By Christine Mirembe
When Joshua Elimu studied at Uganda Christian University (UCU), he lived on the main campus in Mukono. The decision to study within UCU’s Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology was especially challenging because he was more than 180 miles away from his wife and four children in Soroti district, eastern Uganda.
He knew the value of physically connecting with family. As such, on many occasions, he would ask the university administration for permission to travel back to Soroti, especially when a member of the family was sick. Elimu is the husband of Martha and father of Emedu Mark, Miriam Iwaru, Julian Merab Amuge and Josiah Micah Elimu, aged 14, 11, 6, and 1, respectively.
When Elimu couldn’t make the trip home, he would contact his friends in Soroti to support him by providing whatever assistance the family needed, and he would reimburse them when he got home.
“It is important to have friends and relationships that matter,” Elimu said during a late November interview.
Luckily, the distance obstacle is now past Elimu as he was among the 568 UCU students who graduated on October 24, 2025. With a Grade Point Average of 4.62 out of 5.0, Elimu’s score made him the best-performing male student (and second-best student overall) at the graduation. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree.
Every step of life comes with challenges, Elimu says, but adds that they should never be the reason for one to give up. He attributes his success to some key strategies, like taking the initiative to consult lecturers.
“They are our friends,” he emphasized, referring to the lecturers.
When asked how he managed to earn top academic honors despite the attention that he had to give his family at home, Elimu gave a litany of secrets: He said he often put aside time for personal revision, waking up in the dead of the night, to read from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., before getting ready for classes at 8 a.m. He also always endeavored to arrive early for whatever activity he participated in, in order not to waste time. Additionally, he was deliberate in participating in academic discussions with some friends.
For his academic research, Elimu’s subject of study was infidelity among married couples in Soroti, the district where he was born. He sought to establish the causes of infidelity among couples, to identify the effects of infidelity and to establish what role the church can play in mitigating the vice.
The study established some of the reasons for infidelity as emotional discontent, sexual incompatibility or differing levels of desire, ineffective communication leading to unfulfilled needs and low levels of commitment or feelings of dissatisfaction. Elimu’s research recommended that the church should continuously ask married couples to build strong relationships through open communication, honesty, healthy boundaries and spiritual guidance. He also urged religious leaders to promote forgiveness and personal growth, helping couples rebuild trust and restore damaged relationships using God’s guidance.
Earlier life
From 1994 to 2000, Elimu attended Swaria Primary School in Soroti, before proceeding to Soroti Secondary School. After high school, he embarked on a Diploma in Business Studies at Uganda College of Commerce (UCC), Soroti, from 2007 to 2009, majoring in accounting.
Life after school was not exactly smooth for Elimu as he went about in search of a job. To make matters worse, he had just married in 2010. In order to support his growing family, he sold fresh potatoes in the Soroti main market in 2012.
By 2018, his life had taken a new turn when he was called to serve as a church teacher at Aminit Church of Uganda in Soroti. That same year, he was sent to school and later earned a provincial certificate in the lay leaders course. He was thus posted as a lay leader at Oderai Church of Uganda in Soroti parish. In May 2022, Elimu joined UCU to pursue a Bachelor of Divinity, sponsored by the Diocese of Soroti.
“I was called for service by God; it was not about selecting the course,” Elimu said of his divinity career path. “It was an upgrade. Being a lay leader in the church, it was by God’s grace that I got a chance to come to school to pursue a bachelor’s in divinity.”
The father of four was ordained a reverend deacon on December 7, 2025.
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