (and reliable) than four. Where a vehicle ambulance may take two hours to reach, a bike ambulance can take thirty minutes.

In some areas, you find that an expectant mother has to travel over 30 kilometers to reach a health center where they have to deliver and out of say 70% of expectant mothers who go for antenatal care I, only 20% go back to deliver meaning there are so many who remain back home and  delivery is done by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) which number you can’t tell and that’s why bike ambulances are reversing this trend vigorously.

The bike ambulances idea is a simple one. They are two-wheeled ambulance trailers that can be easily connected to virtually any bicycle or motorcycle. When a patient needs to be moved, the Village Ambulances offer a safe alternative to the precarious boda-boda (motorcycle) ride that would traditionally be used to transport many Ugandans, or worse, being left at home to suffer rather than seeking the help the patient needs.

The motorbikes have gone to over 10,000 callouts in four years. Photo credit: ITV

They are here to reverse trends indeed. According to the 2011 Uganda Demographic Health Survey, Uganda’s maternal mortality rate was found to be 438 per 100,000 live births.

On the other hand, the MDG 2014 report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa together with the African Union, African Development Bank Group and the United Nations Development Programme on assessing progress in Africa toward the MDGs, to date 95% of Ugandan women receive antenatal care from a skilled provider at least once, 57% deliver babies in a health facility under the supervision of a skilled provider. Furthermore, 33% of the mothers received a postnatal checkup within two days of birth.

The new emerging statistics by the United Nations Economic Commission only shows one thing, that there are positive strides in achieving zero maternal deaths which directly and indirectly, can be attributed to bike ambulances.

This innovative idea however, was invented by Chris Ategeka, a graduate of Engineering from the University of California who returned back to Uganda in 2013 to help contribute to the reduction of Maternal death in Uganda and founded Rides For Lives.

Ategeka founded Rides For Lives, a nonprofit that invests in training local healthcare professionals so as to create a sustainable workforce and manufacture locally sourced medical vehicles with the mission of improving medical access and economic opportunities to those that are the most vulnerable.

In an interview with NPR, Ategeka and Ride For Lives stated that they have managed to support the fabrication of the bike ambulances  at centralized workshops in local villages which has led to the distribution of more than 1,000 bikes and bike ambulances throughout Uganda.

Only 100 bike ambulances can transport about 10,000 expectant mothers a month. Put another way, this is 100 lives saved every year after deploying just one of their ambulances to a district each year. With over 200 Village Ambulances distributed in over 23 districts across Uganda, it doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that this equates to over 5,000 lives saved every year thanks to their innovation.

Bike ambulances are loved because they are fast, affordable and can reach remote areas. Photo credit: Kissito Health

 

However, the question remains, how are young mothers getting access to these bike ambulances and how can we have more of these?

Many young mothers continue not having access to antenatal care services in different parts of the country. Still, a big number of them do not have information about the existence of bike ambulances to help significantly reverse this trend.

This is where district leaders and civil society must come in to advocate for increased funding and awareness of the innovative idea. This idea, can be transformed then into greater heights and before we know it, it will be a major turning point in the history of maternal mortality rates in Uganda.

Simon Otiga, The Vice Chairperson of Soroti District while at the launch of the ambulances in the district on January 27, 2015, urged the beneficiaries to use them so as to boast the maternal health care system of the district and reduce on the maternal deaths.

The Speaker of the ninth Parliament Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga while launching the ambulances last year at parliament, encouraged MPs to advocate for more bike ambulances to be distributed to all villages in Uganda so as to reduce on the maternal mortality rates.

Initiatives like these and others being implemented players in the health sector like the Voices For Health partners for example FOWODE, Reproductive Health Uganda, Reach A Hand, Uganda and UHMG to mention but a few, could help in saving lives of many young mothers all over the country who continue to die because of failing to get access to fast, cost effective and reliable services. That is when we will achieve a big step towards reducing maternal deaths in Uganda.

Disability is not inability: Meet Aisha, a blind hair dresser

By
Astone Miya
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0

In a world full of uncertainties, Malengo Foundation is a living testimony through its Girl 50 50 projects that no form of adversity or discrimination is enough to keep a strong woman from achieving her goals.

Aisha Bahati speaking after getting her award

Being blind never stopped Bahati Aisha’s passion for beauty, business and style to blossom. The amazingly talented Aisha has broken barriers to run a successful hair and beauty salon in Kampala and is rising fast to rank among the stylists and fashion influencers despite being blind.

Aisha stood out as Miss Tourism Independent 2015-2016. She is also a makeup artist and cat walked for Malengo Foundation during the Hot Pink fashion show

Girl 50 50 is a Malengo Foundation Campaign mainstreaming the disability normative in gender empowerment. The project decided to honour all the vulnerable ladies who chose to thrive and didn’t let their disability to hinder them from pursuing their dreams.

