Husnah Kukundakwe

Started: She first swam at age three and began lessons two years later at Sir Apollo Kaggwa school in Uganda. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2021; Facebook page, 26 Jul 2019; monitor.co.ug, 02 May 2019) Reason: "At first I started swimming to have fun, just to play in the water. Then I watched my cousin who was swimming at a gala at school. He would swim so fast and leave the others behind. I was like, 'Why can't I do this'. I tried volleyball. I tried netball. But swimming was the only sport I could manage. Then I just started competing." (Next Media Uganda YouTube channel, 10 Mar 2019; Sanyuka TV Uganda Facebook page, 06 Feb 2019; New Vision TV YouTube channel, 20 Apr 2018) Ambition: To win a medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (bbc.co.uk, 21 Aug 2024) Milestones: At age 14 years and 154 days when she participated in the women's SB8 100m breaststroke, she was the youngest athlete to compete in any sport at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (SportsDeskOnline, 17 May 2022) Awards: In 2020 she received the Inspirational Athlete Award at the DSTV Aquatics Excellence Awards in Uganda. (nocuganda.org, 30 Mar 2020) Additional Info: INSPIRING CHANGE She hoped that her participation at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where she was the youngest athlete from any nation to compete in any sport, would help change perceptions of people with impairments in Uganda. "Uganda has access to watch the Paralympics on TV, and Africa in general is a land where people with disabilities are outcasts to society. Most parents [in Uganda] who give birth to children with disabilities just abandon them, sometimes they end up on the streets, they become beggars. Maybe if they [the parents] watch the Paralympics, when they are watching they will realise that the choice they made is really bad and they should have supported their children to achieve their dreams." (SportsDeskOnline, 17 May 2022; paralympic.org, 26 Aug 2021) OVERCOMING SHYNESS Swimming helped to develop her confidence when she was younger. "When I started school, I was very shy. I would wear a sweater for the whole day, even if it was hot, just to make sure I could hide my hands. People would look at me differently but when I was at school, people would stare at me. Some people would laugh. One time they laughed and I got so angry. That day I went home and told my mum they were laughing at me, and there was nothing I could do about it because I can't say bad words to them because of school rules. When I started swimming, people started to know me and I began to lose that shyness. I lost the sweater, forgot about it and started moving around the compound happy, not shy. Swimming has made me more confident." (World Para Swimming Facebook page, 20 Jul 2023; paralympic.org, 18 Dec 2020, 17 Jul 2019) OTHER ACTIVITIES She has served as a youth ambassador for the International Paralympic Committee [IPC]. (Instagram profile, 12 Apr 2024; newvision.co.ug, 30 Dec 2023)