Personal Statement
I am a 2020 Tokyo Paralympian and a disability inclusion activist from Uganda. I started swimming when I was 3 years old in Kindergarten. My family was against it at first since I was born with a physical disability (no right lower arm below the elbow and three complete fingers on my left hand) which made me seem unable to handle swimming. After continued persistence, they decided to support me fully and I eventually found my way into competitive swimming in primary school. at my first competition, I faced discrimination. my race was scratched due to my "inability" to swim faster than the others. since then, my swimming has been driven by a mission to prove those people wrong. some of my achievements in swimming are being; the youngest athlete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics; 6 medals from the Konya 2022 World Islamic Solidarity Games, 3 medals from the World Para Swimming World Series, and an award from the Uganda Swimming Federation for being the most inspirational athlete of the year 2020. I am currently working towards the Paris 2024 Paralympics
from the stories I've heard from my parents, finding a school that would accept me was quite difficult. the admission process required a lot of convincing since they feared I would be unable to study well due to my disability. during my time in primary school years, I was always top 3 in my class at the end of the year and went on to be one of the best in the country in my Primary Leaving Examinations. In high school, I'm always among the top 5 in my class at the end of every year. my favorite subjects are maths and biology. I love maths because I enjoy looking for patterns in every problem I come across, and I love biology because I want to become a medical worker, specifically a pediatrician.
my swimming dream is to get a Paralympic medal and inspire other people with disabilities in Uganda to join para swimming and have a team. I also want to be a pediatrician. my dream to be in the medical field is rooted in my curiosity about the cause of my disability. I always asked myself these questions; what caused my disability and could it have been prevented??
I've always dreamed of studying and swimming outside of Uganda and traveling to other countries all over the world, which I've been fortunate to do through my swimming career. Particularly, the United States because some of the world's best swimming facilities and programs are based there. It would be such an honor to be considered.
