I Was a Skeptic 18 Years Ago but Now I Don’t Regret joining the US Coast Guard

Interview: Lieutenant Simon Ssekitoleko on Maneuvering Life's Challenges, rising above and beyond in the diaspora, thriving with a career in the United States Coast Guard and creating a positive impact.

The greatest stories in the world usually begin with a humble start, the only difference between those stories and the ones we never get to hear is simple. "The latter does not overcome the difficulties". How often do we fall back into the 'it is what it is' copout? And to be fair, we each have got a fair share of those times where we feel like fate has already done its thing on us like we are stuck on this merry-go-round spinning 'limiting beliefs' into our life experiences and cannot seem to get off. Looking at such behemoths as taking that risk to start that business, moving to that country, taking on that challenging job, and being the biggest imaginations of ourselves and more make our efforts towards achieving those things almost futile.

Being born in a Third-World country in itself often feels similar to being kicked when you're down. The issues that weigh down on you call for more than resilience and willpower to take that step into that life you desire. But even amidst the toughest of life's challenges, there's that voice beckoning from far deep within you to take that step, no promise that it'll be a walk in the park but that you'll get there. For some, it’s that "come-to-Jesus" conversation with a friend, for others it might be that heart-to-heart, or even just listening to that inner voice telling you to "just do it".

It all comes together when that switch somewhere deep within us gets tripped—a penny for your thoughts.

Yet, where many would envision difficulty and struggle, Simon Ssekitoleko, Lieutenant with the United States Coast Guard, saw breaking the cliché' and staying true to his integrity and dreams while keeping the promises he made to himself and to his late sister. His story to me burns down to this: 'When challenges fuel you, you fly.' Envision Simon towering above his past challenges (Now we understand them to be his "fuel") striking his chest invigorated and saying "Bring It On".

Simon was born and raised by Mrs. Josephine Mugerwa a single mother of 12 in Mpererwe, Kampala. She instilled hard work in her children to the best of her ability. We all know how your typical African mom will instill a bit of discipline and hard work into their children, but it's the 90's, so you already know that she's not sparing that rod.

With her limited resources, Miss Josephine was determined to give her children the very best in life and she did so relentlessly. Limited resources didn’t limit the dream, even if Simon had to be more in touch with nature walking barefooted to and from school. He attended Mpererwe Primary School just in the neighborhood and later St. Henry's College Kitovu for high school. And get this, Simon is no push-over academically, he went on to excel and graduate from Makerere University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences in 2001. According to Josephine, education was the only saving grace for her children. "I have no wealth to leave you when I am gone but I want you to have the education as that's your ticket out of poverty".

Plan B!

Post-university clarity' if that's even a thing, is so real, filled with a bazillion ah-huh! moments, literal trials and tribulations, and by this I mean the learning curve, become so steep and rugged with uncertainty and in many cases present more than enough 'fuel'(challenges) and you guessed it, Simon was no exception.

Having graduated from Makerere University, he hit the streets like every other 'unemployed youth'. In a typical episode of an unemployed university graduate on the streets in Uganda, the length of time one has spent looking for a job is measured based on the wear of their shoe's sole.

Luckily enough for Simon, his soul didn't have to wear off before could land that Uganda shillings 290,000 per month gig with the Electoral Commission as a data entrant. It was pay but at what cost? He had to spend Ugx 7,000 daily on transport alone, doing the math you could say his take home was about ugx80,000. Now that was no way to live for Simon, and he quickly figured that plan B had to be instigated.

Weaving the dream!

Enthusiastic Simon takes on a new challenge to launch deeper in his education. He started to prepare himself for the opportunities that lay ahead of the veil of time. Fast forward, he gets admitted into Oklahoma City University Business School to pursue his MBA. While he worked two jobs and went to school full-time, he was determined to soar higher. He graduated in May 2004, and back to the streets he was this time in the United States. Did the soles of his shoes melt? Not a chance. Was he in the proverbial paradise of temporary employment and status? You bet!

