A Scholarship Took Me to Italy. I Kept My Community in Mind.

With support from UNHCR and Finn Church Aid, Umwari Joviale received a scholarship to pursue her master’s degree in Italy in 2023. She now uses her experience and opportunities to support refugees, children and young mothers in her community in Rwamwanja refugee settlement.

By Umwari Joviale – As told to FCA Uganda

My name is Umwari Joviale. I am a Congolese refugee who grew up in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda before my journey took me to Italy.

My journey has been shaped by war, loss, resilience, and the extraordinary power of people who choose to believe in others.

This is the story of how I came this far and why I refuse to leave my community behind.

The chance that changed everything

In 2013, war forced my family to flee the Democratic Republic of Congo. We arrived in Uganda and were given a small piece of land in Mahani Village, Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement.

I had just completed secondary school, but life in the settlement made me lose hope in education. My only dream was to have a meal each day.

Education, a career and a future, felt like things that belonged to another life.

Everything changed in 2016 when I met Julian Ateme through the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). She believed in me when I could not speak English, and more importantly, when I struggled to believe in myself.

She connected me to a UNHCR-supported organisation in Rwamwanja, which provided me with a scholarship to pursue my bachelor’s degree.

The journey was not easy. My family saw me as their only hope, yet while at school, my classmates bullied me because I did not know English.

They called me “She couldn’t does the don’t,” mocking my inability to differentiate between past, present and future tenses.

Those words hurt, but I decided that even if I could not speak about the future in English, I could still build a bright one for myself.

Because someone gave me a chance, I gave it everything I had. I studied with determination, mastered the language that had once been used to mock me, and worked harder than I thought possible.

In 2020, I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with First Class Honours.

I later found some work to do at an NGO called Cohere, but my dream was never only to build a career for myself. I wanted to gain the capacity to help both myself and the people in my family and community.

In 2023, UNHCR and Finn Church Aid (FCA) Uganda opened a door for me. I secured a UNICORE 5.0 scholarship to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Accounting and Management at the University of Siena in Italy.

Before my departure from Uganda to Italy, I was selected as a UNHCR Ambassador, giving me an opportunity to use my voice and personal experience to represent and advocate for the rights, needs and aspirations of refugees and displaced people.

I took Rwamwanja with me

When I arrived in Italy, I began sharing stories about Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement with the new friends I had made.

I spoke about the community, the challenges refugee children faced and the importance of keeping them in school.

The friends I met there listened and some wanted to help.

A group of them, called Fonte Giusta, were interested in supporting the education of children in Rwamwanja.

Together, we founded Hope Ignites Initiative, dedicated to supporting education and creating opportunities for children and families in the settlement.

In February 2026, I graduated with my Master’s Degree.

The following day, I returned to Uganda. I did not return alone.

Fonte Giusta travelled with me to Rwamwanja, where they spent a week and a half visiting the community and the reality behind the stories I had shared with them.

For me, their visit was special. They were no longer just hearing about Rwamwanja from me. They were meeting the people, seeing the challenges and experiencing the community I had carried with me throughout my studies.

Currently, I work with Cohere as a Human Resource Manager while remaining fully committed to the work of Hope Ignites Initiative in Rwamwanja.

Through the initiative, we support children’s education by helping cover teachers’ salaries. This support has so far enabled 640 children to return to Early Childhood Development centres (ECD) and continue their learning.

We also support young mothers by funding the education of one young mother and her child, while I personally mentor 20 young mothers who have dropped out of school, helping them work towards returning to education.

Our work is also focused on creating sustainable opportunities for families.

We run income generating activities, including poultry farming using a locally fabricated incubator and a crafts project through which single and young mothers earn an income to support their families with dignity.

Now it is my turn to believe in others

My dream is to build social enterprises that create opportunities for girls and young people who are being left behind.

I know what it feels like to watch a dream disappear.

I also know what one person’s belief can do.

Someone once believed in me when I had very little, not even the confidence or language to express what I wanted for my future. That belief changed the direction of my life.

Now, it is my turn to believe in others.

I am deeply grateful to UNHCR Uganda, FCA, UNHCR Italy, Cohere, and the governments of Uganda and Italy for the opportunities that transformed my life.

I am also grateful to Fonte Giusta for believing in my story and turning that belief into action.

To everyone who believed in a refugee girl whose greatest dream was once simply to have a meal: Thank you.

Your belief is now helping ignite hope in hundreds of children and young mothers.

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