Sebei National Youth Movement (SNYM) is a youth-led movement representing the voices of young people from Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo. We speak for Sebei that has endured loss, displacement, and neglect by the responsible authorities for decades.
Across Sebei, young people have grown up watching mudslides wipe out villages on the upper slopes and floods destroy homes and livelihoods in the lower plains. Families have lost ancestral land, property, and access to resources. Livestock has been stolen in Karamojong and Bokot raids without compensation. Shootings, insecurity, and fear have become part of daily life.
Despite these realities, meaningful government support remains absent.
Time keeps moving while lives are lost. Mudslides crash down from the mountains, burying homes and livelihoods in seconds. Floods drown crops, animals, and sometimes entire families in the plains below.
Communities living near Mount Elgon National Park face constant danger. Civilians have been shot, and fear follows families into their gardens, homes, and daily routines. Cattle raids strip households of their only source of food, income, and dignity, yet compensation never comes and no one talks about it.
Ancestral lands in the lower plains, once abandoned during periods of Karamojong and Bakot insecurity, have been taken over. Families who lost parents, siblings, and elders during displacement returned to find their land inaccessible. Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) expansion continues to destroy farms, property, and access to vital resources.
When Sebei cries out, silence answers back.
Mudslides bury homes and people within moments. Floods sweep away families, crops, and animals. Rescue teams often arrive too late, leaving survivors to dig through mud alone, mourning what they could not save.
Families near Mount Elgon cannot farm, collect firewood, or move freely without fear. Authorities enforcing park boundaries have shot fathers, mothers, and even children. Fear has become part of everyday survival.
Karamojong raids leave families without cows, income, or security. Empty kraals replace livelihoods. Grandmothers mourn lost herds, and young people return home to nothing. Without compensation, hunger and debt follow.
The lower plains that fed generations now feel unreachable. After returning from displacement, families found their land occupied. UWA expansion has taken gardens and farmland, making farming and settlement unsafe. Land that once sustained life now strips families of dignity.
When disasters strike other regions, aid arrives quickly. In Sebei, communities wait. Tents, food, medicine, and leaders rarely come. Neglect deepens while other regions rebuild.
Young people leave Sebei searching for work, often ending up exploited or exposed to danger. Others remain behind with fading hope. Without investment, dreams disappear quietly.
Patients travel long distances on poor roads to reach understaffed hospitals. Some areas, such as Soi County, lack health facilities entirely. Sports fields stand empty, and young athletes train without coaches, equipment, or support. Talent goes unnoticed.
Families near Mount Elgon face fines, harassment, and destroyed gardens. Authorities punish survival while offering no alternatives. Hunger and fear force communities into impossible choices.
SNYM exists to transform grief, frustration, and neglect into organized action. We work to restore dignity, safety, and opportunity for every person in Sebei.
We will continue organizing until Sebei receives the respect, protection, and development it deserves.
If you are tired of watching.
If you are done with being ignored.
If you believe Sebei deserves better.
Join SNYM. Bring your courage, your story, and your voice. Together, we will demand justice.
We exist to transform grief, frustration, and neglect into organized, peaceful action that restores dignity, safety, and opportunity for every person in Sebei.
They left us behind. We are rising to be unstoppable
Join the Fight Today!Welcome to the official blog of the Sebei National Youth Movement, a space where young people speak for themselves. Here, we share stories from the ground, expose the truth, challenge broken systems, and spotlight the rising leaders building a new Sebei from the grassroots up. From personal testimonies to deep dives on the issues affecting our youth — this is our space, our stories, our revolution. Read. Reflect. Share. Join the Movement.
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The Sebei National Youth Movement (SNYM) is led by young people who have lived the Sebei reality firsthand. Our leaders do not stand apart as distant figures or political elites. Instead, they emerge directly from the communities they serve.
They have survived mudslides, floods, land loss, insecurity, corruption, and years of neglect. In addition, many have buried relatives, lost cattle, fled violence, and grown up watching their communities cry out without response. These experiences shape their leadership and ground it in truth, urgency, and responsibility.
For decades, Sebei has faced systematic neglect. Because of this reality, we refused to allow suffering to remain scattered and unheard.
Through deliberate coordination, our leadership turns pain into action, grief into collective purpose, and fear into shared strength. We pursue all our work through peaceful and lawful means, believing that disciplined organization creates lasting change.
To protect our members and communities, SNYM emphasizes leadership roles and responsibilities rather than personal publicity. We do not seek attention for individuals. Instead, we focus on service to the people.
In SNYM, leadership demands sacrifice, humility, and accountability. Every leader answers first to the community and acts in the interest of collective well-being.
Benjamin Okech leads the Sebei National Youth Movement and provides strategic direction, National coordination, and external representation.
Representatives from each Sebei district deputize the overall leader. Through this structure, the movement ensures balanced leadership, shared responsibility, and direct district-level input into national decision-making.
The National Chairperson sets the overall vision and direction of the movement. This role represents the collective voice of Sebei youth, engages partners and institutions, and safeguards the movement’s mission and values.
The Vice National Chairperson supports the National Chairperson and strengthens coordination across all levels of the movement. By doing so, this role promotes unity, continuity, and effective implementation of SNYM activities.
SNYM operates across the three Sebei districts of Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo. Each district has a District Coordinator and a Deputy District Coordinator.
District leaders coordinate the youth, document community challenges, respond to crises, and channel district realities into the national agenda. As a result, every district remains visible and every form of suffering receives attention.
Sub-County Coordinators work closest to the daily struggles of the people. They organize youth locally, gather information on disasters, insecurity, land challenges, and social needs, and coordinate community action and advocacy.
Through this work, they connect district leadership with grassroots realities and ensure timely responses.
Parish Coordinators represent villages and amplify their concerns. They collect community issues, support dialogue, and maintain accurate and honest information flow between villages and higher leadership levels.
Village leadership forms the foundation of SNYM. Each village elects two coordinators, one male and one female, to ensure inclusion and gender balance.
Village Coordinators often witness floods, mudslides, raids, displacement, and harassment first. Therefore, they document realities on the ground, mobilize youth, and protect community unity during times of crisis.
Accountability and Safety
SNYM operates through collective leadership and strong community accountability. For security reasons, the movement does not publicly list all coordinators. Instead, it shares official communication and verified contacts through recognized SNYM channels.
Leadership in SNYM is not about titles. It is about standing for Sebei and refusing to let our people suffer in silence any longer.
Unheard, unrepresented, unstoppable — Sebei youth demand justice and opportunity.
Donate TodaySebei National Youth Movement (SNYM) Contact
Your Voice Matters
Every story of struggle, every loss, every unheeded cry from our communities is important. If your home has been swept by mudslides, your crops or livestock lost, your land seized, or your family affected by violence and neglect, we want to hear you. Sebei has been silenced for too long—your voice can help us demand justice, protection, and a future for our people.
General Inquiries & Story Submissions:
Email: ignoredsebei@nationalyouthmovement.org
Movement Leader (Direct Contact):
Email: benjamin@nationalyouthmovement.org
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Website: nationalyouthmovement.org
Have you lost livestock, land, or property? Experienced shootings, insecurity, or government neglect? Your story can make a difference. Every testimony matters.
All submissions are confidential. We promise to turn your pain into action, your story into change, and your voice into a movement that cannot be ignored.
Whether you’re a young person ready to take action, a supporter who wants to help, or someone with a story to share, we want to hear from you. The Sebei National Youth Movement is powered by real voices, real struggles, and real solutions.
Have a question? Want to join the movement? Facing injustice in your community? Reach out. This is your platform too. Together, we rise.
Kapchorwa, Uganda