Aisha was among the 6 remarkable girls and women with disabilities in various fields from Para sports to entrepreneurship that were recognized by Malengo Foundation.

Speaking during the Girl 50- 50 Forum and project launch at Mestil Hotel, Aisha shared her experiences about how blindness has impacted her life and career. The project will encompass a multitude of activities and interventions throughout the year focusing on the girl child disability rights in an effort to mainstream gender within disability rights.

Aisha was crowned the stylist honoree of 2019 and her award was presented to her by Lady Justice Margeret Oguli Oumo.

20 year old Miss Uganda UK, Mutebi advocating to end child sacrifice

By
Astone Miya
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0

In Africa and especially in Uganda, child sacrifice is on an increasing trend mainly fueled by culture and many other stereotypes. Many organisations and individuals have come out to stand against the vice but none like the 20 year old Natasha Mutebi- Miss Uganda UK who is also the Ambassador for Jubilee Campaign and AFFCAD Foundation.

“I may not have a child now, but I believe that every child is your child and it takes a collective responsibility to fight and win a war against social evils and I want to use my position to do my part,” she often says.
Mutebi with her predecessor Gladys Kyotungire

Mutebi with her predecessor Gladys Kyotungire

She decided to use her position to focus on the dangers of child sacrifice that mostly affect children in Uganda. Partnering with Kyotungire Gladys [Miss Uganda UK 2013] her predecessor, they launched the campaign at Kide Nursery and Boarding Primary School in Kasangati, Wakiso District.

This Is Uganda caught up with the amazing Natasha Mutebi whose modelling career started at the age of 16 at Taibah school where she was doing her O-level’s.

What are you doing apart from modelling and advocating against child sacrifice?

I am a Bio-Medical Science student at Queen Mary University of London. I have just completed my first year and I passed quite highly.

You are a Muganda, have you done anything to promote Buganda culture or even dressed in cultural attire on the runway?
IMG_3927

Natasha Mutebi’s first fashion show in 2012. ~The East African extravaganza.

I am very culture empowering, I have talked about it a lot in schools. I find our culture is a gift when you look at it, I love my color and I often tell my friends that the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice. I do try my best to encourage cultural empowerment although I have not donned cultural attire but I am very culture encouraging. I am very proud to say that my dad is a Muganda and that I am a Muganda.

At the East African extravaganza in 2012.

When and where did you start modelling?

I started modelling in Uganda, I was 16 and I started with small shows in Taibah and during holidays I was invited to costume for Brenda Nambi and I was the youngest there. Joram literally founded me, I walked down the cat walk and he asked how old I was. This show was very exciting because I modeled with Aamito Stacie, Dorah Mwima and it was my first fashion show. That’s where my journey started and I never looked back.

When did you first do something big in modelling?

I have mostly modeled for charities and colleges- nothing high fashion. I did my first big show last year, it’s called My Run Way- it’s quite big and it’s best on Youth development and the proceedings go to charity but I love doing it. The next big thing was Miss Uganda UK.

How do you juggle books and modeling?

Time management is an important aspect- I am pretty organised and I think being organised is a great aspect too. My parents are also very supportive and that’s a boost for me.

Would you drop Bio Medicine for modeling or vice versa?

Never! I will do them side by side.

What inspired you to go for Miss Uganda UK?

The very first fashion show I modeled at greatly inspired me, seeing Aamito and the way she walked, I was really inspired. I wanted to do the real Miss Uganda but since I don’t stay in Uganda, it was a bit of a hindrance so I decided to settle for Miss Uganda UK. At first I was hesitant to do it but I later over came my fears and just did it.

How did it feel like, winning?

I cried, I couldn’t believe it mainly because my speech impairment has always stopped me from doing things since I was a kid. Winning was a miracle to me because I never used to win things when I was a kid- winning was just good.

Let’s talk about your efforts against child sacrifice.

Child sacrifice is very personal to Gladys [ the previous Miss Uganda UK], she started the initiative in 2013. She came and started the initiative because she herself was nearly sacrificed- she was taken away from her home but she survived. I am also very passionate about child sacrifice, and working with kids. So what we are doing is raise more awareness about child sacrifice- our aim was to speak to 5000 children face to face and we are currently making tours to schools accessing all ages telling children how to avoid being in situations where they can be kidnapped or sacrificed- and we are also generally empowering children.

At just 20, Natasha is empowering young people and advocating against the vice of child sacrifice in Uganda. Using her speech impairment (Stammer) that almost made her give up on life and also using her amazing slogan that she leaves imprinted on the hearts and minds of the young children she meets, ‘LiveYourLegacy.’

This Woman Has Designed a Map for Visitors to Explore Kampala with Confidence

By
Astone Miya
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0

Kirsty Hendersen is an accomplished explorer. She now has three African city maps to her name that are making foreigners settle in their new cities with ease. She is the brains behind Map of Kigali, Map of Addis and now Map of Kampala.

