I co-founded the Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA), a non-governmental organization that creates a safe, supportive, sustainable learning environment where Ugandan youth can develop leadership skills and express themselves creatively. AGYA has impacted more than 800 youth, women and children living in the urban slums of Lubya, Lusaze, Nabulagala, Nakulabye, and Bulange through our innovative arts and educational programs offered daily at our community learning center.
I feel a deep connection to East Africa, specifically Uganda. Due to this, I have been able to adapt to conditions in Uganda with relative ease. I am now a moderate speaker of two indigenous languages (Kiswahili and Luganda), I wear traditional African clothing, eat local food, bathe with cold water using a bucket, I handwash my clothes, fetch water, cook on a charcoal stove, and I live in the slum community where I work. I love Uganda and am constantly seeking to better understand the culture, belief systems, and people I work with in order to get my target community to relate to me and invest in my vision.
I want to empower, educate, and enrich the lives of Ugandan youth so they can live healthy, productive lives, and evolve as socially active, responsible global citizens who will build their nation and the continent of Africa.
My name is Divinity. I’m a 24 year old entrepreneur, educator, and activist. I’m the eldest of 5 siblings and I’m originally from Racine, Wisconsin. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and African-American Studies from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After having a transformative experience studying abroad in Kenya as an undergraduate, I decided to follow my passion for women’s issues and African culture by co-founding the Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA). I currently serve as AGYA’s Executive Director and manage a staff of 18 Ugandan youth. In the past 14 months, I facilitated more than 300 arts and educational workshops in Uganda and provided tutoring support in subjects such as English, math, and poetry. Under my leadership, AGYA has facilitated logistics for a project that brought 20 student volunteers from North America to Uganda to teach at our community center. AGYA received a grant that currently provides 200 children with food and clean water. With this grant, AGYA's staff is successfully budgeting, accounting for grant funds and providing detailed evaluation data to the grant-maker. AGYA received a grant of 10 XO laptops from One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), and consistently reports to the grant-maker with curriculum evaluation data.
