A survivor of the Edi Amin dictatorship, who dedicated her life to improving educational opportunities for Ugandan children spent time with Marietta College students on campus this semester as part of the Schwartz Leader-in-Residence Program.
Joanita Bbaale Senoga, founder of the Circle of Peace School and Circle of Peace International nonprofit organization, met with Leadership, Entrepreneurship and other majors in January, and with faculty and staff during a meet-and-greet.
The Schwartz Leader-in-Residence, facilitated through the McDonough Leadership Program, features bringing an outstanding leader to campus to enhance the leadership knowledge and skills to participating students and employees. The program is named after the late Dr. Stephen W. Schwartz, the longtime Dean of McDonough.
Senoga overcame dire circumstances as a child in Uganda during the Edi Amin regime — including hiding from soldiers for weeks in a cave with classmates — and later attended college to become a teacher. When she saw her students being removed from school because their families could not afford to pay, she decided to start her own in 2009 and founded the nonprofit to support the school, which provides free education to its students.