Sarah Bisimwa – Miss Uganda Arizona 2020

Sarah Bisimwa is a sophomore at Gateway Community College and Phoenix college pursuing an associate degree in social work. She hopes to One Day become a child and family social work. She was inspired by the family social worker her family was signed upon arriving in Arizona in 2016. In her free times, she spends most of her free time volunteering with St. Mary’s food bank to help alleviate hunger. Sarah is a model with an emphasis on runway.

She started modeling in 2018 inspired by friends’ and family’s’ words of encouragement. Along the run, the perks of modeling became greater than she expected. The girl who was curled up in a shell, extremely shy, and unopinionated bloomed into a confident, and outspoken individual and attained self-love as well. She used modeling as a coping mechanism and to adapt to the new environment. 

Sarah was born in Congo, raised in Uganda, lived in Texas, and currently living in Arizona. Together with her family, they left Congo for Uganda for settlement. Through hawking jewelry on the streets of Kampala under harsh government policies and other unfavorable conditions, her mother managed to educate her children, paid rent, clothed, fed, and supported her family of 9. Her family’s dossier was finally considered for resettlement for the United States of America after an 8-year waiting period in Uganda.

She is the assistant secretary of African Diaspora Advisory Council (ADACA) with one of their goals to bridge the gap between African and African American individuals. Sarah is Miss Uganda Arizona and hopes to strengthen her integrity, build stronger connections, and boost her confidence levels higher to ceiling-level if not sky level.