A passion in quest of community empowerment

Richard Chole

Kasango Paul is a dark, lanky young man, whom you may meet taking long strides on the streets of Jinja, Uganda where he lives. He wears a very serious face and a trademark, long beard for which I teasingly call him ‘Jesus Christ!’ The figure he cuts is somewhat unlikely for what he is passionate about: – Empowering and uplifting the lives of marginalized and vulnerable people.

His Facebook page is awash with colorful photo images of his charity work: talking to kids, playing with them, showing rural women how to use a laptop, and so forth. For the last four years, he has been working round-the-clock soliciting resources, and consulting with experienced persons in charity and community service for the best way to run his social enterprise. It is now registered as a non-governmental organization (NGO) named ‘Kataka Ministries.’

On Sunday 19^th May 2024, I was in the company of Paul Kasango and two other colleagues who volunteered with him: Liz, a part-time counselor, and Pam, an artist. We visited the base of Kataka Ministry’s operations in Nawapendo Village in Bugweri District, 55 km away from Jinja.

I was pretty impressed with the enthusiasm of about eighty young, and middle-aged women being trained with basics in tailoring and computer skills. They were very prompt for the Sunday afternoon meeting with Kasango Paul and his team.

It was immediately evident that there was an acute shortage of learning tools: Only two sewing machines to serve the learning needs of over 100 women. The women are divided into two shifts a day – morning and afternoon to try to ease the burden. Then each learner received about 30 minutes of practical work with the guidance of two young men.

The other ongoing activity is learning computer skills, which like tailoring requires more machines for the eager learners. Currently, the learners depend on one personal computer of Paul Kasango. Yet the number of interested participants is growing by the day.

Over half of the women have children with whom they come along for the training. This means they have a burden of attending the training while watching over the toddlers. Paul now has a plan of setting up a community nursery school and playground where the kids will be attended to with appropriate learning activities.

The hurdle is big for Paul’s Kataka Ministry, but so is his vision: “A world where the Children and Youths know God, have Self-Esteem, Good mental health and well-being through Education, Social Support, Bible Study and games and sports.”