Good morning!
Thank you, Mr. Head Teacher, Board of Governors, dad and mom, college, and college students of St. Peter’s Nsambya Senior Secondary School. It is an honor to be right here with you this morning as we have a good time U.S. Independence Day and the spirit of American volunteerism in a particular method.
Today we’re making historical past.
First, my U.S. Embassy colleagues, and I are proud to be celebrating American Independence Day with our neighbors, all of you at St. Peter’s Nsambya Senior Secondary School for the primary time ever.
American Independence Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, when the 13 American colonies declared their independence from British rule. It is a nationwide vacation within the United States, characterised by patriotic shows, fireworks, parades, and neighborhood gatherings with neighbors such as you. The day symbolizes the values of freedom, democracy, and the pursuit of happiness which are foundational to the American spirit.
It can also be a time after we share the spirit of volunteerism deeply ingrained in American tradition.
And it’s on this spirit that we’re additionally making historical past.
This 12 months, the U.S. Embassy wished to contribute straight to our area people in Nsambya. Our Embassy is true subsequent to your faculty, but the partitions between us may be excessive if we don’t attain out as neighbors. And what higher method to break down these partitions by bringing our neighborhood to you at this time, sharing with you a little bit of our historical past and traditions, connecting you with U.S. corporations and Ugandan alumni of U.S. academic program, and launching what we hope shall be a seamless partnership along with your faculty.
Today, to begin making that imaginative and prescient a actuality, we’ve got over 100 professionals from the Embassy employees, American corporations, Peace Corps volunteers, and alumni from our alternate applications who’ve volunteered their time to be a part of your lessons and share about their work. This is a day of mentorship, within the spirit of volunteerism, that we’re proud to share with St. Peter’s.
This day wouldn’t be potential with out the work that American corporations do in Uganda, not simply as enterprise and business leaders, but in addition giving again to their communities. This morning, we’ve got with us representatives of many American corporations, together with:
- Simplifi Uganda
- Wave
- Sheraton Hotels
- Pepsi
- Marsh
- Willis Towers Watson
- Inbev
- Citibank
- And the American Tower Corporation (ATC)
Thank you to all of the U.S. firm volunteers for being right here at this time!
I particularly need to acknowledge the work of the American Tower Corporation (ATC) as they’ve chosen to place one in every of their Digital Community IT Learning Centers right here at St. Peter’s. I look ahead to coming again to St. Peter’s on July 11 to open that Center and the very particular basketball courtroom I see going up in your sports activities discipline.
What do you all take into consideration having a few of our Embassy employees coming over for a bit of basketball match?
We even have with us American Peace Corps Volunteers. The Peace Corps is a U.S. authorities company that sends American volunteers to work on neighborhood tasks world wide, together with in communities throughout Uganda.
Students, in case you have a Peace Corps volunteer in your class at this time, they are going to be very blissful to observe their Luganda, Lusoga, or Acholi with you!
Today additionally, you will meet alumni of our U.S. alternate applications. These are super-talented Ugandans who’ve been chosen to take part in prestigious U.S.-funded tutorial applications, usually within the United States but in addition right here in East Africa, and they’re utilizing the talents they gained to excel as leaders in communities throughout Uganda.
I’m happy to share that one in every of our U.S. alumni mentors at this time is definitely a graduate of this faculty – Julius Bajjabayira who manages know-how at our American Center down the street. I do know Julius could be very glad he might come again to faculty at this time!
Finally, in fact, we’ve got U.S. Embassy employees becoming a member of us right here at this time. [Ask Embassy team to wave] Each of them will share a bit of about what they do as they go into your school rooms, however since I think about a lot of you stroll by the embassy day by day and marvel what occurs behind these partitions, I’ll take only a second to provide the massive image.
Our major mission is to symbolize the United States in Uganda and to construct a extra affluent, safe, and secure future. This consists of:
- Diplomatic Relations, working to strengthen the connection between the United States and the Ugandan authorities, non-public sector, and civil society.
- Economic Relations, selling commerce and funding between our two nations, supporting American companies in Uganda and inspiring Ugandan companies to spend money on the United States.
- Health and Humanitarian Assistance, collaborating with Ugandan organizations to assist public well being, together with stopping and containing outbreaks of infectious ailments, and offering for lifesaving providers, together with refugee populations in Uganda, that assist regional stability.
- Consular Services, aiding American residents in Uganda, together with with passports and in emergencies, and offering visa providers to Ugandans visiting the United States for enterprise, study, and tourism.
- Educational Exchanges, facilitating Ugandans to study within the United States, and Americans to do the identical in Uganda; and
- Security Cooperation We work with the Ugandan authorities to promote regional stability and counter threats similar to terrorism and human trafficking.
So, our vehicles driving by the varsity gates day by day are going off to conferences along with your authorities, with corporations trying to spend money on the United States, with native organizations focused on partnering with the United States, assembly with well being officers to struggle the following illness outbreak, or simply our employees going home to their homes everywhere in the metropolis. We dwell and work in Kampala, together with on this Nsambya space, and we would like to be good neighbors and companions to you.
Which brings us again to our volunteer occasion at this time.
We are bringing our neighborhood into your school rooms. Each of your lessons may have representatives from the Embassy, from American corporations, alumni of our alternate applications, and Peace Corps volunteers share their profession journeys. Please ask them questions – how they obtained into the work they do and what expertise do they suggest you construct to have the opportunity to succeed within the skilled world sooner or later.
Now, a few of you recognize precisely what you need to be sooner or later: surgeons, engineers, architects, pilots. Others are nonetheless weighing their choices, hoping one thing “clicks.” Both teams may be proper.
This occasion at this time is an opportunity for you to study what the volunteer professionals with us do day by day, and the way they obtained there. I hope you embrace the prospect to be taught from these specialists and share what you talk about in your classroom you’re your folks and different college students.
I additionally hope that this occasion is the start of a continued relationship between our Embassy and your faculty. Today, some college students and school will come to the Embassy for our Independence Day Picnic, and we want to convey extra of you over to see the Embassy sooner or later. Our purpose is to decrease, not less than figuratively, the partitions between our Embassy and your faculty – and we all know you’ve got suffered by way of all of our development on these precise partitions these previous few 12 months – and share experiences that enrich your academic {and professional} connections not solely with us, but in addition the U.S. corporations and alternate program alumni current.
Young folks like you’ll outline the following period of the world.
So we hope that you’ll ask massive questions. Use your curiosity and expertise. Work actually and exhausting. And don’t overlook to benefit from the journey.
Thank you for welcoming us and permitting us to share the custom of American volunteerism with you at this time! Happy Independence Day!
