My First Day at Ave Maria!
After the beautiful welcome to Ave Maria secondary school, Clovis showed me the campus and then I entered the convent where the nuns were not sure what to make of this crazy mjungu! I washed up and enjoyed a welcome feast of local Ugandan fare with Sister Rose, Sister Rose Junior, Sister Restatuta, Sister Oliver, Sister Agnes and Sister Mukaka.
The next morning after an early breakfast I joined my young friend, “Master Clovis,” for a discussion about vision and entrepreneurship with students from A-Level (post-secondary, pre-university). See clips in the video above.
These are mostly people from local villages in rural Uganda. Some have never been on the internet and some have never met a Westerner. University is often their greatest hope for achieving their dreams, but very few make it into university and even then a job is a difficult thing to find.
It’s always fun to introduce such folks to people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Steve Jobs, who made the computers and software in the computer center where they gathered. They assume all these men must have been great students and finished university, and are always surprised to discover that the were not and did not.
To bring it closer to home, I told the story of my younger brother who never finished secondary school, and the staggering sum of Ugandan schillings he’s likely to make this year–working for himself, using the internet. When they heard many of Clovis’ stories using his VisionForce education and inspiring vision to raise money for entrepreneurial projects over the years.[link], it hit even closer to home.
Still, I imagine that most of these students and faculty see the possibility of leveraging the internet to grow their school and achieve their dreams as a far out fantasy.
After this conversation Clovis shared an idea with me: What if we show the nuns, the faculty and the students that it really IS possible to get their inspiring projects funded through the internet? For them this will be like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, and they will have to consider that far more is possible for them than they may have ever imagined.
In the afternoon we ventured into the nearby town of Kyenjojo to access high speed internet at the cyber cafe… and take on the challenge of creating a miracle! That’s when we uploaded this video:
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Awe, Micheal you have always brought tears to my eyes. I can always feel your soul.
I am so grateful to you for sharing yourself in this way.
Lol. Is this how you talk now.
Love ya,
Sherrie
Very special, Michael. Thank you for sharing.