By E K Benj

Updated at 15:27 GMT on Saturday 10th April 21

STATE HOUSE, ENTEBBE

Uganda’s First Lady Janet Kataha Museveni hosted members of Incredible Youth International- IYI headed by James Brian Ntwatwa alongside members of Uganda Christian Lawyers Association and Uganda Youth Forum as part of commemorating the Annual National Career Guidance Day which is always marked every 20^th March. The momentous occasion that took place on Wednesday 7^th April 21 at State House Entebbe also attracted several high profile people including United Nations Resident Coordinator & Delegated official for Security in Uganda H.E Rosa Malango, Estonia’s Bestselling Author Roland Tokko, officials from the Ministry of Education & Sports, leaders of the Civil Society and others.

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The 5 hour ceremony mastered by Seth Rukurungu aide to the First Lady, started with a prayer led by Dr. Kedrace Turyagyenda, Director Department of Education Standards at Ministry of Education and Sports. The guests sat in a mega tent in the gardens of State House with social distance and wearing musk.

James Brian Ntwatwa was first to be invited to make his remarks on behalf of the Incredible Youth International- IYI. He expressed gratitude to the President, and the First Lady for not only accepting to host the group at his official residence, but also organizing this commemoration the first of the kind since 2007. “ We can say with declared pride that the opportunity of holding the Commemoration of the National Career Guidance day at State House will also be considered as a recognition of the National Career Guidance goals and objectives we have already started.’ He said.

In 2019, the Incredible Youth International, a Youth Non- governmental organization launched the national career guidance day at the Kololo Airstrip grounds in Kampala. The function was graced by Her Excellency the First Lady of Uganda. Following the event, the ministry of Education and Sports gazetted 20th March each year as a National Career Guidance day.

IYI came up with the idea of the National Career Guidance day as a result of Incredible Youth International visiting over 1000 schools in Uganda engaging both teachers and students with the main target audience being the students. Youth in Uganda are the youngest population in the world, with 77% of its population being under 25 years of age. Career guidance especially to this young population is meant to give them a road map to their dreams and careers by reflecting on how well they can maximize their potentials, skills and abilities. The career guidance goal is not only to inspire them to go after their dream jobs to earn a source of income but also to become job creators and pave a way for the increasing number of graduates every year.

Ntwatwa applauded the Minister of Education for the tremendous job done in the ministry of Education. In her term of office, the education sector has registered several achievements including, a revised curriculum, construction of more public and community schools, recruitment of more teachers and a new digitalized education system. In spite of the mile stone efforts the Education Ministry has rendered into the education system in areas like the curriculum, structures, policies and developments; Ntwatwa says there is a deepening mismatch between the supply of the national education system and the demand of the labour market. “There is shortage of skilled workforce in some sectors while more and more people obtain qualifications that the labour market does not require or leave the school system without professional qualification.” He added that recently Makerere University phased out 19 undergraduate courses effective 2021/2022 academic year as one of the ways to transform it into a research-led institution. Dr Vincent Ssembatya, the university director of quality assurance said the courses that have been merged had 40% similarity in their curriculum content. “This is a good way forward. However, this move has not only affected over 2000 students but many are left hopeless and discouraged and their dream of a successful career seems to be fading right before their very own eyes.” He wondered how one encourages such a graduate to get back to the competing radar in the professional world!

In addition to strengthen lifelong guidance both in schools and outside schools, IYI is also planning to introduce a career tracking system based on coherent legal standards.  The organization is looking to the government to support them in getting media visibility in order to promote the Career Guidance campaigns and sensitization in schools and institutions around Uganda. “As we traverse the nation sensitizing and conducting career guidance campaigns in the different schools and institutions, we may need the government to support us with a bus, vans, an SUV CAR and maybe a track to access our target audiences – the students.” Ntwatwa said.

In his conclusion, Ntwatwa commended the Uganda Youth Forum which he served as a volunteer before which gave him platform and inspiration.

Uganda Youth Forum is an indigenous Ugandan faith based NGO founded by the first lady of Uganda Hon Janet K.  Museveni in 1992. The UYF secretariat is housed under the office of the first lady located at 12, Malcolm X, Kololo.

