Using Technology to Make Sustainable Change in Uganda

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Deborah Plotkin. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Uganda in the early 1990s to 2000s was an exceptionally dangerous place. Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) were leading a rebellion without clear motivations, and they were committing atrocities against civilians across the country. Going from village to village, they often targeted parents of children they would then abduct and turn into child soldiers to perpetuate the violence. Nearly 2 million people were displaced by LRA actions and the government’s forcible resettlement plan into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Deborah Hoffman-Plotkin, a woman who would eventually become a figure of hope to the abducted children, was dedicating her life to kids with autism as an education consultant and advocate. Her journey began as a teenager befriending institutionalized children with autism and volunteering for her school’s special education class. She eventually went on to work in the field.

Years later, Deb and her husband, Dr. Ron Plotkin, first heard horror stories of the LRA War from a Ugandan speaker at University of San Diego. Moved to help, Deb and her family committed to raising funds for the school fees of 24 orphaned children.

“[In 2007], we went to Uganda to see if the money was actually reaching the children,” explains Ron.

The schools they saw left them in shock. Children were in the required uniforms their funding paid for, but they were barefoot on mud floors. There were no writing implements or books.

The family also visited IDP camps where over a million people were corralled for safety, mostly cut off from basic necessities.

“They don’t have running water,” Deb describes. “No flushing toilets, no showers. They shower out of a 12-inch bucket, the same bucket that they would wash clothes with.”

Disease was rampant, but despite conditions, there was also joy.

“My daughter was playing ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ with the children. This dichotomy of pain and joy gave me such inspiration that even in this extraordinary hardship, life goes on.”

Later, while listening to the children tell stories about the war and the death of their parents, Deb discovered her calling. When she was just four months old, Deb’s father was killed during a robbery while trying to protect the shop owner’s wife. Helping the orphaned children of Uganda would be a way to honor him.

“She relates to people so deeply,” Ron muses. “She has such a deep capacity for love and compassion, particularly for those who have suffered trauma and loss.”

Given the circumstances, he wasn’t immediately convinced her idea to scale up education initiatives by introducing them to computers would work.

“The idea that these people could sit in front of a computer screen when they didn’t even have electricity…” he reflects. “She was able to create a vision that went beyond their immediate needs and see not just what they needed but what they were capable of doing given opportunity and resources.”

Deb returned home and collected unwanted computers before returning to Uganda in 2009 to open three tech hubs. They started by inviting people from schools in the area who walked miles to access the internet and learn digital skills. And in 2010, U-TOUCH the World (Universal Technology Outreach Community Hubs) was official.

Deb’s goal was to engage kids who weren’t in school to teach them employable skills and invited everyone 15 and older to learn digital literacy along with life skills, job skills, entrepreneurship skills and women’s empowerment skills. At the first meeting, there were 75 men and one woman, so she told the men to each come back with a woman. She told the woman to bring every one of her friends. And it worked.

“The women crashed the door the next day, smiling and dancing like you’ve never seen before. They said they didn’t think they would ever see a computer, much less touch one or take technology classes,” she recollects.

U-Touch has since certified over 7,000 students in digital skills via multiple technology hubs that move around the country. They have sponsored 50 students’ educational goals. Deb also hosts “voluntourism” trips each year where foreign volunteers bring business skills to the hubs to mentor students beyond computers.

The success stories are endless. Graduates have been selected for merit scholarships and to represent Uganda at conferences in New York City and India. They have found meaningful work as software developers, graphic designers, tech business owners and more in NGOs, the government, tourism, education, healthcare and beyond.

Many U-TOUCH graduates become the first in their families to be employed. They can then pay for their kids or siblings to go to school and provide food and healthcare, necessities that are out of reach for many. In short, the lives of everyone around them are sustainably transformed.

Annet broke the glass ceiling as the first woman to own an auto parts store in Mbale. Michael, a survivor of abduction during the war, studied computer science at college where he was named Uganda’s Google Student Ambassador for his Google Docs editing tool innovation, which is now used by millions. He got a master’s degree in China before returning home to become an AI professor. Some grads even come back to the hubs as staff.

Deb has helped develop U-TOUCH clubs at San Diego schools and consistently works on fundraising and grant writing efforts that support the programs. She has also developed internships for high school and university students in both countries.

Deb’s family is also involved. Her son lives in England, where he is connecting schools there with those in San Diego and Uganda. Ron is a longtime board member.

Looking ahead, Deb hopes to make the tech hubs she’s built self-sustainable and expand employment and business opportunities that increase the economic development of the country. She is working to expand the donor and volunteer base to spread the benefits of U-TOUCH beyond Ugandan borders.

“To change the conditions of how someone else can live, to transform their lives by giving time, talent and treasure is immeasurable,” Deb states. “By embracing the powerful heroic spirit of my father, through his legacy I can share my abundance of love through service.”

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Deborah? Find local volunteer opportunities.