Briefly tell us who you are and where you are from.

I am Jimmy Siya, a photojournalist working with a local magazine in Uganda called the Independent publication.  I live in Uganda, East Africa.

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

I am very social and friendly

When is your birthday? What is your favorite color? Favorite activity?

I celebrate my birthday on every year 27th of November and my favorite colour is army green and I love photography and playing volleyball.

If you could do or be anything in the world, what would it be?

I love so much being a leader that will influence policies to impact on people’s lives.

What is a dream that you have? What is something that you are passionate about?

One, I dream to patronize all Ugandans to love their country and democracy and rule of law.  These are some of the things am passionate about because they will create other avenues of development.

Tell us your RISE story. What are you RISE-ing from? What are you RISE-ing to? What has been a challenge in your RISE-ing process? How have you overcome those challenges?

After my high school my dream profession was journalism so I talked to my parents about it though my dad wanted me to take on education.  But I finally made him understand why I wanted journalism.  Little did I know that getting a job was equivalent to getting water out of a stone. So when I completed school there was no job but I was not giving up.  I first worked somewhere as a driver for two years till when the right time come around.  I then got the right job but with no tools (camera) but the company give a point and shoot camera.  Then over time I saved til when I got one but now I also want to move from ordinary journalism to wildlife photography (check out Jimmy’s FB page The Wild, Ugandan Experience) and my biggest challenge has been acquiring modern equipment. (cameras)

What would you say to those who think they can’t make a difference in the world?

One must be passionate about what they want to be and achieve in life, then also never to give up on there dreams of life.

What does RISE mean to you?

RISE give hope to those that could have lost it and also creates a new family to the deserted.

Final thoughts?

A dream stops being a dream when you work hard towards it, so never give up in life. Keep pushing.  One day success will come your way.