Call for January 2015 applications and Limited scholarships are still available

Harnessing Untapped Potential

We all live with untapped potential- perhaps because we’re not aware of it, like the late-career changer who finally figures out they’re passionate about teaching- or perhaps because our community has encouraged us to focus elsewhere, like the investment banker who is an incredible pianist.

How much better would the world be if we could harness all that untapped potential? How much happier would each individual be?

The answer is we don’t know, it’s hard, maybe impossible, to have a quantitative answer. But we do know that the world would be better and we would be happier. That teacher might be the reason one student becomes the scientist who figures out how to reverse climate change. That investment banker, if she spent her time playing the piano, might become a virtuoso player and composer, giving joy and inspiration to all who hear her play.

At Kyusa, we believe that the solutions to the hardest, most intractable world problems can be solved by harnessing this untapped potential. And we believe the key to tapping into potential is passion.

It has been referred to as intrinsic motivation, or being in a flow state, but we call it passion. Your passion is the fuel that keeps you running when everything else in you gives way. It allows you to work harder and more creatively at a task. Your passion opens the spigot to your potential. That is why we specialize in passion-driven education at Kyusa.

Isaac K. came to Kyusa because he couldn’t afford to continue his education. He was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life but he knew he needed a job. When he first came to Kyusa, he was keen on becoming a business entrepreneur.  Deep down he knew had a passion for football and a desire to nurture young people, but it didn’t seem to him to be a valid career interest.

Today, Isaac is the founder and head coach at K. Isaac Football Academy in Nabweru and a science teacher at a primary school. Through our three month training program, Isaac identified his passion, verbalized it into a purpose statement, set goals for himself, identified the skills and resources he would need to be successful, and created a plan to achieve his dream that took into account his financial needs. He is happier and more satisfied with his life than he thought he would ever be.

Through the academy and the school, Isaac is working with 30 young people, empowering them, nurturing them, and teaching them. That is the true power of Kyusa: a multiplier effect led by our alumni like Isaac, and Henry (who has started a social enterprise that benefits 30 vulnerable children), and Julius (who started a catering company that has created six jobs), and Sharon (who is currently employed as an office assistant in one of the clearing and forwarding agencies in Kampala). Each one of our alumni is leveraging their passion to develop a career (3 months after the program our alums are making 50% more income than before the program) and make a difference in their communities.

Uganda, like all countries, suffers from a myriad of difficult challenges- unemployment, illiteracy, violence against women, and the list goes on. Through passion-driven education like our training program we can solve these. Thanks to the natural diversity of interests we have, we can be sure that someone will be passionate about addressing each of these challenges. And because they’re passionate, they will put their most productive and creative selves towards it.

At Kyusa we empower out of school youth in urban slums to turn their passion into a sustainable career. We are building a movement that uses passion-driven education to create a generation of change makers. Join us!

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