By Maxwell Akandwanaho | Programs Manager
At first, the conversation seemed simple. What does it mean to be Ugandan? But for students in the Peace Clubs at Lugoba High School, Rockhill Secondary School, St. Julian High School, Oxford Muslim High School, and Christ the King Schools, that single question opened the door to something much deeper, a reflection on identity, belonging, and peace.
Through interactive discussions on nationality this July, students explored how tribal and regional differences can quietly shape the way they see one another. And somewhere in those conversations, a shift began. One student who may once have understood identity only through the lens of where they come from started to see something bigger: that being Ugandan means sharing responsibility for the peace and future of the country, regardless of tribe, region, or background.
That shift is the heart of peacebuilding. Peace is not only the absence of conflict; it is the presence of understanding, empathy, and the confidence to engage across difference. In these sessions, students practised exactly that, learning to listen, to respect identities different from their own, to challenge division, and to choose dialogue over prejudice.
Why these clubs matter
The Peace Clubs are the engine of the project you support. They are the safe spaces where young people, so often excluded from peacebuilding, get to lead it instead. The conversations can look modest from the outside: a circle of students, a question, an end-of-term discussion. But this is where the work actually happens. Transformation rarely arrives as a headline. It begins with one student, one conversation, one new understanding, and then ripples outward through a school, a community, and eventually a nation.
That is the ripple this project was built to create. Every peace club a donor helps launch becomes a place where these conversations can keep happening, long after the term ends.
Looking ahead to the Future Leaders Conference
These July sessions also marked the close of the academic term, and they point directly toward what comes next. This December, Uganda Unites will host our Future Leaders Conference, bringing together young leaders and educators from schools like these to deepen their skills, build friendships across the country's divides, and return home ready to strengthen and grow their peace clubs. The students reflecting on what it means to be Ugandan today are exactly the young people the conference is designed to equip, and to multiply.
We are not simply teaching young people about peace. We are helping them become the kind of citizens who can build it.
Thank you
None of this happens without you. Your generosity is what turns a single question in a classroom into a growing movement of young peacebuilders across Uganda. As we prepare for the December conference, we would be grateful for your continued partnership, a gift of $30 helps launch a new peace club, and $100 sponsors a young leader to attend the Future Leaders Conference in full. Every contribution helps another young person take their place in this work.
By Fedres Nangobi | Programs Associate
By Maxwell | Programs Associate
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