“Many cities of the world are well mapped, and often you’re given an excellent map on arrival at the airport. This isn’t the case with most African capital cities and I wanted to create quality maps aimed at new arrivals for the cities in the region that I know and loves.” Kirsty explains

According to Kirsty, capital cities of African countries have been neglected a bit by the world of mapmakers who focus on fun, tourist-oriented maps – something that she is working hard towards changing.

In 2010, she started Living in Kigali, a popular website in Rwanda that is fills a hole in online information about Kigali for both expats and tourists. The site is a one stop centre for all things Kigali and Rwanda in general. From there, she saw a need for a good map of her adopted city and she created The Map – Kigali, the first in what has become a series of maps in the region.

The map has almost all significant landmarks in the city. (Photo by Kirsty)

After the success of The Map – Kigali, she then turned to Ethiopia and did ground work to create a map of Addis Ababa. Ethiopia proved to be a very difficult place to do business, so the map wasn’t printed in as large numbers, but it was still a success and won a ‘Highly Commended’ award from the prestigious British Cartographic Society in 201.7

“The Map – Kampala is the third map (after Kigali and Addis Ababa) in what I hope will be a series of maps of African capital cities aimed at making life a little easier (and more fun!) for foreign residents, tourists, and even lifelong locals,” Kirsty explains.

The Kampala map took around a year and a half or work involving a baseline survey of the city, moving around the different corners of Kampala to get to know neighbourhoods and discover interesting places, asking the locals about key restaurants, lodges, tourist attractions, landmarks and learning about everything in the city that might be helpful to a new arrival or someone who wants to get to know Kampala a bit better.

“I’ve tried to make this map professional, user-friendly, fun, and super useful. It’s the map I wish I had when I arrived as confused a visitor many years ago.” She explains.

The map is sold at key shops around the city (Photo by Kirsty)

The map has hundreds of pieces of handy information crowd-sourced from all kinds of Kampala residents and researched in-depth. It aims to show a whole new side of Kampala including eating recommendations, information on what to do, tips for new arrivals, and anything that will give people the confidence to get out and explore the city in the hopes that visitors will venture beyond the usual expat and tourist hangouts.

“It’s printed on water- and tear-proof paper, so that that it doesn’t disintegrate in your hands as you wander around town. I hope that it’s clear that the map shares my passion for Kampala and I’ve put a lot of effort into making it a beautiful product worthy of a place on your wall,” Kirsty explains.

The map costs 30,000 UGX and is available in major bookshops, restaurants and coffee shops around town for example Endiro Coffee Shop, Bushpig, Prunes, Definition Africa, Aristoc, 22stars, Fang Fang Hotel, Design Hub, Explorers Hub and Kona

Mbanda Shyaka is Building a Cohort of Ugandan Kids That Will Create Technology

By
Astone Miya
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0

Mbanda Shyaka is an enthusiastic entrepreneur whose conviction is that Uganda needs to go towards the 21st-century thinking through education. Shyaka is working hard to teach Ugandan children programming and robotics through his company the Tod-Idea – TOD means Teachers on Devices.

“During the industrial revolution, an education system was fashioned to create factory workers. Those workers were supposed to listen to instructions, be compliant, and be on time. They were never trained to think for themselves. If you dared to think for yourself in a factory flow you could really mess up things. So our education system was created along these lines hence the bells and parade. This system churns out people that are workers in a factory setting. Unfortunately, we are no longer in that industrial revolution age. We are now in the information era where you have to be a critical thinker and ask questions because ideas are trumping. Ideas are very powerful. Critical thinking is the ability to ask why continuously.” Shyaka says.

We are living in the information age. So the Tod-Idea couldn’t have been more expedient.

“I graduated in food science 15 years ago. In the past, that information used to stay with you and it would be relevant for a long time. Right now, things are continuously changing. In six months, Apple Inc. will have created another version of the iPhone. Uganda needs people that have the desire to learn how to learn. So that we are able to continuously seek new information and ideas.”

Tod-Idea is teaching Ugandan kids critical thinking.

“We are teaching children to have computational thinking skills and a problem-solving mindset. We are convinced that if children become problem solvers, risk-takers and critical thinkers then entrepreneurs are born. To be an entrepreneur, you must be able to identify a problem, see the size of a problem, identify the tools available to solve the problem and then package that tool in a way that society will pay you for it.”

With the looming youth unemployment, this is timely.

Shyaka has trained his two sons. Neeza 8 and Ssuubi 12. His children are evidence that the Edutab works exceptionally. Suubi who runs a YouTube channel hopes the next five years he will be into creating apps that solve challenges in his community.

“Edu-tab is a fun tool to learn with. I use it to study and learn new things. I only go to the Edu-tab when I have helped with housework and after lunch.” 12-year-old Ssuubi says.

