๐ฅ๐จTo every team, player, fan, volunteer, and supporter who showed up for Game Week 4, you made it another day to remember.
The vibes were unmatched, the football was beautiful, and the memories will last. See you all next Sunday!
#UOXLeague#AHomeForEveryYouth
Dear Val,
There are words that have stayed with me for years.
"If my child ever fails to graduate, it's you to blame."
Your mother's words.
I remember sitting there quietly because I genuinely had no reply. All I had ever carried were dreams. I had no guarantees to offer, only hope, belief, and the conviction that young people deserved someone willing to believe in them.
I have always held the words of a mother in high regard. When a mother speaks about her child, a whole lifetime of sacrifice is speaking.
I first met you four years ago during our Pawns to Kings project in Kisenyi. We were spending time with children who called the streets around the bus terminal home, introducing them to a world of possibility through chess.
Then you showed up.
You asked if you could be part of the team. You spoke about your community in Kikoni and wondered if those children deserved the same opportunity.
My answer was immediate.
Yes.
I didn't know then that almost every day you were walking more than ten kilometres just to attend training. I only knew that you kept showing up.
Looking back, I realize that your consistency wasn't just building a chess program. It was quietly building me too.
On the days when the work felt impossible, I often found myself thinking about your determination. Your resilience became part of the foundation of the mission we continued to pursue. While serving others, you never stopped investing in yourself.
And today...
You graduated.
Seeing you in your graduation gown filled me with a joy that is difficult to describe. It looked like it belonged there, because it did.
You earned every thread of it.
To your mother and father, thank you.
Thank you for believing when belief was difficult. Thank you for carrying the weight that your daughter could not yet carry herself.
Watching the two of you celebrate her reminded me that this graduation belongs to your whole family. I found myself shedding a tear because I knew I wasn't just looking at a graduate.
I was looking at answered prayers. I was looking at years of sacrifice finally smiling back.
Hey Mama, your daughter graduated.
Those words that once weighed heavily on my heart now rest differently.
Today, I can simply say, "She made it."
Val, this is not the finish line.
It is your introduction. May God open doors that no qualification alone can open. May favor announce your name in rooms you have never entered.
May your work heal lives.
May your story remind every young boy and girl growing up in the ghettos of Kampala that where you begin does not determine where you belong.
Fight for your space. Leave your mark on this world.
And no matter where life takes you...
I'll always be in your corner, cheering you on.
@thegiftofchess@galuifound the family has a graduate now.
With immense pride,
Ronald.