In this picture, taken in December 2020, I’m reviewing college students’ progress in a pc networking course at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, the place I train electrical engineering and telecommunication coverage. The college students are studying to configure computer systems to accommodate Voice over Internet Protocol, or on-line telephony. We’ve additionally explored the programming language Python, and applied sciences for radio and wi-fi purposes.
The six-month programme is a part of a first-ever partnership with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a world Catholic group that advocates for individuals who have been forcibly displaced. Uganda, the place I used to be born and raised, hosts one of many largest refugee populations in Africa.
The JRS chosen the course’s 2 female and 17 male individuals, and we accomplished it in January, regardless of a delay to in-person instructing attributable to the pandemic. The college students’ new expertise will assist them to compete in the job market.
When I’m not instructing, I analysis methods to enhance community connectivity. I’m primarily in making certain Internet entry in rural communities, the place most Ugandans stay.
As a lady who works in science, I attempt to promote initiatives that can enhance female inclusion in science and expertise. One instance is the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association, which helps aspiring female enterprise leaders.
I’ve additionally launched initiatives to get extra ladies into engineering. In 2017, once I was president of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE), I based its Committee of Women Engineers, Technologists and Technicians. I additionally helped to prepare coaching for female engineers that tripled ladies’s share of the UIPE’s membership to 10% of the whole.
Inclusion is a revolution that’s but to be completed.
