For Eric Ssembajjwe, a student at Kinaawa High School, it was an opportunity to share how he broke a habit that had turned his life upside him.
“I was a smoker and was chased from home by my parents, because they could not tolerate me,” he said. “I now stay with my paternal aunt, who brought me to this school … I have since reformed.”
Ssembajjwe was part of a holiday camp for over 65,000 students at Hana Mixed Secondary School. The five-day camp was the third annual youth health camp, themed Life in My Shoes, by Reach a Hand Uganda, bringing together in-school youth aged between 10 and 24.
Of these, the students were drawn from 16 Ugandan, three Kenyan and two Tanzanian schools and focused on engaging the youth in several activities, aimed at giving them life skills.
The activities included dance theatre competitions, based on sexual reproductive health themes, fashion nights (for talent and life-skills development, counseling sessions, sports as well as focus group discussions, at which Ssembajjwe appealed to fellow youth to abandon such habits as smoking and alcoholism.
The students later engaged in a community outreach exercise in Nsangi township by cleaning the area.
ssekandi@observer.ug