Ssuubi Means "Hope"

"Ssuubi," I learned recently, is the word for "hope" in a local Ugandan dialect. And this word seems to describe well the efforts of many who I have met recently working in and for Uganda.

Today, I met a Professor at the School of Social Work at Columbia University: Fred Ssewemala who founded an organization called "Ssuubi" to create educational savings accounts for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in the southern Rakai district of Uganda. His project has garnered a lot of media attention recently. I spoke with him about his work and learned more about his vision and motivation for undertaking his research in our conversation and in this article in a Ugandan Paper (click here).

Laid back and easygoing, Prof. Fred spoke enthusiastically about his work in Uganda and his desire to help children develop long-term goals for their future by giving them the resources to plan and work towards post primary education. He shared that many young students became involved in crime, drug-related activities, prostitution or early marriage because there was little hope for their futures.

I admit that I still feel quite ignorant, going to Uganda. I hope that speaking with people like Prof. Fred and others will give me more of a glimpse of this country, its people and culture. The meeting with Prof. Ssewemala confirmed my intuition about the country and its people - he immediatey offered to help me in any way once I was in Uganda and mentioned that he had a wife and large extended family that would be enthusiastic to meet me. This, after a short 30 minute meeting! And he shared that the people of Uganda are very welcoming, warm and friendly...he warned that people may try to manipulate or ask for help or money from foreigners, but otherwise I would learn alot about what life is like in a third, "or actually" fourth-world country. He went on to state that there is a level of poverty which I may not have seen before. In some ways hearing these little details did help put into focus and confirm my own impressions - that Uganda was very poor but in some ways rich.

He showed me a number of photographs from his last trip to the Rakai orphanage where a number of children were given books and registered for savings accounts. As the pictures flashed across the screen and I saw the smiling faces of these young children in the Rakai village, I began to tear up. I know, it sounds a bit cheesy, but seeing those faces, hearing about the work of Prof. Fred and knowing that there are people making a real difference in the lives of young children half a world away really moved me to tears. I guess this is just an echo of what is to come. I have a feeling this will be a moving, eye-opening and yet emotional trip. Putting it all into words right now is difficult; but let's just say it's where my heart keeps pulling me to go. And now that the opportunity has finally come. Well, I'm at a loss for words.

But hearing the sounds of even one word, ssuubi; seeing the beautiful photos; listening to the good work of Prof. Ssewemala, and learning more about this place called Uganda has made me, well, simply grateful for the opportunity to learn what ssuubi really means.

It's an old word made new - and I have so much more to learn about what hope really means.