The UYF mandate is to provide a platform for open dialogue for the young people of Uganda on issues and challenges of growing up such as sexuality and relationships, adolescence, friendship and career choices. Faith, hope and purpose are cardinal messages underlying all UYF messages that accompany young people on their way to adulthood.

During yesterday’s occasion, Maxima Nsiimenta 34 year old young entrepreneur was given an opportunity to share testimony of Youth Entrepreneurship. She is the CEO of a multimillion company called Livara dealing in beauty and cosmetic natural products made out or shea nut butter.

Maxima Nsimenta abandoned her job in Congo Brazzaville as an expatriate field engineer in the artificial lift department with Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil field services company, it had to be for something she was extremely passionate about. She graduated from Makerere University with a first-class degree in Electrical Engineering in 2011.

While still at university, Nsimenta was part of the team that developed the first prototype of the Kiira EV, an electric battery- powered car. As an electrical engineering student, she was part of the group that worked on the low converter circuit that transmits high-voltage power to low-voltage power to give signals to the car user on the dash board.

At the same time, she was one of the brains that developed several software systems. Among them is the academic records management system programme. The software is currently used by the Uganda Police Force, Ndejje University and some schools within Makerere University, among other institutions.

Upon graduating, Nsimenta was unemployed for eight months not because she had no job, but because she did not know the path to take.

“I was not happy with what I was doing. I was afraid of moving ahead on a path that was not mine,” reminisces the engineer who attended Namagunga schools from P1 to S6.

During the period she wasn’t working, Nsimenta did a lot of soul-searching. She prayed, researched and read a lot – trying to find a different career path.

Not sure of what to do, she took up a managerial position with Total E&P, which she still found unsatisfactory. This compelled her to seek another employment with Schlumberger-limited. For two and a half years, Nsimenta was based in Pointe Noire, Congo Brazzaville supervising hundreds of men drilling oil.

“It was a very strenuous job that required long hours of work, but every second was well paid,” says Nsimenta, who earned a monthly salary of $10,000.

JOURNEY TO LIVARA

The failure to get a salon to retouch her hair while in Pointe Noire made her shave and re-grow the hair without using chemicals.

“I went to several beauty salons in the capital. All the hairdressers, who were black, told me they only worked on white people’s hair,” she says. “I had never been so annoyed. I just cut off all my hair.”

During one of her vacations, she embarked on research that revealed to her Uganda’s untapped multibillion shea butter industry. Consequently, this pushed her in the direction of cosmetics manufacturing.

With the encouragement of her grandmother, Theresa Mbiire, mother to businessman Charles Mbiire, Nsimenta contacted Uganda Industrial Research Institute concerning her project. To her delight, she was given all she needed.

In 2014, she put together a three-people team of technical experts who started manufacturing her products while she had returned to her job in Pointe Noire.

“I believe in teamwork and technical expertise. All my products are laboratory made to ensure quality,” says Nsimenta, adding that natural ingredients are good, but one needs knowledge on how to blend them to produce quality products.

All her products are tested prior to being marketed.

A year later, she resigned from her job to concentrate on her company. But because of her outstanding performance, she was granted a year-long paid leave just in case she changed her mind. She, however, did not.

Today Livala employees 42 people, impacting 162 families. She adds “More than 200 shea nut farmers in Uganda earn averagely 1 million per year. She aims at impacting 2 million farmers. Her company pays shillings 100 million in taxes annually. It is also the first company to manufacture organic lipstick in east and central Africa.

At the moment, she plans to open up at least 6,000 Livara stores across the continent.

Maxima gave the first lady some of her products as a gift.

Harnessing Smart Employment Opportunities

Roland Tokko Bestselling author from Estonia was invited to speak. His book “12 things not taught in school, that everyone needs to know” has sold millions of copies across the globe. He is known back home as Man on a mission of helping people bring out their full potential and being a role model for it is leading the biggest self-development brand in Estonia. They have close to 4% of the whole population of Estonia in their mailing list. Estonia is a small country in Europe most advanced in ICT.

Tokko has worked with and shared the stages with Robin Sharma, Robert Kiyosaki, Jack Canfield and Jean Claude van Damme and many other world famous leaders.

