When the Kiteezi garbage landslides struck, leaving families grieving and many more struggling to find basic necessities, Almorie Naggayi was still a high school student.
But while her peers were enjoying their school holidays, Almorie was spending some of her free time volunteering with the Judith Nahurira Foundation, joining efforts to support families affected by the tragedy.
She went into the affected communities with the foundation’s team, helping deliver donations and relief supplies and spending time with people whose lives had been changed in the most painful way.
It was not part of a pageant campaign. Almorie was not preparing to compete for Miss Uganda at the time, and there was no expectation that she would be in front of cameras talking about what she had done.
She simply chose to help.
That detail says a lot about the young woman behind the pageant contestant we see today.
For Almorie, volunteering and giving back had already become part of how she spent her time. Her school holidays were not always about travelling, hanging out with friends or simply taking a break from the classroom. She also used them to volunteer, learn from people working in the community and contribute wherever she could.
Her experience with the Judith Nahurira Foundation was one of those opportunities.
The Kiteezi disaster brought the reality of community service much closer to home. Instead of only following the tragedy through the news, Almorie became part of the response, helping provide practical support to people who were dealing with loss and uncertainty.
It was also not her first experience using her time to serve others.
As the first Miss Uganda High School 2024/25, Almorie spent part of her reign visiting schools and taking part in charity initiatives, particularly those involving young people. She had already begun to understand that being given visibility comes with an opportunity to do something useful with it.
That spirit has continued into her current Miss Uganda journey.
Her Beauty With a Purpose project is focused on financial literacy and vocational skills for young women and girls, with an emphasis on helping them develop the knowledge and skills needed to become financially independent.
There is a clear thread running through these different chapters of her life. Almorie has consistently been drawn towards opportunities where she can encourage, support or create opportunities for other people.
And perhaps that is what voters should look at when deciding who deserves their vote.
Beauty will always be part of a beauty pageant, but service is what gives the title meaning once the cameras are gone.
Almorie has already shown that she does not need a title to volunteer her time, visit communities or give what she can. She was doing it while she was still a student, long before she knew that one day she would be asking Uganda to choose her.
Now she is asking for a much bigger opportunity to continue that work.
If you want your vote to go to a young woman whose heart for service started long before the Miss Uganda competition, make it count.
Vote Almorie Naggayi, Contestant 19, and help give her the opportunity to turn years of service into a bigger story for Uganda.