From Teacher to Change Agent: Turyajuna Deus’s Seamless Transition

Turyajuna Deus is a community Change Agent from Kiyebe village. With a strong commitment to improving his community’s well-being, Turyajuna has been a change agent since November 2022, when community members recognized his potential and entrusted him with the responsibility of championing their interests.

When he is not mobilizing citizens to attend meetings and reminding village leaders of commitments they made, Turyajuna is usually in the classroom as a teacher, at a local primary school he co-owns with his friend.

He says his passion for education and community growth intertwine seamlessly, enabling him to bring valuable skills, like communication, from the classroom to his role as a change agent.

Beyond encouraging fellow villagers to be proactive in their village matters, Turyajuna facilitates community dialogues and mediates disputes which could easily have turned into major gender-based violence.

“It has been an immense pleasure to serve my community as a Change Agent. It feels very good that fellow community members trust me, and appreciate my talents and skills. Some villagers have even started asking me if I could vie for a chairmanship position in the coming election” says Turyajuna

One of Turyajuna’s notable achievements is his involvement in addressing water scarcity, a critical concern for Kiyebe village. Through collaborative efforts, he has helped form a follow-up committee aimed at raising funds to implement innovative rainwater harvesting solutions.

Kiyebe village has now established a fund where every villager would contribute Ugsh500 (about 0.13usd). Once enough money is collected, the village plans to buy plastic water storage which they could use to store rain water.

Having situated in the mountainous landscape, Kiyebe village is highly prone to soil erosion. It is one of the biggest challenges that Turyajuna continues to work with fellow community members to address. Others include impassible roads, a shortage of drugs at health centres and a lack of secondary schools near by the village.