When Esther Ziribaggwa steps onto the graduation stage at Makerere University on 24 February 2026, it will not just be a celebration of academic excellence. It will be the quiet triumph of a young woman who refused to let poverty, illness, and repeated setbacks decide her future.
Raised in Nkonge Village, Kyampisi Sub-County in Mukono District, Esther’s childhood was shaped by hard work and uncertainty. Her father, Mr. Musisi Godfrey, is a farmer. Her mother, Ms. Babirye Resty, earns a living as a market vendor in Seeta. From an early age, Esther learned that survival required endurance and sacrifice.
That endurance has carried her to the top.
Esther Ziribaggwa has emerged as Makerere University’s best overall student in the Sciences, graduating with a CGPA of 4.77 in the Bachelor of Agricultural and Rural Innovation, offered at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).
But her journey to this moment has been anything but smooth.
She excelled early, scoring nine aggregates in her Primary Leaving Examinations at Seeta Boarding Primary School. Yet the promise of her bright future nearly slipped away when she joined secondary school. While studying at Mpoma Royal College, her father fell gravely ill and required intestinal surgery. He could no longer work. School fees became impossible to raise.
Esther and her sister were forced to drop out of school for an entire year.
“It felt like everything had stopped,” she recalls. “I was afraid that was the end.”
What brought her back was kindness. A school bursar and the then Head Teacher, Ms. Namazzi Connie, reduced their fees drastically, giving the sisters a second chance. Esther returned to class carrying the weight of lost time, fear, and expectation. She studied with urgency, determined not to waste the opportunity she had been given. She completed O’ Level with 25 aggregates, a result born of discipline and desperation to move forward.
The struggle followed her into A’ Level.
With fees constantly out of reach, Esther changed schools repeatedly. Her father underwent a second operation and remained unable to work. Her mother stepped in, stretching her modest income to keep Esther in school. Long daily journeys as a day scholar left her exhausted, yet she pressed on. In 2019, at Godmark High School, she completed her A’ Level with 15 points.
Even then, university was not guaranteed.
After Senior Six, Esther waited two long years at home. She had been admitted to Makerere University under private sponsorship to study Statistics, but the tuition was beyond her family’s means. Then COVID-19 struck. As schools closed and uncertainty spread, a narrow window opened. With no new Senior Six leavers, Makerere lowered cut-off points and invited applications for government sponsorship.
Esther applied.
She was admitted on government sponsorship to pursue Agricultural and Rural Innovation. For her, it was more than admission. It was rescue.
At Makerere, Esther flourished. She studied with the same hunger that once pushed her back into a classroom after dropping out. Lecture halls replaced uncertainty. Hard work replaced fear. Slowly, semester by semester, she rose to the top of her class, and then beyond it.
Her success, she says, was anchored in faith, discipline, and the belief that her story had meaning beyond herself. She credits God, her parents, her lecturers at CAES, the Government of Uganda, and the Jesus is King Ministry under Makerere University Christian Union for walking with her through the journey.
Today, Esther works with Slow Food Uganda in Mukono District, supporting women and youth in agriculture. Though she once dreamed of becoming a medical doctor, she has embraced agriculture as a calling. She hopes to become a Senior Agricultural Officer, improving farming practices and protecting communities from the challenges she witnessed growing up, from climate uncertainty to unsafe agrochemical use. She plans to pursue further studies in crop and soil science.
To students facing similar struggles, her message is deeply personal:
“Never let your situation break you. There will be moments when everything feels impossible. But those moments are not the end. They are the test.”
On graduation day, as Esther Ziribaggwa receives her degree, she will be carrying more than academic honours. She will be carrying the dreams of a village girl who once sat at home, unsure if she would ever return to school, and the proof that resilience can turn adversity into excellence.