It’s been an uphill task for Shyaka just to change mindsets of parents and teachers that think that education is in class with chalk. Many schools have slammed doors in his face claiming that they are already teaching ICT. The ICT curriculum in Ugandan primary schools is limited to learning about a mouse, space bar, Microsoft word and all those things that children can learn on their own. So Tod-Idea is creating a cohort of kids that will not just learn how to use technology but create technology.

“One of the greatest challenges is the lack of appreciation that the Edutabs can deliver education. People can’t wrap their minds around that. Even those that have the money look at it as a toy. They insist on having us install more games than educational materials. Yet we have hundreds of math and science videos on the tablet. The tablet gives the child the luxury to rewind their teacher and pause. Allowing the child to master the topic. In my opinion, this is better than being in class.”
Edutab is different from the other tabs on the market because Shyaka and his team have invested time in research, uploading educational materials, they have held discussions with teachers on relevant topics and before the parent can take the tab, they offer guidance on how to use the tabs and how to monitor their children.

“We are educationists who are competing with traders. Their tabs might even be cheaper. Most parents that rush for them often come back to us after realizing that they bought junk” Shyaka Says.

The good news is that some schools have embraced the Edutab. For instance, the headmistress of Arc Primary School decided that the Edutab is a compulsory club in her school

Unfortunately, the users of the Edutab are privileged children. Shyaka hopes to work with local communities, development partners and the government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT to help in scaling up the use of Edutabs to take this technology to the children whose parents cannot afford an Edutab.
“We would like to make it bigger but we have to be realistic since we are profit driven. We hope to cover over 10,000 children in the next five years. It could scale up if the government was willing to take it on to the schools around Uganda. And as long us the government doesn’t appreciate programming in schools and take it on as a subject we shall remain like a club.”
Shyaka thinks that if Uganda had more people thinking outside the box, then perhaps more companies would be built to create more taxpayers, more people employed hence increased household incomes and a progressive economy.

“My vision is to end a generation of suffering children in my community.” – 26-year-old Syrill Kizza

By
Astone Miya
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0

Having lost his mother at an early age, and with his father working as a long-distance truck driver, he faced many challenges growing up in a slum in Bwaise. To earn a livelihood, he found odd jobs like fetching water for the neighbourhood, which he sold at UGX 200 for a 20-litre jerry can. “We did not have running water so I would have to go to the well and people would pay me to fetch water.” he says.

Bwaise being a wetland, rubbish would pile up whenever it rained and he used this as an opportunity to collect scrap which he sold at UGX 500 per kilogram and used this money to buy scholastic materials.

His impoverished background was fuel for him to make a difference in his community. He does this through his organisation Vision for Vulnerable Communities Foundation (VIVCOM). Syrill founded VIVCOM with the core values of raising orphans and vulnerable children. It  started in 2012 when he encountered  four homeless children in his neighbourhood. ”

“They were very young, helpless and had nowhere to go because most of these women in slums are prostitutes so they can have children without knowing who their fathers. So they abandon children because they cannot afford to look  look after them.” Syrill says.

Syrill took matters in his own hands and rented a 30,000 Uganda shillings one roomed house  for the children and used his own income to support and feed them. before he knew it, the number had grown to 54 children . This created a need for more room and caretakers. He rented  two more rooms. He managed to get more children off the street, but this wasn’t enough. The children were always idle and were bound to fall into dangerous habits. He was compelled to create a source of education for them. To keep them occupied, impart knowledge and give them a sense of belonging. With help from some friends, he build a temporary structure where the children could go to school. This is currently an active school that that runs from P1 to P5 in Nabweeru.

His vision for VIVCOM is to stop the generation of suffering children. He seeks to create a platform for these children to rise up and make something of themselves despite their backgrounds. he wants to  see them become responsible and respectable leaders of Uganda. He acknowlegdes that maintaining discipline among the children can be a challenge, but they are kept busy with school work and community work. He talks to them and teaches them the values of discipline and hard work.

His advice to  vulnerable parents in his community is to use family planning. With most women in these slums, family planning is ignored and women give birth to more children than they can provide for.

He cites the most common challenges with running this organisation as lack of regular income. This makes feeding, dressing, healthcare, accommodation very difficult. He hasn’t had regular funding and he gets all this support from personal donations and his own irregular income.

His vision for VIVCOM is to acquire land on which he could build an orphanage and take in more children and to create an education system where they can go through nursery to university. For it to be a worldwide organisation that seeks to take in vulnerable children all over the world and to promote talent development among these children.

Syrill thanks all those who have gone on to offer support to VIVCOM, and all those who have encouraged him along the way to never give up on these kids. He also seeks more help from everybody out there. Any kind of support is welcome. For all those who would like to make a donation to VIVCOM, .

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