Swabrah Nakamatte is an Action In Africa scholarship student who took up her pen in effort to drive further “Earth Action”. Learn more about Swabrah’s educational journey to becoming a doctor here.

In light of Earth Day this month, the Action In Africa team wanted to showcase their most recent community cleanup day. The AIA team, along with the Local Council 1 leadership team and community members, came together to clean the streets and trading centers of the village. It was a day filled with sweeping, picking up litter, clearing stagnant water, and collecting trash from households.

The Women to Women program is a community development activity started by Action in Africa (AIA) in 2016. Every Friday morning, women in Nakuwadde meet over breakfast provided by AIA. They are offered mental health and psychological support from the AIA Counsellor, and receive vocational skills training. Guest speakers often visit to engage the women in thoughtful dialogue around various topics, and members partake in the many additional opportunities offered as part of this program.

“As a young woman, if I was not educated, I would seem invaluable to my community. Because I live in a patriarchal society, I would only be good for marriage and having children. I live in a society where women are presumed to be weaker than their male counterparts, but with a university degree, now even men respect me because my education is a manifestation of my brilliance, commitment and focus.” Nankya Teopistar.

Since 2017, Action in Africa has been holding periodic Medical Outreach camps in the community of Nakuwadde. Free health services are provided to hundreds of community members, mostly vulnerable children and women. The services range from full body medical checkups, to vaccination to provision of basic medication like vitamins and deworming tablets. Today, we would like to highlight someone who has been part of these medical outreaches for a long time and will soon become one of the medical professionals.

As a young girl in Nakuwadde, Albertina Biira said she had always heard about Action in Africa and wanted to benefit from the scholarship program. Unfortunately, she was not able to, but that never stopped her from pursuing her dream of being an educator. After dropping out of high school, Albertina joined a teachers’ training college where she was able to train as an elementary and primary school educator.

The worst “villain” for young people is anything that threatens their future. From the communities they live in, to the opportunities they cannot access, young people are challenged by their evolutionary desires and sometimes the merciless communities they dwell in. Recently, we wrote to you about how our holiday program exists to protect children from dangers like drug addiction, teenage pregnancy and dropping out of school by guaranteeing their protection during school breaks. Today we shall share how one AIA scholarship student has taken the reins to help safeguard his peers through dance.

Children in Uganda are exposed to some of the greatest threats to their success during school breaks. When schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, over 354,000 teenage pregnancies were registered in the country, resulting in huge numbers of school dropouts. Other vices like drug abuse, child abuse and more occur during such school breaks, which is why keeping young people in schools is important.