Member Testimonial: Sam Taremwa Rwabwehare

Feb 24, 2023 | ISWA blog, ISWA news, Member Testimonials, Working Groups

Taremwa Sam Rwabwehare

Taremwa Sam Rwabwehare

Founder and Executive Director of the Uganda Waste Management and Administration Confederation (UWMAC)

My name is Sam Taremwa Rwabwehare, a passionate Advocate for Responsible Waste Management locally and globally, Founder and Executive Director of the Uganda Waste Management and Administration Confederation (UWMAC) and Secretary-Elect ISWA, Africa Regional Chapter.  I am pleased to share and invite you to contribute to my great journey of discovery and realization of my career path.

I take this opportunity to share my career journey and the role played by the International Solid Waste Association-ISWA at a time when I have come to the realization that managing waste is managing life and that we as global citizens are better off living in this world as a one big global village.

Freshly graduated from Makerere University (2009), Uganda with the enthusiasm of youth and the road to my future before me eager to connect with the wider world. Truth be told, I had no idea what career to pursue or what my purpose for life was except the immediate desire to join the forces, to the consternation of my parents.

With limited experience in Accounting and a couple of theoretical models in my head, i came to the abrupt realization that the basic principle never emphasized in all my school life and work was “Man’s Accountability to Universe”. Man has neglected his accountability to the universe thus failure to fulfill our main purpose on earth, “being fruitful, multiplying, tilling and subduing the earth”.

This situation helped me to start thinking about Accounting in terms of the work people do and impact it has on both current and future generations. With so many questions and no ready answers as to man’s behavior, I set on a journey to search for answers as much as I could; a search which has led me from my humble waste management ditch in my garden to city garbage dumps and recycling sites continues up to today.
Walking through piles of rubbish and all forms of waste streams from my residential to my work place gave me insight to engage with communities at all levels as to the reason for litter and pollution. The answers were humbling, in a way, leading to my personal confirmation of the general lack of responsibility to manage the environment, both at individual and institutional levels.
The general lack of responsibility and accountability led me to form the Uganda Waste Management and Administration Confederation- UWMAC the ISWA National Member for Uganda.

UWMAC becoming the ISWA National Member for Uganda from 2017 was a truly humbling experience, which opened up my perception of the world as one global entity and community. I travelled by air for the first time from Uganda-Entebbe to USA-Baltimore, connecting with key multi-sectoral players sharing ideas on building a sustainable waste management industry.

 

At the local level, becoming the ISWA National Member for Uganda representative, has helped me interact with Ugandans at all levels and from all sectors of the economy with much focus on learning and finding out the best and feasible ways to close the gaps and enable sustainable waste management industry growth and development. Together with key actors at the local levels, we have benefited from ISWA’s programs by participating in the ten ISWA technical working groups and the wider world interventions, including closing the 50 world biggest dumpsites (trading trash for education programme)

At the international level, my attendance at the ISWA World Congress and AGA brings together diverse sustainability movers from across the globe to learn and share from each other and offers challenges and motivation to excel and reach higher goals. Iam glad that more Ugandans are starting to pick great interest in such World events.

 

I am delighted to share the good news that my continuing search for answers to waste management has culminated in my acceptance for Master of Arts in Environment and Management at Royal Roads University (RRU), in Canada. RRU is among ideal places to gain further knowledge on climate action and sustainability as challenges that call for the kind of interdisciplinary and collaborative problem solving.

I am looking forward to any technical and financial assistance to be able to successfully take on and complete my studies in Canada.

The world is changing for the better, waste management can be transformed into wealth and people management,  let us all work together to increase awareness of the positive aspects of proper waste management and, conversely, the negative aspects of waste mismanagement and global warming in realization of sustainable mutual waste management goals and objectives.

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