Michigan LB Ernest Hausmann was raised in Nebraska after being adopted from Uganda at the age of 5. His recent travels back to his home country opened his eyes and provided him with a sense of purpose and the clarity he’d been looking for. This is Hausmann’s story:
On a cold, snowy January day in Columbus, Nebraska, 5-year-old Ernest Hausmann stepped onto U.S. soil for the very first time.
He had just left Uganda for a better life in the United States. His arrival in America marked the end of a long and challenging adoption process, capped by a 20-plus-hour flight. It was a journey filled with uncertainty and fear, but Hausmann put in an extraordinary amount of effort to reach this moment to not just change his life, but to one day change the lives of those he loved the most back home.
Even at such a young age, Hausmann had a rare sense of perspective. And though it meant being more than 8,000 miles away from everything he had ever known, he was determined to make the most of the situation and put himself in the position he is in today to be able to give back to his community.
Growing Up in America
Ernest was adopted by his American parents, Bob and Teresa Hausmann, in 2008. Ernest was always athletic, and Bob wanted to share his love of sports with his newly-adopted son. Ernest played various sports growing up — basketball, soccer and baseball, among others — but he was most interested in football. He played all over the defense in high school, but eventually found a home at linebacker and racked up scholarship offers from schools all over the country.
“Man, I’ve been blessed with two of the best parents in America,” Hausmann told Maize n Brew. “They instilled some tremendous core values in just how life should be. No. 1 is your faith. To not waste a day, to not take a day for granted. They really just tried to make sure that I was given the tools necessary to be successful, but also teach me independence. They wanted me to understand that you can’t predict everything that’s going to happen to you in life, and to not quit and to persevere.”
With a rock-solid support system in place, Hausmann elected to stay local and play for the Cornhuskers for one year before transferring to Michigan ahead of the 2023 season. He won the Big Ten Championship, the Rose Bowl and the National Championship all in his first year as a Wolverine, and led Michigan in tackles as a junior last season. He is expected to be one of the unquestioned leaders of the defense as a senior in 2025.
His journey to Michigan took a lot of hard work, but that’s something he was used to well before he got to Ann Arbor. When he was in high school, Hausmann would wake up at 2 a.m. and unload trucks of groceries at the local Hy-Vee. After a few hours of work while most of the world was asleep, he would workout at the local YMCA before going to school, then to football practice, and then to bed just to do it all over again the next day.
The grind never stops, and while football opened doors for him, Hausmann never lost sight of that deeper meaning. The discipline and dedication he built over the years would soon fuel a mission far more meaningful than any trophy or on-field accolade.
Homecoming
None of his football accomplishments are as meaningful personally as what he was able to do this spring. Hausmann traveled back to Uganda for the first time since 2008 — a village called Isingiro, specifically — and left a mark by digging a clean-water well.
God is great! After 16 years away, I returned home to Uganda and discovered my true purpose. I was blessed with the opportunity to help train 4 African teams while also providing an impoverished community with life-sustaining, clean drinking water. The joy on their faces was… pic.twitter.com/VyBALLnBtB
— Ernest Hausmann (@Ernest_Hausmann) March 9, 2025
Hausmann was in Uganda for about a week in April and was able to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. By the time he was heading back to Ann Arbor, residents of Ivukula had access to clean water from the newly-drilled well.
“It was a surreal experience,” Hausmann said. “(My biological family) knew I was coming down, so they were able to inform everybody, so it was pretty awesome to have everybody in one spot and see where I grew up. It was just a blessing to be able to see that all again, and I’m just so thankful for the whole experience.
“When I arrived at the airport in Uganda, it just hit me right then and there that it was home. I felt completely home. It just felt right, and that was just beautiful.”
It Takes a Village
Hausmann didn’t do all this work on his own, as he had some help from his godfather Mike Owens, a financial advisor in Omaha, Nebraska that played a pivotal role in Hausmann making it to the U.S. in the first place. Owens is the treasurer and secretary for One Million Wells , an organization that, in addition to supporting orphanages, provides dependable sources of clean water to the places around the world that need it the most.
Having been a part of the organization for many years, Owens has been on trips to set up wells for impoverished countries before. Hausmann learned about the work that Owens has done and wanted to be a part of that himself.
“He sent me a text, that said ‘I’m ready. I’m ready to help and I wanna go with you and be a part of the work there.’ And I just starting crying,” Owens told Maize n Brew. “Ernest is mature beyond his age, and it’s because of so many things — his upbringing, his heritage, his parents, his community, his faith. Ernest has become what he is because of all those factors.”
Two months of logistical planning later, Hausmann and Owens were able to get to Uganda and begin the laborious process.
The Process to Drill a Well
Drilling a hole to create a well takes a lot of planning, followed by the actual physical work. An initial 5-foot-deep borehole is dug with a shovel or post hole digger. After that, a J-ditch is made to lead back to the borehole. The J-ditch, which is approximately 10 inches deep and 12 inches wide, is in the shape of the letter “J” for water circulation purposes.
