CHANGING Ugandan Lives through Entrepreneurship

We had an extraordinary team this year. In addition to Elizabeth, our Ugandan Country Director, we had six Ugandan teachers working alongside three American teachers. The participants themselves brought incredible talents to the group. Though each Seminar is wonderful in its own way, this for me, was the most impactful Seminar I have been involved with over the years.

The participants, most of whom came from the refugee settlements in Uganda, were older, knew themselves, made life-changing connections with populations they had previously thought were foreign, and were taught by teachers who understood their life circumstances. We spent some time at the Kyaka II refugee camp, the same camp we visited last year that has now expanded to 100,000 people. There we were greeted by the smiling faces of 50+ children with their teachers one of whom I met last year as a participant in our Seminar. This year that preschool teacher, Vanessa, was one of our outstanding Seminar teachers.

After having lunch in one of the homes in the settlement community we visited two stores that are a direct result of our work there. Delphe who made the baskets out of plastic strapping that we highlighted last year now has a group called UTU (Universal Talents Union). Though he wasn't at the shop the day we visited, we met the other men who do basket weaving, crafts and teach English. We visited Vanessa's shop in the refugee community that has only been open for six weeks. Vanessa learned to make shoes by interning at a shoe shop. She now employs three others to help her make the shoes and sandals she sells. This is all in addition to her work as a teacher at the preschool in the refugee settlement.

That evening we had dinner with the whole team. From the moment we were all together it was clear the week would be wonderful both for the Seminar participants and for all of us involved in teaching. The power of the Ugandan teachers was palpable! Ivan, a friend of Elizabeth's, has a water franchise where individual communities have their own water filtration systems. His company is Jibu Water and his personality and real-life business experiences were powerful. Jimmy was a participant in last year's Seminar and a superstar. This year he became part of the teaching team. He's an English teacher at a private International school and works as an MC on the weekends. His master of ceremony talents came in handy during the final day rocket pitch celebration as he kept the competition going and had participants dancing while the judges once again took too long trying to determine the final winners. Vanessa who went through the program last year lives in the settlement we visited. Brian has known and worked with Elizabeth for years. They, along with our Ugandan team of Aris and Linda, and Sharon Yardley from Babson and Larry and I, rounded out the group of teachers.

Most of the participants this year were from the settlement communities. We learned that there can be friction between the Ugandan and the refugee population. But what happened within the small teaching groups was a deeper understanding of what the refugees have gone through, of what they have lost and the great talents that they come to the settlements with. In the end, there was compassion and recognition of their fellow students. In my group alone, there were two situations where students were able to reach out and give their fellow classmates the machinery or funding that they needed to get started. In both instances, after the students stood up to shake hands in agreement spontaneous applause broke out and a few minutes of total silence ensued as everyone took in the importance of what had just occurred. I was lucky to have two former students join my group, just there to relive their experience and help with the new participants. Their presence was enormously valuable helping as the new students struggled to determine their personal finances; assets, projections and their needs to be articulated for their rocket pitches.

The entire teaching group bonded over the nine days. We can only hope that all of the Ugandan teachers will come back again next year to continue impacting another 100+ Seminar participants. What an amazing week!