Nyaka Inspirational Talk


My first trip to the beautiful hills and low valleys of Kanungu, one of the districts in Western Uganda was fascinating! I love nature because of its magnificence. Although the journey from Gulu district in northern Uganda to Kanungu is 734 Kilometers long, the few stop-overs were refreshing. 

The trip was an extraordinary one, in honor of an invitation from the Nyaka Aids Foundation Project, to give an Inspirational Talk to the students in the secondary and Vocational school at Nyaka. With funding by Oysters and Pearls - Uganda, five other ingenious ladies and I, all in the technology field, set off for our exciting and engaging adventure to the hilly destination. 


 The sight of grazing cattle on the lush grass in the valley, enormous banana plantations, undulating roads, and the gorgeous people, constantly punctuated our hours-journey. The dusky clouds covered the sun and we were blessed with hailstorm rains. We arrived safely, receiving a warm welcome from our hosts who checked us into the Nyaka Guest House.

After the delicious meal, we headed to the school to meet the students who were eagerly waiting for us and all excited about the Talk. With the strong, knowledgeable and enthusiastic team of female speakers, I could only envision how fun and educative the workshop was going to be. 

The inspirational Talk was based on the theme "just when the caterpillar though the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly". We were introduced by the ICT teacher, who was also the coordinator of the workshop and students welcomed us with thunderous applause in form of what they called flowers and factorials. Lady speakers included Computer Engineers, IT specialists and Computer scientists.

The workshop was filled with fun, interactive, motivating and encouraging activities. Focusing on students' future dreams, career choices, team work, acquiring extra skills, working hard in school, students shared what they aspire to be, their role models and what they want the world to remember them for.

Speakers shared their career journeys from when still in the lower education levels; including motivations, challenges and turning points. Students asked questions and networked with the ladies. One of the students shared that, "In the future, I want to build a hospital for people in my village to save more lives". 

Students were engaged in different games that included creating the longest line as a team and drawing their dreams, this built on their team work, exposed them to persistence, patience, being creative and  learning from each other. 

After the talk, the students took us for a tour around their school and a showcase of their class projects. The tailoring class showed us their creative tailored pieces, they explained to us the different materials one would need to work on a piece. Building and Construction class also exhibited their constructions and explained what they used and how long it took to construct the walls.

Nyaka Tech innovators club also displayed the projects they were working on which comprised of a wireless controlled Robot, automatic irrigation spray and a drone prototype. 



It was an inspiring interface, as students displayed their passion in technology and the other things they were working on. It was inspiring to me, hearing about their dreams and future prospects that are so strong and impactful to the community. We are all excited and looking forward to supporting them in their journey, as they make all their dreams a reality and impact their communities. 

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