Emmanuel “Emma” Kavuma is a self-taught artist born in Masaka, Uganda. He was orphaned at age four, during the AIDS epidemic, and was sponsored by an Austrian family that helped him practice painting and drawing through pen and pencil friendships, in which he would send pieces of his artwork.When that sponsorship ended, Emma joined high school with the intervention of a member of parliament.

after helping him create his portrait in pencil. During this time he served as tour guide an artist at the Kasubi Tombs and the Buganda Kingdom’s royal palace in Mengo, painting on backcloth. This experience engendered a love of adventure, and Emma has taken his art to Zanzibar, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Sweden, the Netherlands, and beyond.

Emma has done numerous fundraisers for animals and civic activism. His passion is to see all youth and children become creative. He says: “It is only through this that we can change the world.”

Both Emma and Kanizius are enrolled in the Singing Tree Facilitators Training though scholarship support.