Week 9: Youth Booth

This week in the youth booth is Miss Tumukunde Phionah.

Every week I get the chance to visit with this bright young teenager during dance classes and she always has the biggest smile on her face.  She is filled with so much positivity and confidence that I know she will continue to shine.

She is a 14-year old, S2 student, all-star dancer, In Movement alumni, and a girl with a mission.

She wants to be a surgeon.

She wants to be different from those in her family as they all have arts related careers and she wishes to pursue the sciences.  She loves the creativity that In Movement has opened her eyes to, like dance, drama, music, and visual arts but long term wants to work in medicine.

When she was in primary school, she studied with Edgar and I am beginning to think that their primary school prepped them to appreciate the sciences, as they both want to be doctors. 

Coincidence? 

Phionah was born and raised in Uganda’s capital city but her family’s ancestry comes from the country of 1,000 hills - Rwanda.

If she had to choose only one meal to eat for the rest of her life she would choose rice and beans.

The greatest lesson she took away from In Movement has been to have a positive sense of self-confidence and esteem.

What excites Phionah for the future is the possibility to change everything around her and make it different.  “Like planting trees.  Uganda is not green enough and every now and them they go and cut down those trees and it makes me feel, ‘eh!’”

The happiest moment of her life was when she discovered In Movement existed because it helped her discover her talents.

The hardest moment of her life was when she lost her grandmother to old age in 2013.

If she had a million shillings she would establish an organization to help other people discover their talents.

She wishes to travel to the United States someday so she could meet the friends that she has made here in Uganda.

What she wants the youth around the world to know is that, “You too can do the impossible.”