Julius Chirimwami

What I've learned, if I cannot do something bigger, I can still do something small that is within my means, and support the people around me. That's what I learned from my life. If sometimes I dream to support a thousand people, and when I look at my means, I don't have that money, I don't have means to support a thousand people, then I always try my best to start with two people that I can afford. And from two people I go to three people. From three people I go to four people. That's how I do it. The advice that I can have, it's always good to find what you're good at. To the young people outside there, it's no good to minimize what's the small thing you can do. We don't need to wait until it's big. You have a lot to impact someone else's life. Use the small you have and make someone else happy.

Best Future Club was defined as the group of changemakers who are ready to change their communities through their actions. We could meet every Thursday and discuss different topics as changemakers, and then we could send different people into different communities in the refugee camp and support the different parents, children who don't have access to education. Of course, I was one of the, now in Nakivale, it's the only place where there is a Rotary Club in all the camps, refugee camps all over the world. It's only Nakivale that's where there is Rotary.

Despite the fact that I was helping the community in Uganda, or Nakivale, still I was not secure because Nakivale is a small place whereby when you help people, it's not like here when you do good people want to uplift you, people want to see you going to the next level. But there, when you are trying to do good things, there are those who will appreciate you and there are those who will try to deny your rights. There are those who will try to terminate you. So with all those, you saw how insecure I was and my family, and they decided to say, let's take this family to another place where they can be safe.

My grandfather was my real role model, may he rest in peace, because he always instructed me. He always wanted me to be a better person. He always believed in me. He always told me that wherever you will be, wherever you will go, you'll be constructing, you'll be building, you'll never be a destroyer. You'll be making people around you happy. That's what he used to tell me, and he was doing his best because he raised me. Beside him, I also had some leaders and Rotary who were believing in me. They were there for me. They saw something that was positive in me, and they could nurture me.

We've been able to be the first refugees all over the world to receive the Rotary International Global Grant. It's a grant which is more than 140,000, and it has never happened. We, as Best Future, we made it. It was more of helping education, helping children access education. We purchased desks, we installed tanks at the place so that the community can access water. Now more than 100 people get safe water from BFC every day. Every day, every time I remind myself that I'm not here in this world just for nothing. I'm here to support others. I was born, I always have a mission to accomplish, and that's providing education to young children, refugees, those who have no opportunities. My big vision is to have Best Future Center implemented in all the refugee camps in Africa, having refugees access education, children. I want to see the world of literate people.

When we arrived in Uganda, that was after completing my secondary school, I decided to join English classes. And after joining English classes, I knew I was not doing it just for myself. I was doing it for my family because I knew in Uganda, if you can't speak English, you are dying. I did English courses. After doing this process, I started home teaching. Home teaching was a program that I started in 2013. It was to support those families that do not have time to go to schools. Then in 2016, that's when we started Best Future Center. What I've learned, if I cannot do something bigger, I can still do something small that is within my means, and support the people around me. If sometimes I dream to support a thousand people, and when I look at my means, I don't have that money, then I always try my best to start with two people that I can afford. And from two people I go to three people. From three people I go to four people. That's how I do it.

From the time I was in my country, I had strong passion for education. I started preaching in the big church of more than 500 people when I was 11 years old. My grandpa was a very big pastor. He wanted me to be that. I was very close to him. Then he could give me a chance to preach as a child to very many people. He could just give me verses in the Bible and I could teach. Then that gave me a strong passion as a child to go to school. And I did teaching methodologies, pedagogy, at school back in my country. Then when I reached Uganda, I already had that passion because education is something I like most. Then when I reached Uganda, I found that people were willing to go to school, but all the schools were far from them. So that's when I said, why shouldn't I use my skills? Why shouldn't I use my passion for education to support these children?

It was in 1996, on January 1st. I left Congo because of insecurity. There was too much war there. In 2012, we decided to leave Congo, which was our country, and left everything there, house, everything. We went to Uganda as refugees, me together with my family. In Uganda, we were staying in Nakivale refugee settlement. In Uganda, it was terrible because when you leave everything in your country, everything, then you go to start a new life in a new area where you know nobody there. They could not give us anything. They could only give us a piece of land. And apart from a piece of land, the government of Uganda could give us a plastic sheet, and we have to construct a house with poles and plastic sheets by ourselves, and that was very difficult. You could find people go hungry. You had everything in your country. Just because of insecurity, you find yourself homeless. You have nothing at all. That part was very difficult, and it took us some time to regain hope.