Category Archives: COVID-19

UCU’s health and safety response to Mpox

February 28, 2025COVID-19#Covid-19, Ebola, Mpox, UCU, UgandaEdwin Byarugaba

By Jimmy Siyasa
Typical weekend activity at the Uganda Christian University (UCU), Main Campus, has a temporary lull.

Usual Saturday nights are filled with laughter and the sound of cheerful play echoing from Nsibambi Hall, named after a former Ugandan Prime Minister and designated as a male resident common; the students consistently meet there to watch the English Premier League soccer match. The mood is mirrored on a typical Friday evening in Sabiti Hall, the female residence named after a former Ugandan archbishop. There, girls have an impromptu movie night, watching Spanish telenovelas and sharing shawls and snacks as their carefree spirits light up their cubicle-size rooms.

On some weekend nights, there is a “Worship Night” organized by the Chaplaincy in Nkoyoyo Hall where no less than 500 students engage in vibrant musical praise and worship. Across campus, it is not uncommon to spot a group of friends squeezed into a crowded Toyota Vitz after a late study session. Within a sub-compact car, shoulders brush as they chatter about the week ahead.

These scenes of vibrant, social life—hallmarks of university culture— took a turn in February when UCU determined added vigilance was necessary. For students whose days involve handshakes, hugs and shared spaces, such a contagious disease could be fertile ground.

Just as with Covid-19, the emergence of the Mpox (commonly called monkey pox) virus in Uganda sparked a united response at UCU and across the country to protect the community and curb a threat.

Mpox spreads primarily through close, personal contact, including skin-to-skin contact with someone who has an infectious rash or by touching contaminated objects or materials.

Uganda’s fight against Mpox began with its first case on July 24, 2024, in Mpondwe, Western Uganda. On Feb. 11, 2025, the country confirmed 2,896 cases. This outbreak follows Uganda’s triumph over Ebola, contained in just 69 days thanks to a swift, coordinated intervention in 2022. Today, that same resolve drives the Mpox effort.

Addressing the public on February 18, Uganda’s Minister for Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng noted that the ministry continues to “monitor and contain” the disease with much hope of overcoming it.

“Uganda remains safe, and we have the capacity to manage the outbreak,” she said, reassuring both natives and foreigners.

The management involves tracing, diagnosing and educating.

The Ministry of Health deployed investigation teams, like Mukono’s Surveillance Department, to trace contacts on UCU’s campus during the last week of February.
Mobile labs, once key to rapid Ebola testing, were converted to diagnose Mpox swiftly.
Nationwide education campaigns, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), teach millions about prevention including impact of vaccination.

Uganda’s history—from pioneering Yellow Fever research to ending Ebola outbreaks — demonstrates safety. USAID’s $22 million boost during the 2022 Ebola fight, funding labs and treatment centers, laid groundwork that aids the Mpox response, proving past investments endure.

While the UCU campus is not impacted by widespread Ebola or Mpox, the Directorate of Medical Services, hosted at the Alan Galpin Health Centre, is proactive – sharing facts, safety tips and calling for vigilance.

Dr. Geoffrey Mulindwa, UCU Director of Medical Services

“If you or someone around you feels unwell, promptly notify health workers for assessment and care,” wrote Dr. Geoffrey Mulindwa, the Director of Medical Services, on Feb. 25, 2025. “Let’s all do our part to prevent Mpox at UCU.”

Their plan targets habits that define student life. Handshakes are out; frequent handwashing with soap or sanitizer is in. Sharing clothes and piling into close quarters are discouraged.

“Limit unnecessary physical contact,” the Directorate urged.

Students feeling unwell were instructed to call the Directorate’s hotline for immediate care. With Mukono’s contact-tracing team arriving soon, UCU is fully cooperating, ready to isolate risks. This blend of discipline and care reflects UCU Christian values, turning a wake-up call into a collective stand for safety.

Ironically, this action occurred a week away from the Easter Semester 2025 Health Awareness Week. To assist with disease mindfulness, the normal weekend wind-down at UCU has been replaced by quiet and a mantra of “health first.”

While assistance through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been halted, Uganda and the WHO are engaged in efforts to combat Mpox and Ebola.

“Controlling outbreaks is about saving lives,” Dr. Aceng said.

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To support UCU programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.

