From Kampala to the Global Stage: How Ambrose Otim Is Changing Lives Through Football
| Ambrose represented Uganda at the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup. Image: Angelica Ibarra Rodriguez
Football has changed Ambrose Otim’s life. Growing up in Uganda’s capital Kampala, football was an escape, the pitch was a place to find hope when everything felt hopeless.
It took him first to programmes run by Youth Sport Uganda, and then to Seoul – to the 19th Homeless World Cup - where he and three other Ugandan players defied the odds and competed against teams with double the number of players. Uganda finished in the top half of the tournament and were awarded ‘Best New Team’. An example of how in spite of the odds being against them, they found a way to overcome and succeed.
That desire to succeed and overcome the odds doesn’t stop there, after returning from the Homeless World Cup, Ambrose applied to become an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Young Leader. In early 2025, he got the news – he'd been accepted as one of 25 young leaders. He would learn from global leaders in sport for development and then run his own two-year project in his community. His project, ‘Play Pure’ was born. A programme which would use sport to help children and young people to tackle and avoid drug addiction and substance abuse.
“I want to make an impact on my community”
“I am really passionate about it because I am doing it because of lived experience, I have seen many people in my community live a bad lifestyle, live a life of struggling, I want to make an impact on my community.”
His community is Acholi Quarters, an informal settlement just outside Kampala, which is home for some 15,000 people. It’s crowded, chaotic and short of provisions or utilities.
| Football is what unites the young people in our community. Image: Ambrose Otim
“There is no access to education, limited resources, no services – most children don’t attend school. Very many early marriages, very many children are into drugs just because of lack of employment and poor access to health services.”
The thing that gives young people a break from the pressure of day-to-day life is sport.
“What keeps us busy in this community is sport – at least we have one evening where we can do something constructive – channel our energy into playing football. By the end of it we all return to our homes and start struggling with life again. Football is what unites the young people in our community.”
| Football in action on the pitch in Acholi Quarters Video: Ambrose Otim
‘Play Pure’
| Image: Ambrose Otim
In June 2026, his new two-year project ‘Play Pure’ will start in the field where Ambrose started to play football as a child. The place where he met the coaches at Youth Sport Uganda who stopped him experimenting with drugs and alcohol and instead put his focus on the beautiful game and becoming a role model.
Despite being a leader for young people in his community, behind the scenes Ambrose is facing his own personal struggles. Day to day he makes the small amount of money he receives for playing football for a team stretch so he can eat – but it only stretches to one meal a day and despite his continuous attempts and completing his university degree, he’s struggled to secure employment.
It’s been a long journey for Ambrose, with everything changing when his father, a former policeman, died in the line of duty. He had been living in a place provided by the Ugandan police force, so as well as losing his father, Ambrose and his two brothers and mother became homeless.
They returned to the village where they had a small plot of land where his mother could farm to make ends meet, but as the first born it was now Ambrose’s responsibility to stay in the capital to try and find employment to support his family.
“You always have to have a plan B”
Since 2024, he’s been staying with friends in a small place in Acholi Quarters, there’s four of them but only two rooms. Before that he was staying with another friend, but they were forced to move when the Ugandan government announced plans to build a road and their home, along with many others, was demolished. As he is living in an informal settlement with no legal right to the land, there is always a risk it could happen again.
“We hear rumours here and there that they want to come and develop this area and demolish this area and construct more commercial buildings in this place so at any time we need to just plan ahead because anything can happen. Things here in Uganda happen differently. You always have to have a plan B.”
“The biggest problem I have right now is that I don’t have a place to stay where I can call it my own home. I don’t have a place where I stay and that is what I am working towards, and I hope that someday I can find somewhere to stay where I can be reunited with my family members – my brothers together.” The role with the IOC is voluntary so the funding goes directly into the project, which means Ambrose will be still quietly struggling as he leads the next generation and inspires them to change their lives through sport.
“I want to touch on a few young people and see them make healthier choices and live a life of purpose with a lot of hope.”
“That’s what I want to be remembered for, it can be something small, but I want to see it impact the lives of young people.”
For the young people in Acholi Quarters, Ambrose is a hero and an inspiration, he’s shown them that even when life is hard and the struggle can seem never-ending, there is always a reason to be hopeful and often that hope can be found on the football pitch.
If you would like to support Ambrose with his programme in Uganda please contact rebecca@homelessworldcup.org and we will give you ways to directly support him.
Help the Homeless World Cup to continue to give players like Ambrose the chance to represent their country on a global stage and donate to the Homeless World Cup.