A 6.5-foot-tall drilling apparatus is then lowered into the borehole to begin the drilling process by hand. An air hose, connected to the drill bit via an elbow joint, is then hooked up to an air compressor. Once the compressor is activated, air begins to flow down to the drill bit. Simultaneously, water is poured into the borehole and the surrounding J-ditch.
With both air and water working together at the bottom of the hole, a powerful reverse flow is created, which lifts sediment and debris to the surface. As the drill progresses deeper, additional 5- or 10-foot sections of drill pipe are added to extend its reach.
This method has been used to successfully drill more than 700 wells by One Millions Wells since 2020.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s rewarding at the end of the day knowing these communities are getting access to clean water,” Owens said.
While on these trips, it’s also crucial for members of the community to learn how to drill wells. Owens and Hausmann spent an entire day in a classroom training residents of Isingiro — another village in Uganda — so they can continue the work after Owens and Hausmann traveled back to America.
“That’s a main thing we want to do — we want to train teams how to do it themselves,” Hausmann said. “The goal is that team can drill two or three wells per week, and we want to exponentially grow this well-drilling development, so we want to train teams.
“We explained everything we do so it’s as smooth and efficient as possible. From set up to actual drilling work — everything. You want to make sure you drill the well the correct way and make sure it is built the right way and lasts as long as possible.”
What it Takes
What Hausmann has accomplished — on and off the field — is pretty extraordinary. It takes a vision, humility, and ability to lead by example to achieve all he has thus far. Michigan linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary believes Hausmann is a natural-born leader, and playing middle linebacker in Ann Arbor only amplifies that quality.
“The position he plays lends itself to being the leader on defense, and he’s embraced that,” Jean-Mary said this spring. “I think he’s really dove into it now and is a clear-cut guy that everybody looks to to lead the program. The trip back to Uganda was just another step in his evolution as a man and as a leader … I think he came back with a different perspective. I think everybody should have that experience in their life, and I know he’s been able to spread some of the things that he learned over there amongst the team.”
Sophomore linebacker Cole Sullivan shares a similar view and sees all the hard work that Hausmann puts in to everything he does.
“Ernest Hausman, he’s definitely very detailed in his work, doesn’t let anybody outwork him for sure,” Sullivan said this spring. “He’s always just cared for others and want to see his teammates and other people’s success, so I would say that’s just how he’s always been.”
Hausmann’s “Why”
Like all athletes, Hausmann dreams of being a professional. While that goal is still within reach following his final season at Michigan, his true motivation for having this platform has always been to give back, especially to his home in Uganda.
“For myself, the reason I play football is to be able to give back to my home community,” Hausmann said. “That has always been my ‘why’ and why I play the game of football. So this was the perfect opportunity in my life to be able to give back and to reach back out to (Owens) and said this is what I wanted to do.”
There was a specific moment during his trip that hit him especially hard. A moment when everything clicked. A moment he realized this was what he wanted to do forever.
“When I saw the little kids — when we first got water out of the drill, and seeing these little kid’s reactions, that’s when it got me,” Hausmann said. “That’s when it hit me for sure. That’s when it hit me hard that this was my purpose in life. This is exactly what I’m meant to do and what I’m called to do on this earth. That was unreal. You can’t totally explain it really, but when I found that purpose and I just knew this was exactly what I wanted to do. Everything kinda came full circle.”
Some people spend their entire lives searching for a meaning. For Hausmann, all it took was going back to where everything started.
What’s Ahead
It didn’t take long for Hausmann to get back to Uganda and continue his mission of providing access to clean water. In fact, he went back to his hometown of Ivukula shortly after spring ball and dug a well for his family and home community.
Providing clean drinking water for my family and the community that raised me, has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. With God’s grace, I stood on the soil of Ivukula not just as a visitor, but as a bearer of hope. This is more than just water. It’s health, a… pic.twitter.com/TvVsVEszdK
— Ernest Hausmann (@Ernest_Hausmann) May 7, 2025
Once his football playing days are over, Hausmann wants to continue giving back. He has aspirations to work for an adoption agency, as well as help provide equal educational opportunities to all people in Uganda.
“I just can’t think of a more fulfilling job to wake up to every single day than being a part of that,” Hausmann said. “I would love to be able to do that now. The opportunity to change a little kid’s life is unreal.
“Giving is something I center my whole life around. I don’t like to do a lot of things for myself really. My heart is full when I give. Life isn’t about taking, it’s all about giving.”
Things truly do come full circle. There was plenty of uncertainty for Hausmann when he first got to America. Nearly two decades later, he returned to Uganda with a clarity of purpose, all while bringing the blessing of clean water.
He left Uganda as a child searching for opportunity, and he returned as a man offering it to others. No matter what his football future holds, that’s the true legacy of Ernest Hausmann.