He is also a singer / songwriter and founder of Better You Academy to bring his mission to the whole world. Roland was nominated with Outstanding Young Estonian award 2021

In his speech yesterday at State House, said sees a lot of potential in Uganda but people not sure what to do. He said there strategies, faith and hope for the youth.

“There is evidence that it’s possible, you need just 1% belief that it’s possible to start moving towards it.”

He talked about Estonia’s example, a soviet country that got its independence back exactly 30 years ago and now one of the leading countries in the world in terms of IT and innovative e-solutions. Skype and Bolt are founded in Estonia.

“I’d love to bring you the resources that will help you succeed. It’s not me who’s helping you, it’s you who have the power to turn Uganda into the true pearl of Africa – which you already are – you just need a little bit of polish, for the rest of the world to see your shine.” Tokko added, “My role is to share the tools, knowledge and connections to make it happen.”

Tokko said Uganda is can become the number one, technologically advanced country in the whole Africa. Number one organic food exporter in Africa to feed the bellies and among top 5 tourist destination in Africa.

“Let’s polish the Pearl of Africa and make it shine so the whole world sees the beauty of Uganda!” Tokko said.

He noted that the government has done well for Uganda in foreigner perspective; embracing entrepreneurship and career guidance.

-Tokko also noted that Google describes Uganda as Safest country in Africa and Best English speaking country in Africa

He also noted that on 15 April 21, there’s going to a webinar about Africa to bring investors from Estonia to Africa.

He called for Diplomatic and political relations between Estonia and Uganda.

“Let’s bring Ugandan goods to the mouths and bellies of the rest of the world, let’s bring Uganda to the map of tourism.” He said. “Miracles are possible, you don’t have to follow but do.” Tokko added.

Tokko gave Mama Janet Museveni 10 books of “12 things not taught in school, that everyone needs to know” as gifts to her.

The Role of Youth Platforms

Following Tokko’s speech, Dr. Kedrace Turyagyenda (representing Mrs. Sheba Rukikaire) spoke about The Uganda Youth Forum which was formed as a result of the civil war and HIV endemic in Uganda. Alongside Uganda Women Efforts to save Orphans (UWESO) both formed by the First lady to help orphans and reach out to women in Uganda.

She noted that some of the objectives of UYF are;

To offer direction to youth and counsel them in light of HIV/AIDS epidemic and other health issues. To mentor and discipline the youth to become responsible citizens, confront issues of work ethics, moral integrity and positive living and provide them with entrepreneurship skills.

To create and provide a forum for continuous dialogue with youth and their parents geared towards understanding the challenges youth face and seeking viable solutions for them; create opportunity for the youth to network and support fellow youth and communities; develop and implement programs that will encourage the youth to become morally upright and to ally with parents, teachers and community leaders to understand, support and value the youth.

Some of the activities of the Uganda Youth Forum include HIV/AIDS awareness seminars in schools and communities, regional and annual youth conferences, training of peer support counselors, leadership training, parenting seminars for parents and guardians and community and school out reaches.

Uganda Youth Forum has had activities in different districts which include Kampala, Mubende, Mityana, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Tororo and Pallisa.

She noted that 2million children are born in Uganda every year and with such a population growth of 3.2-3.5, Uganda’s young population is big.

“The young people have energies and great ideas. Some look crazy but powerful.” She said, young people need guidance, training, nurturing and mentoring.” She said.

She quoted Hebrews 10:25 “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

She noted Uganda has more than 30,000 schools, 590 secondary schools which she said some should consider doing counseling and also revive Uganda’s Christian Teachers Association.

An Experience of Youth Platforms

Ms. Anne Muhairwe, President Uganda Christian Lawyers Association shared about the Annual Youth Conference. She noted that in 1987 as a student fellowship, they signed true love awaits cards and youth were encouraged to abstain from sex until marriage as well as faithfulness.

  She noted that the First Lady would invite inspiration speakers to talk to them. Secondary virginity was also encouraged. “Maama ‘referring for First Lady’ would carry along her children, this was true testimony of seeds she planted’ Muhairwe said. She noted that the conferences helped on mind set change.

“Life may be strange, some times. It’s okay to lack, it’s okay not to be sure where next meal is going to come from. This is not permanent.” Muhairwe said. She called upon the youth to live a life of integrity. “You mean what you say, and say what you mean.”

The Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity (UCLF) is a Non-Government Organization seeking justice for all in society through the provision of legal aid, legal education, research and policy advocacy.

Keynote Presentation on the Role of Career Guidance

The master of ceremony invited Ms Rachel Ddumba, CEO of Stead Man Group a consulting firm with headquarters in Uganda but having multiple offices around Africa.

Her Journey

While at Secondary School at Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga she did not know what she wanted to do at University but sought career guidance. “I listened to my parents and put Law as my first choice – but that was not my passion” she noted.

She changed to Social Work and Social Administration as soon as she got to University, started ACCA after University – still undecided about what she wanted to become. She did a Masters in Human Resource because she discovered that her passion was in working with people and dealing with change management.

Ms Ddumba has pursued a career in Human Resources since 2002 to date and is very passionate about new business ideas.

During her journey she tried several things including agriculture trade with food from western Uganda but frustrated by transporters who took advantage of her busy work as Bank Manager and extorted money from her.

She also tried managing musicians but gave her headache, recalls contracting one musician who was to perform at Serena hotel. “When I called him, he told me was in in Eastern Uganda but promised to be there on time. I had already received payment from the organisers, when time was getting late, he told me to be curtain raising, for heaven’s sake I was a banker I never knew those things, the rest is history so I left that business” sending the audience in laughter.

Rachael tried also selling imported items from China; Dubai (Kitchen utensils, Tiles, Consumables) would put them in her car alongside ties she would sell after bank at Parliament.

She was also frustrated by operators he employed while running a taxi and boda boda Business as quite many would be arrested by police.

“I didn’t even want to give up at any single time, I kept running.”

She however abandoned all and is now concentrating on Consultancy Services. Rachael employs 210 workers; her vision is to have presence in 40 African countries.

Her key career drivers include; resilience, hard work “You must burn the midnight oil!” patience and focus. She says its important to weigh all options and very ambitious dreams.

“I have always sought guidance from my Mentors and Coaches” Rachael says.

She called upon the youth not to despise any form of business ideas cautioning on get rich schemes which will not help achieve career aspirations.

“Try, fail, and try again before walking away” she noted.

She also warned youth on stealing from employers in terms of time and sometimes realm when they print or photocopy personal work from office.

Rachael called upon government on;

Recognition and commemoration of National Career Guidance Day, Make it policy for Career Guidance sessions to be held in all schools, Partnership with Youth focused organizations such as Incredible Youth International, Innovation Village and Junior Achievement to roll out the Career Guidance Agenda and promote entrepreneurship in school.

Implementation of National Development Plan III programme on Community Mobilization and Mindset Change through career guidance initiatives, review of the secondary school curriculum to include education on Soft-Skills right from Senior One , continued promotion of Technical and Vocational Skills and Increased funding for programmes such as the Youth livelihood programme

The Future of Youth Platforms

In her remarks on the future of Youth Platforms, Patience M. Rwabwogo, second daughter of Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni; she narrated how attending the forums impacted her life. Patience who is a lead pastor of Covenant Nation’s Church on the shore of Lake Victoria in Luzira, Kampala says she also engages in agriculture alongside her husband Rwabwogo. The couple deal in diary and beef products, she encouraged the youth not abandon agriculture.

Patience a mother of four children with an age range of 6-17 said the emergency of new elephants in the room of internet giants has influenced the lives of the youth. She gave examples of Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, Tiktok, Instangram and others which are barely 15 years.

In her power point presentation, she showed Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus star who is the world’s most followed person on the instangram. In January last year, he became the first person to have more than 200 million followers on the platform. The number currently stands at 252 million. She mentioned Uganda’s slay kings and queens influencing the youth. Zari , a musician with 8 million instangram followers but giving a wrong message to the youth of Uganda with her message “Gold Digger” telling the youth to get money in any way  they can and so is Bad Black a socialite.

Patience said, the youth are in obsession with self and selfies; her slide presentation captured a cartoon of a skeleton in a limbo taking a selfie and another young person taking a selfie while undergoing a heart surgery.  She said all these addictions of social media have left young people depressed, in anxiety, bullied online, isolated, low esteem and poor with concentration.  

She shared the biblical perspective “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful..2 Timothy 3:2.

