Waiswa towers above stigma on little people

Mubarak Wasswa is the second born and only little person in a family of seven. He recently graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Makerere University Business School(MUBS), Jinja Campus.

 Wasswa scored aggregate 45 at O-Level at Iganga Star College Busagwa, Mayuge District  in 2014.  He was unable to go back for A-Level due to financial constraints.

“I took a break for two years and returned to school in 2017,” he recalls.

He joined Iganga Progressive Academy and pursued Mathematics, Economics and Geography with Sub math where he made 10 points before joining Makerere University Business School(MUBS) Jinja Campus.

Childhood

His village mates always cast on him cold hard and sometimes frightened stares because of his physique. Wasswa is a little person and a twin whose sister was born with normal height. It did not stop at the village level.

“In my primary school, I was bullied due to my size and at the time I regretted my size so much,” he says.

He recalls his schoolmates making fun of his height and imitated his speech (his voice is a near tenor) and it was hard for him to feel accepted.

“I used to ask myself who I was and why I was different,” Wasswa recalls.

With time he realised he was unique and different and he learnt to see himself as one with an advantage over others.

“I accepted saying this is my true nature and I can have a big profile irrespective of my physique. I started believing in myself and being positive,” he adds.

When he joined University he started believing in himself and interacting with people at different levels.

“Becoming a leader helped me believe in myself and I felt recognised as a human being,” he explains.

Leadership journey

Wasswa explains that when he joined MUBS, he took on different leadership positions from first year.

“Due to my uniqueness, I was appointed President for first year students and I was the class coordinator,” Wasswa says.

He joined Basoga Nseete, an association that brings together students from Busoga and he became education minister.

“In my second year, I became the Minister for people with disabilities in the student’s guild. This gave me courage to aim for  bigger roles in the university,” Wasswa says.

He participated in most of the university activities.

“I have learnt to accept who I am and build my self-esteem,” he explains.

In his second year, second semester he applied for the competitive position of Guild President for the Jinja campus.

“Due to my previous roles, I had a lot of experience to share with the students and to keep serving them,” he remembers.

He kept working with the students and sharing his manifesto  which enabled clinch the victory.

“The Guild President position helped me to a great extent with my leadership, career journey and it empowered me,” Wasswa says.

Balancing  act

In his second year, he was a student, leader, alongside internship but  Wasswa says his good relations with the lecturers and administrators took him a notch higher.

He admits to have received counsel from administrators and lecturers on how to balance academics with other duties.

“I managed my busy schedule by learning how to balance work, school and serve students,” he adds.

Taking gigs

Wasswa did not only focus on university-related activities alone but other  things . For example, in his first year, he met a director of a film company who picked interest in him and hired him.

“It took me some time to learn the people and the skill of acting. My first appearance in the film Guilt boost my acting confidence and it feeds into the actor that I am,” he explains.

“After university, I had a many working class friends and one of them connected me to an entrepreneurship company that deals in coffee,” he says.

Wasswa joined the company in February 2022 and volunteered for six months before he was retained as a marketing manager in August of the same year.

Asked if he could turn the clock, would he want to return as an able-bodied tall person, he says he would return as a little person.

“I am proud of who I am, it has helped me so much and I know I am a special in the community because of my size (height),” Wasswa explains adding that forget the times he was called names in vernacular to refer to little people, “this hurt me so much because people would not allow me to play or associate with them,” he recalls.

Resilience

“My parents have contributed to my resilience, they have empowered me and could not let me wallow in self-pity. They gave me guidance and hope, they told me I could be a better person in future,” he says.

He praised his parents sacrificed.

“They did not give up on me and made sure I got an education,” Wasswa adds.

Wasswa says he has stopped believing what others say about him and started believing the hope he has in himself.

“I started believing in myself and making positive changes in myself,” he says continuing thathis mantra, which sounds cliché for some , he still upholds: “Disability is not inability”.

Two cents to little people

“Stop listening to the negative things that people say to you. Think beyond your situation  about what you can achieve in the future,” he says.

Wasswa says one should start dreaming big, believing in him or herself and living a life that counts.

“Have role models that encourage and challenge you,” he advises.

others says…

Badru Ssenyonga, his friend, says “Wasswa is a happy man who believes in himself.  He knows who he is and he does what is expected of him and better despite the challenges.”

Aloysius Kawooya, his employer, says Wasswa is dedicated, treasures his work.

“People tend to undermine him and some call him a child but he never takes the comments to heart. I believe that  it is one of his strengths,” Kawooya adds.

He says his background in leadership at MUBS granted him an opportunity to practice public speaking  and  leadership.

“At Butumwa, he works with less supervision and delivers. This being his first job, he has performed above expectations and he can easily sell to those who undermine him,” he notes.