Things are starting to look good!

On the road to Lieutenant, Simon drove around a few bends and went over a few humps, twists and turns. But this! This was that "turning point' this was the one. On the fateful day, he would win the green card lottery and be granted a visa to stay in the United States permanently. According to Simon, it was his best day in a very long while, "It opened all doors not only for me but for everyone around me" he added. It was after this that he explored the prospect of joining the Coast Guard which turned out to be his new big thing, "Coast Guard was a slam dunk to me" he recounted.

In September 2006, Simon enlisted with the Coast Guard on the E3 pay grade despite his education qualifications at the time. Thanks to the college credit bonus, he was able to pay off his school debt.

It gets even better!

Now it's so easy to think that Lieutenant Simon Ssekitoleko peaked after this experience, Nope! Not by a long shot! Simon wasn't done being the very best at everything he did. Simon goes on to explain to Zaminna some of the benefits discipline has had and continues to have on him,

"Through my humbling experience, I knew that I had to work hard to get to the ranks where I wanted to be. As an enlisted member, i chose a job specialty rating of Yeoman, and that’s the Human Resources division of the Coast Guard which is responsible for all pay and personnel issues of service members. While officers are promoted through boards, enlisted members advance through taking tests.

Again, because I already had good study habits, I made sure that I excelled in all my promotion tests. And in two of the three advancement tests, I ranked number one Coast Guard-wise and in one of them, I ranked 4th out of over 300 people who competed.

Because of my high performance and excellence, I was selected as a Chief Warrant Officer. Chief Warrant Officers are subject matter expert officers in their ratings who are selected to join the officer corps and their role is to bridge the gap between officers and enlisted members."

Always in search of a new challenge, Lieutenant Ssekitoleko indulges Zaminna in a thrilling conversation, he is not your average 'overachiever'. “I wanted to be challenged more and I felt that staying as a Chief Warrant Officer was not enough. We do have a program in the Coast Guard where Chief Warrant Officers are given an opportunity to apply for a Warrant to Lieutenant program and bring their knowledge and expertise to the officer corps. That’s when I applied for the program and in 2019, I was chosen among the many to become a Chief Warrant Officer. We are actually referred to as “Mustangs” because of the experience and expertise we bring to the service." he echoed.

Simon broke some interesting news about his journey, "I am happy to announce that I have actually been selected by the promotion board and I will be making Lieutenant Commander (O-4) sometime in 2024. Am excited to see what that will bring."

Whenever we reminisce on the past days (mostly the least desirable ones) and ruminate on how far we have come and the look of our future selves, we tend to downplay the critical details of the chapters in our story we didn’t like. For Simon, this nostalgia drives his empathy and passion for caring for the underprivileged as a way to pay forward his benefits of living in the diaspora, "Yes I have benefited a lot, especially being able to take care of my family, including my mother until a few years ago when she went to be with the lord. I was afforded a life where I could afford to give my mother everything and anything she needed and I had no regrets even during her passing.

Being in the diaspora has also enabled me to help the underprivileged. Currently, I have 10 students whom I am sponsoring in boarding Secondary Schools through my foundation (Agnes Nakabugo Foundation Inc.), an organization I started in honor of my sister Agnes Nakabugo, who passed away in February 2017."

"I couldn’t afford to do all these things I have passion for if I wasn’t in the diaspora," he added.

As we came to the end of this amazing journey with Simon, he shared some insights into thriving in the diaspora. He lauded his Coast Guard career saying, "What this job gives you is a work-life balance for you and your family". He went ahead to talk about how despising jobs is not the best attitude towards work in the diaspora and advised diaspora Africans to avoid making decisions about work influenced by popular culture. "I was a skeptic 18 years ago but now I don’t regret my decision" he mentioned.

While Lieutenant Simon Ssekitoleko works towards attaining higher ranks in the Coast Guard and having a positive impact on the people around him and those back in Uganda, his story comes as a reminder that more is achievable and that dreams do come true. But we need to play our part relentlessly.