I grew up in a small village in Rural Uganda but now I go to school in the United States of America, so I have experienced both poverty and wealth. Due to my exposure to both ends of the spectrum, I know that I want economic development, peace, and prosperity for my community.

My vision from a young age has been to be able to return back home as a rural transformer. Through the empowerment of people in my community to be the drivers of their own change I want to help facilitate economic development, creation of peace, and rural transformation. Until I joined Nourish International, I always thought I could contribute to the development of my community and empowerment of the people only after I graduate. However, joining Nourish International allowed me the opportunity to see my vision come true while I am still in school. I directly contributed to my community through the partnership between Nourish International at Hope College and a community school in my village.

Last year, I led a team of Nourish interns to my community, Kibaale District in Western Uganda. We helped construct a water tank and conducted leadership trainings, counselling and guidance, and created friendships with the community and the students of the school. Leading a team of interns to my village provided new insights for me in terms of what we as Nourish interns could do to be even more effective in our Projects. For example, because we worked closely with parents, teachers, and some community members, we quickly realized that as much as the school community appreciated our help with the construction, they especially appreciated our interaction with the kids through the leadership training, counselling and guidance, and friendships. We not only provided clean and safe water but also provided so many empowering skills to the community. In fact, some of the parents and teachers emphasized that our presence in the community and interactions with the students made us great role models for them, something they truly appreciate. Growing up in that same community, I rarely saw a woman engineer let alone a woman in construction. Therefore, our participation in the construction helped illustrate to the young girls and boys that women can be engineers too, and that yes, women too can construct a water tank. On several occasions during the weekend, the students and the Nourish interns sat in the grass and talked about our visions for the future, what we study in school, and a range of several topics such as the differences between our lives growing up in America and growing up in Uganda. All these conversations helped break down a few walls and also helped empower some dreams and aspirations that we each had in our minds.

Similarly, because we involved several stakeholders in the construction of the water tank, there was a lot more ownership of the final product and it was no longer Nourish’s water tank but our water tank. This fact not only affirmed what it is that I want to do but also highlighted why it is important to involve the community in all the projects we do.

In addition to all the above, due to the weekly calls I have with my National office mentor Maxie, I have the opportunity to have some one walk alongside me and advise me on how to successfully lead a team, run successful Ventures, and clearly communicate our vision as Nourish, and Hope College in particular, to different audiences. Through these Chapter support calls and other Nourish initiatives such as the Summer Institute, I have learned the language and efforts around sustainable development, a concept that has helped me to evaluate my actions as I embark on my journey to transform my community. Some of these sustainable development efforts were realized while back home in Uganda, like seeing why it’s important for the community to participate in the project so it becomes their project and how community development involves more than just constructing say, a water tank, but also involves the empowerment of the people in the community through human development.

Nourish International has empowered me to contribute to the development of my community even while still in school. It also equipped me with the necessary knowledge, skills, leadership practice, and the support to make a lasting impact through sustainable development. With a lot of talk today about helping without hurting, I can’t help but notice the uniqueness of the Nourish model. I am proud to be a part of Nourish.