At the end of 2015, Nabukenya Josephine was announced as a Queen’s Young Leader 2016 representing Uganda. This was great news to Josephine, YGA, MUJHU and Uganda at large. On 23rdJune 2016; she received her award from Her Majesty the Queen of England at Buckingham Palace. Josephine was able to share some moments and describe YGA’s work and its impact with Her Majesty. The occasion was also graced by His Royal Highness Prince Harry, other members of the royal family and soccer superstar and committed humanitarian David Beckham. Josephine spent a memorable 10 days in the United Kingdom where she met hosts and partners at the University of Cambridge, Twitter head offices, PWC, Red thread and BBC (including interviews by the BBC).
Here, Josephine recounts her experience firsthand.
“On arrival in London at Heathrow airport, I met with other Queens Young Leaders (QYLs) from different countries. We went through the immigration process as a team and proceed-ed to the college halls where we stayed in London. Meeting other QYLs and sharing the work we all do in our various projects created an environment of learning and identifying new network partners to collaborate with.
After some days, we travelled to Cambridge University for 2 days where we had sessions from different tutors about Leadership, networking and stress management.
At Cambridge, we met with some QYLs 2015 and discussed more about the legacy panel for the program. After two days, we traveled back to London for more activities including the award ceremony, sessions at twitter head offices, PWC, Red thread and BBC.”
Josephine reflects on what this award means to her.
I am proud of winning this award and thankful to all individuals that worked with me towards this great achievement. It’s a sign that what I do as a YGA member and as an EGPAF and MU -JHU ambassador has been appreciated at an international level however, it’s a starting point for more great work to be done on my side. I can never stop thinking of what to do next and how to impact our own community even more than we have done so far. Much has been done however a lot still needs to be done” she said. Most memorable moment in her life, “I was initially speechless but Her Majesty called me back and asked about my work, that is how our conversation started..”
On a related note, Josephine is now the MU-JHU full time Youth Coordinator for the Stephen Lewis Foundation Project.
Compiled by Julian Etima, Division Director
Psycho-social Support Division
