When the Kiteezi garbage landslides struck, leaving families grieving and many others struggling to find basic necessities, Almorie Naggayi was still a high school student.
While many young people were spending their school holidays resting, travelling or catching up with friends, Naggayi chose to spend some of her time serving families affected by the tragedy.
She joined the Judith Nahurira Foundation in its efforts to support people in the affected communities, helping deliver donations and relief supplies and spending time with families whose lives had been changed by the disaster.
There was no pageant title attached to the work.
Naggayi was not yet preparing for Miss Uganda, nor was she looking for a platform on which to promote herself.
That detail offers an important glimpse into the young woman behind the pageant contestant.
For Naggayi, giving back was not something that began with her decision to compete for Miss Uganda.
Even as a student, she had developed an interest in volunteering, using her school holidays as an opportunity to learn, serve and contribute to causes that affected other people.
The Kiteezi tragedy brought that commitment into sharper focus.
Instead of watching the events unfold only through news reports, she became part of an effort to provide practical assistance to people facing loss, uncertainty and difficult days ahead.
For a teenager, it was also an opportunity to see a side of life far removed from the classroom.
She encountered families dealing with circumstances that could not be solved by a few words of encouragement. Relief supplies were needed. People needed support. And sometimes, simply being present mattered.
That experience became another chapter in a journey that has increasingly connected Naggayi with community service.
Her interest in giving back continued during her reign as the inaugural Miss Uganda High School 2024/25.
During that period, she took part in school visits and charity initiatives, particularly activities involving young people.
The experience helped her understand that visibility can be useful when it is used to draw attention to issues and people who need support.
That lesson has followed her into the Miss Uganda 2026 competition.
Her Beauty With a Purpose project focuses on financial literacy and vocational skills for young women and girls. The idea is to equip them with practical knowledge and skills that can help them become more financially independent.
It is a cause that connects with the wider story of her journey.
From volunteering in communities to engaging with young people and now advocating for skills and financial knowledge, Naggayi’s public work has increasingly centred on creating opportunities for others.
Beauty pageants naturally place attention on appearance, confidence, fashion and performance. But for many contestants, the bigger question is what they intend to do with the visibility that comes with a crown.
Naggayi’s experience suggests that her interest in service did not begin when she entered the Miss Uganda competition.
She was already volunteering while a student.
She was already visiting communities.
She was already giving her time to causes that mattered to other people.
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A crown can provide a larger platform, but it cannot create a commitment to service overnight. It can only give an existing commitment a bigger audience.
For Naggayi, the Miss Uganda journey has therefore become an opportunity to build on something she had already started.
The girl who once spent part of her school holiday helping families affected by the Kiteezi tragedy is now asking for the opportunity to take that spirit of service to an even wider platform.
Her story is a reminder that sometimes leadership does not begin with a title, sometimes, it begins with simply showing up when people need help.
