Sarah Ntiro Lecture A Tool Of Empowerment For Girls

SARAH Nyendohwa Ntiro will definitely die a happy woman. The first woman university graduate in East and Central Africa, she has been used as a tool to encourage girls to pursue their dreams in life.
The Forum for the African Women Educationalists (FAWE-Uganda) is the organisation to applaud for developing this lady as a tool while she lives.
For the third time round, a lecture in her name was held at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel, last month.
A guest speaker, Dr. Yvonne B. Freeman, flew in from the USA to come and grace the mighty occasion, whose theme was: “Footsteps to excellence-encouraging disadvantaged young people to pursue Maths, Science and Technical education.”
Freeman is an American engineer and director of an organisation that encourages members of disadvantaged minority groups to seek careers in the technical and scientific fields.
In the mid 1990s, Freeman was the most senior African American woman working for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She is now the Executive Director o SECME, Inc, an organisation that links engineering universities, school systems, and corporate investors to create educational opportunities for disadvantaged young people.
She was here on a five-day (February 24-28) visit to talk to and encourage girls to pursue their dream careers.
According to a press release from the US embassy,“ Dr. Freeman’s participation in the Sarah Ntiro award program also reinforces a relationship that has developed over the past two years between FAWE-Uganda, Sarah Ntiro herself, and a network of Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the United States.”
One of such institutions, Spelman College, is a women’s university in Atlanta, Georgia, that is well known for the many outstanding achievers among its graduates.
Last year, FAWE’s keynote speaker for the Sarah Ntiro Award was Marquette Brown, director of the office of Science, Engineering and Technical careers at Spelman College.
While addressing several delegates in Kampala including students from several schools in and around Kampala, Dr. Freeman said education of children is a human right.
“It is a passport in one’s life,” she said. “To fail to educate children must be construed as genocide,” Freeman added.
She told girls to think seriously about what they do and do it dedicatedly. She assured that the sky was not the limit, they could “cut right through the skies and achieve what they want to.”
In her speech, she said SECME awarded four teachers from Uganda scholarships to join SECME this summer at Tennessee State.
A number of students were moved by Freeman’s talk.
Maureen Kulany, a S2 student at Makerere College School said: “I have learnt that women have the ability to achieve and that they are not any different from men. Even if women have been marginalised for a long time, they are coming up.”
“I had never met Sara Ntiro. I didn’t even know that she was Ugandan. I was very happy to learn that it was a Ugandan to make it as the first woman graduate from our region. I have been uplifted,” said the girl whose dream is to become a lawyer.
“Many people believe sciences are the most important thing, but arts are also ideal. You can make it in whatever field you choose to,” Kulany said.
Genevieve Kampiire, S6, at St. Joseph’s SSS, Nsambya, said: “Girls should know that they are capable of competing with boys.
Girls should not look at themselves as incapable. We should aim at succeeding in whatever we do. We shouldn’t look at ourselves as people who cannot achieve.”
For Blenda Nakazzi, S6 student at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Gayaza, listening to Dr. Freeman just gave her the assurance that if she works hard, she can become the neuro-surgeon she wants to be.
“I have realised that I have to be determined, just as Sara Ntiro was. I am very glad that I came for the lecture,” said Nakazzi.
Ronald Ddungu, a Mathematics teacher at Gayaza High School, observed that the lecture was worth it.
“It was an interesting lecture and a very important one in terms of education of the girls, most particularly when she said the person who does not look at education of the girl child is committing genocide. People should invest in girls’ education,” he said.
“Many more schools must be visited when we get speakers like this one. We need to get Sara Ntiro on a programme to go round and motivate, challenge and awaken the minds of students. I hope the girls who were here picked something and when they get back, they will share the information,” said Ddungu.
Ends