Founder · Team Lead · Executive Director
Christian Mugarura Mafigiri
“Human being, father, brother, son, founder.” Christian leads ADAAM the way he started it — personally, in the communities where the need is loudest.
CM
Founder & Executive Director
The founder’s road
Christian’s authority on addiction was not learned in a lecture hall — though his journey has passed through Uganda Christian University and UCLA. It was earned the hard way: through addiction that began in childhood, and a recovery that faith and community made possible.
He came back to the places that once held him “not as a patient, but as a friend, advocate, and founder.” Under his leadership ADAAM has grown from a personal pledge into a national movement — training ghetto youth in early recovery skills, standing with survivors on national television, and helping found the Coalition Against Illicit Alcohol’s Uganda chapter.
His tools are unusual for an NGO leader and all the more effective for it: an award-winning mangaka, he wields comics, animation and story to reach young people whose attention traditional campaigns never earn. Whether sharing festive-season prevention tips for parents or pressing ministries to act on drowning data, his message stays constant — action, not just awareness.
“Uganda’s drowning prevention requires action, not just awareness. We remain committed to working with government and partners to turn evidence into action and build safer communities around Uganda’s waters.”
Christian Mafigiri · #UniteToTurnTheTide
Four hats, one calling
What the Executive Director actually does
Founder & Executive Director
Founded ADAAM and leads it from the front — strategy, partnerships, and the daily work of protecting Uganda’s young people from addiction and drowning.
Recovery Coach
A professionally engaged recovery coach who trains ghetto youth in early recovery skills — most recently in Mutungo-Biina, Kampala — and walks with families through rehabilitation.
Award-winning storyteller
An international award-winning mangaka (comic artist) and strategic communications professional, using animation and story to shift national conversations on addiction, child marriage and GBV.
Drowning-prevention advocate
A leading civil-society voice in #DrowningPreventionUG and #UniteToTurnTheTide — pressing for Uganda’s National Water Safety Strategy to move from paper to practice.