By Kefa Senoga
When two-year-old Karen relocated with her parents from the USA to Japan for missionary work, little did she know that that act was an initiation into her future life.
Over the years, she has taught nurses in the USA and Africa on how to save lives. Dr. Karen Drake, a lecturer in the nursing programs at Uganda Christian University (UCU) and Bethel University in Minnesota, USA, has taught in the two institutions for the last two decades.
She describes her experience at UCU, where she has been lecturing since 2005, as marvelous. “I find teaching very rewarding and very fulfilling,” she says, noting that she’s impressed with the progress of some of her former students of the nursing program at UCU.
Throughout Karen’s career as a lecturer, one of the key virtues people always mention is the special bond she has with her former Ugandan students.
In October 2022, when she visited Uganda, her pioneer class at UCU organized a meet-up with her. “I listened to each one of them as they shared how they have progressed,” Karen said, adding: “One of them has completed a PhD and another is working with the Ministry of Health…That was a good day for me to meet and hear them mention how far they have reached with their goals.”
Even though she is a foreigner teaching mostly Ugandan students at UCU, she manages to connect with them academically and culturally.
“I came to UCU with some African experience from Zimbabwe, where I spent 17 years teaching in similar settings like at UCU, so my experience there helped me understand how things are done in Uganda,” she said.
Karen believes that the nursing program at UCU provides a holistic and extensive education to the students, especially since the course is taught from a Christian perspective.
“This helps nurses that have passed through this program to develop a caring spirit for their patients,” she said. “When our students give care, they give care from a Christian perspective exemplified by the love of their patients.”
Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Karen would come to Uganda to teach at UCU three times a year and would spend a couple of weeks on the campus each time. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 disrupted her schedule and everything was put online. Additionally, her caregiver role for an aging parent in Minnesota, USA, has cut visits to UCU shorter. She’s hoping to eventually resume her in-person schedule.
“Today, when I come to Mukono, I no longer spend so much time there because I am taking care of my father who is now 101 years old,” she said. “It is when my brother comes to take care of my father that I come to UCU. I came three times in 2022.”
Karen says she got acquainted with UCU through Bethel University, where she lectures. “I got introduced to UCU because Bethel had developed a strong partnership with them. I took Bethel students to UCU and other parts of Uganda, and some UCU nursing students also came and spent some time at the campus at Bethel.”
Karen says that the UCU community is welcoming. “When I stayed on campus at UCU, I had very good neighbors and friends, besides my nursing colleagues.”
Before coming to UCU, Karen says she stayed in Zimbabwe as a missionary. It is in Zimbabwe where she met her husband, who was also a missionary working as a doctor.
“We were married in Zimbabwe in 1975, and we have two grown children,” she said. “My husband also came to UCU many times before he passed on five years ago.”
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