KAMPALA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Five-year-old Hasifa Nakirijja is becoming well known in Uganda because of her amazing skills in kung fu (Chinese martial arts).
Nakirijja lives with her parents in the shanty town of Katooke, north of the country's capital Kampala.
The person behind Nakirijja's skills is her father, Manisuru Ssejjemba, who in 2017 made a journey to the Shaolin Temple, thousands of kilometers away in China.
Ssejjemba set up a makeshift training center behind his house where he trains youngsters to help promote the kung fu culture in Uganda.
Ssejjemba's passion for kung fu started in 2003 after he watched several Chinese kung fu movies.
Ssejjemba's skills have even led him to act in several local movies which have kung fu scenes.
However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted his training sessions, as the government has stopped public gatherings to limit the spread of the virus.
Before the pandemic, Ssejjemba was training 17 youngsters and seven adults. He said that more people were signing up to join.
He is optimistic that the COVID-19 pandemic will soon come to an end, so that children and adults in the neighborhood can come back and resume training.
For now, he is concentrating on training his daughter Nakirijja, whose dream is to become a kung fu star herself.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
