Winifred Kisitu. Photo Credit, Noeline Kirabo
By Noeline Kirabo
Winifred Kisitu is a lecturer, author, advocate, wife and mother. I was fascinated by how much she has accomplished professionally while maintaining her family life. There’s the notion that today’s career woman can’t be successful at running a home and family. Winifred defies the odds of the dot com career women stereotype. She shares insights on how to find the right balance as a successful career and family woman for the dot com woman in this interview.
Q.1: Who is Winfred Kisitu?
Winifred is a senior visiting lecturer at the Uganda Christian University and a published author with 4 books to her credit. She is also an Early Years Consultant with a Phd in Early Childhood Care and Development and a child rights advocate who teaches parents and teachers how to positively discipline children without inflicting pain, physical or psychological.
When asked to define herself, she says; “I am called to helping others less fortunate. I am passionate about making a difference in the lives of children regardless of gender, age, race or ability. I am on a mission to make the world a better place for every child.”
Winifred at a speaking event. Photo Credit, Noeline Kirabo
Q. 2: Discuss a childhood experience that has shaped you into the person you are today.
“One thing about my childhood that shaped me into the person I am today is my parents. Although we did not have much, I always tell people that we were the richest-our parents provided us with a stable upbringing. My parents have been married for 54 years but I never witnessed them fall out. I am sure they had their arguments but, while growing up, I never witnessed any.”
Even as an accomplished career woman, Winifred makes time to be there for her family and to celebrate both the big and small milestones of their lives. Her family is a high priority and she doesn’t let her career get in the way of that.
Q. 3: What drives or motivates you to do the things that you do?
“Although I have lived in the United Kingdom close to 19 years now, I was born and bred in Uganda. One thing I hated, especially about school, was the way we were punished-both emotionally and physically. At that time I thought they were doing the right thing-because it was what was happening all around me. It was not until I started writing my PhD thesis that I came across alternative and effective ways of teaching children right from wrong. Since then I’ve become a child rights advocate.”
Although life has offered some of the best privileges, she is driven by the passion to impact and transform the lives of those less fortunate and to give them an opportunity to thrive.
Q. 4: What is your opinion of an ideal world for women and children?
Winifred w/ family. Photo Credit, Noeline Kirabo
“An ideal world for women and children would be a world free from hunger, violence and discrimination.”
She embodies the fact that women can have big dreams and live real every day lives simultaneously. Her dream is bigger than her ability and yet she purses it daily with undivided attention and consistency.
Q. 4: Where do you see yourself in the next ten years?
“In the next ten years I see myself as an established writer, professor, and may be a Nobel peace prize winner.”
Q. 5: What is the most vital lesson every mother should teach their child?
“The most vital lesson every mother should teach their children is respect-respect for oneself, for others and for authority. But this starts with mothers (and fathers too) showing respect to their children, whatever the age.”
Winifred at a speaking event. Photo Credit, Noeline Kirabo
Q. 6: How do you find the balance between career, work and family?
“It is quite hard due to the fact that my family is still young. But what I always tell young mothers is that time waits for no one. If you have something you are passionate about, you’ve got to do it. As the saying goes, ‘where there is a will, there is a way’.”
Q. 7: Share three of your top beauty secrets.
“Haha this is quite hard. But three of my top beauty secrets include:
- Never go to bed with make up
- Exfoliate your face (and the whole body) regularly
- Never step out of your house without makeup”
Q. 8: List five things that you can’t live without.
- Make up (definitely)
- Computer
- Phone
- Face book
- Skinny jeans
Q. 9: What song are you currently replaying on your music player?
- I know who I am (by Sinach)
Q. 10: Any final remarks for young women today?
“Young women of today have many opportunities before them, which was not the case 20 or so years ago. Although there is still prejudice about what women can and cannot do, it is time that young women rise up and turn a deaf ear to voices around them that try to put them down. Whatever a man can achieve, a woman can do it- in fact ten times better.”