Ugandan pupil wins Africa junior spelling bee contest

Kampala- Uganda has the best junior speller in Africa, thanks to Promise Kitara, a 13-year-old pupil of Tororo Parents Primary School in Tororo District.

After missing the continental spelling bee top gong twice, Kitara stunned the continent on Saturday when he buzzed and dazzled through the competition held in Johannesburg, South Africa, excelling as an individual and making Team Uganda finish second overall in the Africa Spelling Bee Junior category.

Three participants represented Team Uganda. The other two are Angela Aisu of Hillside Primary School, Naalya, and Timothy Ninsiima from Masindi Army Day Primary School.

The three were the top spellers of the 2016 Uganda National Spelling Bee organised by enjuba early this year. Enjuba is a catalytic children’s education organisation focused on improving learning outcomes. Mr Aaron Kirunda, a co-founder and chief executive of enjuba, was also in South Africa.

Mr Patrick Cheborion, the chairman Board of Governors Tororo Parents School, in an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday, said they could not hide their excitement after waiting for the prize for two years.

“We are very excited because we have been waiting for it for long. We have been winning in the national competitions and we also knew we could have won the African competitions too,”Mr Cheborion said.

“It is a jubilant mood here in our school in Tororo and everyone can’t wait to welcome back our hero. He has always made us proud but this is the best he has done so far. We as a school are optimistic he can achieve better in life,” he added.

Among the many accolades given to Team Uganda was a pack of goodies, money and a 25 per cent scholarship from Monash South Africa, one of the top 100 universities in the world.

Just the beginning
Mr Bernard Omuse, the programmes director for Uganda Martyrs Orphans, who organised the eastern regional competitions that catapulted Kitara to the national competitions, said the win was a testament of how far the competitions in Uganda can go.
Days before travelling to South Africa, Kitara had painted a rosy picture of his state of mind.

“I’m practising so hard for the African Spelling Bee, I’m reading magazines, researching about word origins and their spelling guidelines, utilising various word lists from enjuba. My teachers, parents and friends are helping me a lot. They ask me difficult words to spell so I practice word formation, the dictionary is also a close friend of mine,” he said.

The African Spelling Bee brought together children from Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa.

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