Martin Kibaba's story:

I started a journalism school for young Ugandans who could not afford university. I need your help to keep them safe and learning.

In rural Uganda, journalism is not a career chosen by the rich.

It is taken up by young men and women from ordinary, often very poor backgrounds. These are people who feel a deep responsibility to speak for their communities — communities facing poor service delivery, human rights abuses, injustice, and silence.

It is rare to find the son or daughter of a wealthy family working at a rural radio or television station. Journalism here is left to those who care deeply, even when they have very little.

My name is Martin Kibaba. I know this reality because I come from it, and I have lived it for nearly two decades.

I am a multimedia journalist with 18 years of experience in Uganda. Over the years, I have seen passionate young people going into journalism without training but with just passion and talent because university education is simply unaffordable for most families.

In Uganda, many parents sell land, livestock, or their last property just to pay university tuition. Even then, many students drop out. For countless families, university education, especially journalism, is just a dream.

In 2018, through the Rwenzori Media Development Foundation (RMDF-Uganda), we conducted a study in western Uganda’s Rwenzori region. What we found was alarming:

When we asked why they did not have professional training, their answers were simple and painful:

That is why, in 2021, I mobilized fellow experienced journalists, people who had worked for years in newsrooms, to sacrifice their time and skills and help me start the RMDF School of Journalism. We decided to offer free, practical training to mid-career journalists and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Our one-year program focuses on real skills, not just theory. We offer practical training in news reporting and writing, editing, radio and TV presentation and production, podcasting, features and documentary production, media management, and basic ICT skills.

Our beneficiaries are mid-career journalists and students who could never afford formal journalism education, yet they are the voices their communities depend on.

But today, our biggest challenge is space, safety, and basic facilities.

Our classrooms are too small. Our recording studio can hold only two people at a time. Students must learn in shifts. Worse still, because we lack hostels, students rent rooms in unsafe trading centers nearby.

In 2024, one of our students was attacked while returning home after a late-night podcasting session. Another female student narrowly escaped an attempted break-in, saved only by her neighbors. These incidents shook us deeply.

That is why we are raising funds to:

With support from friends and partners, we have already made progress.

With funds raised through this GoFundMe campaign, we have paved our courtyard, and renovated our office and training space.

The American Embassy in Uganda has donated 45 books for our library.

Our good friend Michael O’Donnell, an associate professor emeritus at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, is running this campaign on our behalf. He has donated 8 desktop computers, 6 audio recorders, a projector, and learning materials. He has helped us write grants,and also offered to mentor our students via zoom.

RMDF has also purchased land on which to construct hostels and new training facilities.

Despite these achievements, there’s still more to be done, and we cannot complete this alone.

Your donation, no matter the size, will make a huge difference.

By supporting this campaign, you are not just funding buildings, you are investing in helping young people from disadvantaged and orphaned families to attain education.

Thank you for standing with us.

— Martin Kibaba