Day with Dr. Musaazi

I came into the office today expecting to run some more tests, but instead Dr. Musaazi walked in and asked me to come with him on his errands today. We first went to one of the sites where his MakaPads are made (explanation to come) and then went to see a water tank that he was building. This was my first chance to really get to spend time with him, one of the perks of being in Kampala that I was most looking forward to, and the day lived up to my high expectations.

Just to give a little background, Dr. Musaazie grew up in Uganda. His primary education took place in a little village some 100 km outside of Kampala. He moved into the city for high school, and stayed here for college where he got his degree in electrical engineering at Makerere University (where I spend most everyday at the T4T offices). He then went abroad to London for graduate school and eventually earned his PhD at Imperial College. After working for 2 years in London, Dr. Musaazi decided to move back to Kampala and took up a professor job at Makerere. Technology for Tomorrow began to develop here at Makerere as Dr. Musaazi began looking for a way to use all his education to help his community. He says,"One day I realized I was in the unique position to help people with my mind." And thus T4T was born. Since he has dedicated his talents to developing "appropriate technologies" to provide for needs expressed in his community. Stay tuned for more details about some of the different projects T4T has launched.

Anyways, I really enjoyed my time with him today, and I loved hearing a little bit about his story, and his passion for what he's doing was so apparent. As we drove around he would be constantly looking around sharing ideas or asking questions about how this or that could be improved. It was interesting to see how in touch he was with problems in Uganda, while at the same time showing how much he loved his home. He wanted to make sure that I would try all the local foods and explore the city. He was always sharing history about the city, and asking if I had ever read about any of these things before. All that to say, my time with him was such a gift, and I'm looking forward to more of it during my time here.

- Stokes