“In my country you have to be a job creator and not a job seeker”

My name is Daniel Torach. I am a male Ugandan aged 22 years. I live in a small town called Kyebando, which is a suburb of Kampala. I come from a family of three children and I am the eldest. I am pursuing a Diploma in Electrical Engineering and Installation at an institution in Kampala called YMCA Comprehensive institute.

I have always had a dream of being an electrical engineer because I am so passionate when it comes to electricity. I finally got the chance to pursue studies in electricity thanks to the scholarship, as it gave me a start. Watipa kickstarted my lost hopes into a living testimony – my high hopes of being an electrical engineer started to become a reality.

The profession is built on the idea of improving systems to help humanity. For example in rural areas, such as where I live, people can’t study due to power shortages. People eat in the dark. People cannot sleep well due to high temperatures and no air-conditioning. There is a high cost to rural electrification and to get the manpower to install electricity. People often resort to stealing electricity, which is unreliable and can lead to shocks and fires and is dangerous for society.

All this can be solved if there are electricians ready to start up firms to aid people in rural areas with affordable skilled labour for rural electrification. There are also high levels of unemployment, including for electricians in my area, and I have an idea of how to fix that.

I have lived through what it means to not have electricity and I have a plan of starting my own company that offers electrical engineering and installation, plumbing, metal fabrication, air conditioning and refrigeration. I am also planning to start my own electrical shop that deals in electrical appliances and accessories, so that we also become suppliers ourselves. I will use my expertise to deliver affordable and cheap services to the community, by providing an affordable service as well as being able to rectify poorly installed connections.

I want to be an innovator and job creator in the electrical field. There are a lot of young people in my community who have finished their studies but are jobless. If I create my own electrical company, I can employ them, and I would love to get fellow young people out from sitting at home so that they can get to work.

I also hope to learn about other things such as animal husbandry. I would love to be flexible in every field because in my country you have to be a job creator and not a job seeker. I have so far managed to start an animal farm that has two goats and two pigs, and I would like to add more stock and get some land of my own in the community.

My biggest dream is to one day study abroad, so that I can learn from electricians in other countries too. My priority in life is serving my community in any way possible as well as to shift my life, my family, and everyone in it to greater heights.

Daniel Torach, 22, Uganda

Inaugural Watipa Scholar 2016, studying electrical engineering and installation