She posed a question to youth “Why am I here?” “Since young I dreamt of being a doctor, in my second year at the university, God showed me a different purpose. One day as I went to pray around a lake, God told me you’re not going to be a doctor” Patience Rwabwogo shared personal testimony and how she turned a pastor instead of a doctor.

She said, God has a purpose for young people and they have to discover that purpose. “Whats God’s purpose? It’s the reason for existence, to accomplish in our life time. Truth is simple; it’s not a skill set, profession or area of interest to be involved in.” Said Mrs Rwabwogo.

She gave an example of David who was shepherded but God’s purpose was for him to be king, Jesus a carpenter but purposed to be the savior of the world, Martin Luther a monk but purposed to lead a revolution.

“How do you know what your purpose is?” she asked, said this requires, self-denial like Jesus did. “God is interested in our future, God’s way versus our way.” The indispensable holy spirit will tell you” Mrs Rwabwogo said.

Rwabwogo said some youth are captured in homosexuality and transgender communication on the screen. She called upon the youth to use the Holy Spirit. Quoted Judges 14 when Samson tore a lion with bear hands when the Holy Spirit came upon him.

She said there’s an anointing for the next generation and quoted Zechariah 4:8, the source of the oil for light.

VISION ON AFRICA

Patience Rwabwogo at State House also shared a vision she saw. “I saw the continent of Africa very dark, but then I saw a light coming from Uganda and started lighting the rest of Africa”

Patience also revealed how they didn’t take their children to school till the age of 11. “When they came to school, they were confronted by a different world, there was a clash of the two world. They disagreed and asked how come we don’t do this and this?” But the couple prayed and fasted. God spoke to Patience about the children encountering the Holy Spirit themselves. “I invited the church to pray from our home the next day, fire fell from ‘heaven’ and burnt part of our home which we fixed latter, this was the holy spirit received and for the last 3 years dramatic transformation has happened.” Patience narrated.

“My son is now an evangelist at 17 years, he is an influencer to his friends; the next generation will discover the purpose by Holy Spirit.” She said.

Rwabwogo asked the guests at State House to stand and led them into prayer.

Remarks by By H.E. Rosa Malango UN Resident Coordinator and Designated Official for Security

Honorable First Lady of the Republic of Uganda and Minister of Education and Sports Janet K. Museveni                                                                                                                                                                                     

Representatives from the Government, Representatives from Civil Society, members of the Youth Coalition for SDGs, Ladies and Gentlemen

Please allow me to convey our heartfelt condolences for the loss of Kampala Archbishop Lwanga. On behalf of the United Nations, I would like to convey my appreciation for the invitation to participate in the commemoration of the National Career Guidance Day with the theme “Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation”. I would like to thank the Ministry of Education and Sports for designating 20th March as National Career Guidance Day, and I would like to commend Incredible Youth International, for helping to organise this National Career Day. Incredible Youth International is a youth led movement with the aim of empowering and grooming young people to become agents of positive change; they are also a member of the Youth Coalition for SDGs. Established in 2019, the Youth Coalition for SDGs brings together youth led organisations implementing the SDGs across the country under the auspices of the National SDG Secretariat within the Office of the Prime Minister and the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator on behalf of the UN system. The Youth SDG Coalition recently met H.E. the President and is working on their first joint programme to support Agro-industrilization and value chains to improve the quality of life of communities around presidential demonstration farms. On their behalf, I launched last year the One Million SDG Solutions Innovation Challenge providing young Ugandans with the opportunity to be recognized for their work and innovations. We have since identified more than 30 youth led organizations using this method as they continue to engage with partners and contribute to critical initiatives of national importance.

Ladies and Gentlemen: according to UNESCO, the COVID19 pandemic created the largest disruption of education systems, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries across the world. It also created a once in a generation opportunity to reimagine education and empower a new generation of leaders. Uganda, the world’s second youngest nation, must maintain an enabling environment for this generation of digital entrepreneurs, political leaders and social innovators. If Uganda is to achieve its national vision 2040 and the SDGs it must find ways to invest in green industrialization, the knowledge economy and a values-based system of governance. The great strides being witnessed in health, agri-business and production require a large community of researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, etc who can exchange knowledge, create jobs, share solutions and empower their communities. We need to bring together cultural and religious leaders, gender and human rights activists, philanthropists and social investors, local and international executives as well as political and security leaders to have a dialogue on how to overcome the current challenges and mobilize the financial and expert resources required for a balanced investment in education, health and wellbeing, transformational governance, shared prosperity, as well as peace and justice for all.

Ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude I wish to invite us to seize this moment to modernize the learning system in this nation. If Uganda is to achieve middle income status, consolidate gains made in infrastructure and sustain peace we will need to make significant investments in human capital development as well as in modalities to address both emerging threats and opportunities. We need to help households to improve the quality of life by linking produce to markets, facilitating access to learning and empowering communities to share Obuntubulamu values such as Obwesimbu which means integrity; Obwerufu which means transparency and honesty; and Obumu, which means unity. We must ensure that civic education is part of critical foundational learning alongside literacy, math, entrepreneurship and digital technologies-specific skills. Too many children in Africa, including Uganda – are not developing key skills, in part because African youth are the least digitally connected in the world. We must build on what we have learned and become better prepared to deal with future risks. I would like to commend teachers for devising creative ways to adapt their lesson plans and teaching methods using online tools, mobile phones, television, newspapers and radios. In remote communities, I thank teachers who delivered self-study packages to learners which were greatly appreciated by parents and students with no connectivity.

As the UN in Uganda, guided by our Cooperation Framework we will continue to support the National Development Plan III inspired by the SDGs. I would like to highlight some of the efforts in education by members of the UN in Uganda: (a) through UNESCO and partners, we continue to support teachers’ professional development, policy development and the use of technology for capacity building in education, vocational education and training; (b) to keep children learning at home during COVID-19, UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and the National Information Technology Authority introduced a free of charge digital learning platform – Kolibri – with content approved by the National Curriculum Development Center; and (c) UNCDF is engaging the Ministry of Education to apply solutions to address constraints related to access of quality education for segments of the population that are at risk of being left behind in Northern Uganda.

As I conclude, I reiterate our commitment to support efforts to work with the people and Government of Uganda to ensure access to quality education, to modernize the education system and address the digital divide. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all stakeholders who have invested in education and appeal to all of us to continue trying to ensure that children, youth and adults can benefit from quality learning regardless of location. Our African heritage calls on us to place our community at the epicenter of our development and the UN Charter calls on us to place our shared humanity at the epicenter of every journey towards shared prosperity. May we rise together to reimagine learning for all.

Thank you for your attention.

1st Lady’s remarks

Following all speeches and presentations, First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataha Museveni welcomed her guests at State House, Entebbe. “I have been blessed this afternoon which is now evenining after listening to each one of you.” She appreciated the UN Resident Coordinator for coming to State House.

Mrs Museveni commended the Incredible Youth International team for their work. She noted that it was deliberate to ask speakers deliver speeches.

“This has helped point out the role Youth Forum did in early 90s. Each one of them did a great job” Said the First Lady.

“Racheal Ddumba, it was real powerful, real time experience.” she said.

“Nsiimenta, I would have huged you if it wasn’t covid for what you shared.” Maama Janet said. Adding that’s what she wanted the youth to hear. “..and now am inspiring, that all of us have a duty to share.” she said.

Mrs Museveni said every day she sees very many youth on Kampala streets, “I wonder if they work or come to do in the city. I wanted you to be here today so we can share that burden.” She added that giving back to the young people in the country who need that sense of direction is important.

“Joining me to relaunch the youth forum when I invite you again, you will understand where I came from.” emphasised the First Lady.

She said HIV/AIDs and the civil war separated families. As families returned to Uganda was a challenge of unemployment in 90s. Considering Covid 19, there so many unemployed young people.

“Young people want to get married to those who have made it, those who are driving more than one car.” Said Janet Museveni.

Mrs Museveni also expressed disappointment over parents on why children are getting pregnant while at home with them! “We shall accept them even with children, when they return to school.”

She called for need to find a new vehicle in realizing challenges facing young people such as drugs. She added that the work waiting to be done is greater than what the Youth Forum can do. “I thank God, this is the timing.”

“You will need to hear from me again when I call you because I need foot soldiers. Concluded the First Lady.