Transforming Uganda: Tommie Alumni Lead Change in Home Country

At first glance, the Tafari interlocking block looks a lot like a giant Lego brick. Inventor Brian Osende ’10, ’11 MS designed the block with studs on top and tubes on the inside – just like the insanely popular Danish toy. But this modern variation is hardly child’s play. Instead, the pioneering building block could transform how homes are built around the world.

In Osende’s native Uganda, the Tafari blocks are taking off. Construction crews simply snap the blocks together, with no need for mortar. The innovative design speeds up construction and significantly cuts down on costs. In a rapidly growing nation like Uganda that is desperate for housing, it’s a game changer.

The Tafari blocks also carry a less obvious connection to their Danish counterpart – a truly revolutionary one. While the blocks may appear to be made of cement or clay, look closer (use a microscope) and it becomes clear that they, too, are plastic.

“I set out to solve a lot of different problems in one go, from affordable housing to jobs,” Osende said. “But finding a way to make these bricks using waste – plastic is something we have a lot of here – was my dream, and it’s what makes them unique.”

Far from his childhood home outside Kampala, the capital of Uganda, Osende studied mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He’s just one of dozens of Tommie alums, who are now back home in Uganda, deploying the skills and connections they developed halfway around the world, to serve their home country.

Recent graduates have returned home to bring electricity to their villages, defend the government against cyberattacks and establish schools for young women. They have connected refugees to the internet and provided a safe, clean space for mothers to give birth.

And in so many cases, St. Thomas staff and faculty have been right there with them.

When Osende first had the idea to create housing blocks out of plastic waste, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. He also knew exactly who to reach out to: Dr. John Abraham and Dr. John Wentz, his former mechanical engineering professors at the School of Engineering on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus.

“Brian walked into my office holding this big block, and I immediately saw the opportunity,” Wentz said.

A manufacturing expert with a passion for sustainability, Wentz worked with Osende to develop a brick that could be mass produced in Uganda. After testing out prototypes in St. Paul, Wentz even traveled to Uganda to get a better understanding of current conditions and available materials.

Creating a Tafari block involves collecting and melting plastic, mixing it with sand, and forming the final product in a specialized machine. Wentz continues to work with Osende on the design, and a current Tommie graduate student now assists in the lab.

“Being able to partner with somebody that I’ve seen come all the way from being one of my undergraduate students to running this company to developing this new technology – it’s really exciting and it’s why we’re here,” Wentz said. “The support at St. Thomas to pursue this work is incredible.”

For decades, the University of St. Thomas has enjoyed a particularly strong relationship with Uganda and its peoples. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment that inspired the bond, but a chance campus encounter in 2003 marks a likely blossoming point.

Uganda international student Charles Lugemwa ’03 MS was walking to an African Students dinner in the former student center. So, too, was then-President of St. Thomas Father Dennis Dease. They said “hello.”

“It was a miracle at all that we became friends,” Lugemwa said. “I think it was divine intervention of some sort.”

Lugemwa, who graduated and returned to Uganda only a few weeks later, stayed in touch with his new friend over email. Much of their correspondence focused on creating lasting change for Ugandans, and it wasn’t long before they looked for solutions, together.

In 2007, they co-founded a small clinic north of Kampala focused on giving new moms a safe place to give birth. That clinic eventually became two. And those two clinics turned into a full-scale hospital offering a wide range of services.

“Charles is the quintessential social entrepreneur,” Dease said. “He does not miss a trick when it comes to development opportunities.”

For Lugemwa, who graduated from St. Thomas with a master’s degree in software engineering and now serves as the hospital’s board chair, it’s been an unexpected adventure.

“I came to St. Thomas to study engineering, but I came back as a global citizen who was prepared to identify problems and work on solutions,” Lugemwa said. “And to have Father Dease mentoring me all these years, I couldn’t be more thankful.”

In 2024, the Gary Holmes Hospital Maganjo delivered 601 children, all of them “happy births.” And in 2025, the hospital’s impact should only grow. A new maternal and pediatrics wing just opened this past winter, thanks to a generous donation from two stalwart St. Thomas benefactors, Lee and Penny Anderson.

While the hospital is a marquee achievement, it’s only one piece of the most ambitious international venture in St. Thomas history. As Lugemwa and Dease established their first clinic, they also recruited dozens upon dozens of Ugandans to enroll at the University of St. Thomas, offering significant scholarship support in the process.

Two decades later, that student pipeline is bearing astonishing fruit.

“It is so deeply satisfying for me to see our students return to Uganda and move their country forward, for them to turn poverty into jobs and services,” Dease said. “They are absolutely brilliant and making incredible contributions.”

This year’s Tommie Humanitarian Award recipient is Ugandan Charles Morgan Kisitu ’10. The entrepreneurship grad founded both a safari company and the See Them Grow Foundation, a nonprofit providing women in Uganda with access to education and other career resources.

Kisitu first heard about St. Thomas while serving as driver and guide for Dease, who was in Uganda for a conference.

“I told him I was trying to raise money to go to college, and he immediately started talking about a scholarship to St. Thomas,” Kisitu said. “It was that meeting that brought me to Minnesota, and it was there I learned what it means to be a Tommie, to serve my community, and pay it forward.”

Denis Bazalirwa ’16 MS first met Dease and an entire team of Tommie engineers in 2011, when they joined his brother, Brian Osende, on a mission to bring electricity to the family’s rural village of Kitembe.

Bazalirwa was awestruck by his brother’s drive to bring additional resources to his community. Now a Tommie himself, the software engineering graduate works as a cybersecurity consultant for the Ugandan Information Technology Authority. His recent projects include redesigning the cybersecurity systems at Entebbe International Airport and bringing internet access to refugee camps around the country.

“Being able to design these solutions, building on the opportunity I had at St. Thomas, I know it’s going to help my country in the long run,” Bazalirwa said.

Nearly a decade after graduation and 8,000 miles from the St. Paul campus, Bazalirwa still relies on his Tommie support network. Longtime St. Thomas mentor John Abraham calls to chat frequently and even visits in person every few years.

“Whenever John is in town with his family, he stays with my family,” Bazalirwa said. “That connection and relationship didn’t stop when I moved back to Uganda.”

For Abraham, the chance to continue collaborating with students like Bazalirwa and Osende – long after commencement – is the ultimate gift.

“It’s sort of like watching a kid grow up,” Abraham said. “You get to see them pick up skills and connections while they’re on campus, and then once they leave, you get to watch them champion these ideas of making the world a better place. Being there for every step of that journey is the St. Thomas mission.”

Over the last two decades, St. Thomas has supported nearly 100 Ugandans as they’ve pursued degrees in St. Paul. Many have stuck around after graduation, serving as changemakers across the Twin Cities.

But plenty of others have chosen to return to their native Uganda.

“They really should start a Tommie alumni chapter over there,” said Dease, who has spotted St. Thomas flags and bumper stickers on his trips to Kampala. “There’s no doubt they would have enough members.”

Enrolled this spring at St. Thomas are 11 international students from Uganda. Faculty and staff can’t wait to see the change they bring to the world.

“One person can transform a community, a town, an entire country,” Abraham said. “And when they have the means and support to follow that dream, that’s when the magic happens.”