Ambition Mission, a community of young Ugandans aged 15-25 who are united in their desires to achieve their personal ambitions in life is currently playing a key role in shaping the future of the country.
Across Uganda, thousands of young people have pledged to show the world that they are focused on achieving their dreams by joining Ambition Mission and fundamentally agreeing to say no to tobacco. Which is one of the two key pillars of Ambition Mission.
Yosia Lukwago, the key contact of Ambition Mission,says that the Ambition Mission community has two goals; to inspire young Ugandans to achieve their personal ambitions in life by encouraging them to believe in themselves, respect themselves and stay focused on their goals; secondly to encourage these motivated young people to reject tobacco in all its forms as a way of showing themselves and the world that they are on the right path to achieving their dreams.
According to Yosia, young people play a critical role in the development of society and that the groundwork for the future is now.
“Teenagers are often held hostage by the assumption that they are troublemakers and can do no good. That is quite a stereotype because they are the next generation. They will be running the world someday; as such, we have to give them the necessary guidance to ensure they meet their life aspirations,” says Yosia.
Statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics indicate that Uganda has a high population of young people under the age of 25 years.The statistics further reveal that 47.3% of the population is below the age 15, 23.3% are adolescents and 33.5% are generally classified as young people. This therefore makes the case for empowering young people more profound because they are not only the future, but also the present.
Ambition Mission supports and inspires young people to achieve their dreams through activities such as weekly radio shows, a regular youth magazine and an inspiring Facebook page. Competitions like Rising Stars give motivated, ambitious young people the opportunity to be recognised for their ambitions and to meet and be inspired by their celebrity role models.
The Ambition Mission community is supported and sponsored by a group of people and organisations who believe in the potential of young Ugandans and want to help them in achieving their dreams of a better life. These include Limelight, Buzz, Kinaya, Every1Mobile, Good Business and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Concerning recent chatter on social media and in some tabloids about Ambition Mission Yosia has this to say “All the allegations concerning Ambition Mission are totally false. It saddens me that one of the few youth initiatives that teaches our kids to be more focused and driven and at the same time encourages them to stay away from vices that will hinder their ability to be the best individuals they can be would receive such terribly false and malicious accusations.”
He went on to advise, “Ambition Mission has never sent out messages encouraging the illuminati or homosexuality so if you have received a message of that kind, in any form, it is fraudulent and you should report it to the authorities. Please provide details of the person/number from which you were contacted – they have nothing to do with Ambition Mission.”