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UCU awards law alumni who graduated as best lawyers

August 7, 2023COVID-19, UCU Alumni, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

(Left to Right) Peter Mutesasira, the Dean UCU Faculty of Law, and Jemimah Jehopio, Emmanuel Okia and Shamira Kitimbo celebrate. Jehopio scored a CGPA of 4.70 and captured the three awards at LDC - the Director’s Award, Agaba Muhairwe Prize and the Inspector General of Government accolade. — (Left to Right) Peter Mutesasira, the Dean UCU Faculty of Law, and Jemimah Jehopio, Emmanuel Okia and Shamira Kitimbo celebrate. Jehopio scored a CGPA of 4.70 and captured the three awards at LDC – the Director’s Award, Agaba Muhairwe Prize and the Inspector General of Government accolade.

By Irene Best Nyapendi
Work, dedication and discipline paid off for the Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Law class of 2020/2021 as these graduates topped the list at the 50th Law Development Center (LDC) graduation. Among the top 20 students who scored a first-class degree at the LDC graduation in June, 10 did their Bachelor’s Degree at UCU.

Emmanuel Okia, the overall best student receiving his award from the UCU Vice Chancellor.

Before anyone can practice law in Uganda, they must have a Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (one academic year) from LDC on top of a degree from a recognized university. UCU is among a dozen Ugandan schools offering a law degree.

In appreciation of their achievement, UCU held a thanksgiving ceremony to honor these distinguished alumni. The recognition on July 11 at Nkoyoyo Hall followed the recently concluded LDC graduations at LDC campuses in Kampala, Lira and Mbarara districts.

Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, the UCU Vice Chancellor, commended the School of Law staff for their roles in graduates’ success and encouraged alumni to consider working at UCU.

Martha Uwizeye is presented with an award by the UCU Vice Chancellor. Uwizeye was among the UCU students whose studies were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic that saw institutions halt physical classes and completed the semester online.

“This has been possible because we have a God we serve, a mighty God, and so we shall be a mighty university,” Mushengyezi said.

In appreciation of the performance, UCU management approved the purchase of a new van for the faculty and renovation of their offices. Star students were given individual awards.

Rev. Assoc. Prof. John Mulindwa Kitayimbwa, the UCU Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), who attended the graduation at Kampala campus, said he was “filled with extreme joy” that the top four students were from UCU.

We want to thank the Lord because it has not been by power nor might, but it has been by the Spirit of the living God,” Kitayimbwa said.

Dr. Peter Mutesasira, Dean of the UCU School of Law, said the recent accomplishment wasn’t an easy task but is a reflection of the rigor at UCU.

“Your great performance at LDC has proved that beyond the gates of UCU, our students continue to excel, and this has proved that we indeed produce the best,” he said. “We thank God we are here. I usually tell my students I am the film star of the School of Law, but for today these are our film stars.”

He urged other students pursuing Law at UCU to be firm and know that they are in the right place.

The alumni show off their awards in a photo with the Vice Chancellor Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi (front-row third left) and other university officials. UCU had 10 of the best 20 students who scored a first-class degree at the Law Development Centre graduation in June

“We hope you will be an inspiration to those who are coming after you,” Mutesasira said. “We believe that even those after you will hold our flag higher and this is not the end; this is the journey that is just starting for you.”

During the event, the Vice Chancellor awarded the distinguished graduands.

The stars included Emmanuel Okia, the best performer at LDC this year with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.90; Shamira Kitimbo, the best female student at LDC with 4.80; Reagan Ahumuza, the best at Kampala campus with 4.75. The others included Victor Stephen Bwambale with 4.60; Job Ernest Ayesiga (4.55); Samuel Odiye (4.50); Martha Uwizeye (4.40); and Namagembe Josephine Jojo (4.40).

Jemimah Jehopio, who scored a CGPA of 4.70, scooped the three awards at LDC – the Director’s Award, Agaba Muhairwe Prize (given to best student in corporate and commercial practice on the postgraduate bar course) and the Inspector General of Government accolade (for outstanding student in trial advocacy).

“These awards represent the fulfillment of my dreams,” Jehopio said. “These accolades acknowledge my dedication and are pivotal for my future career endeavors.”

“I am humbled by such a profound gesture,” said Samuel Odiye (4.50). “We thank God for UCU, a place where knowledge meets opportunity, where dreams are nurtured, and where lifelong friendships are forged.”.

The graduates were among the first group of UCU students that did a take home exam during the Covid-19 lockdown disruptions in 2020. They completed their semester online and had a virtual graduation. All that notwithstanding, they excelled, joined LDC and topped in the country.

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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities, and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.

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South Sudan war breaks Kani’s family, but hardens her resolve

October 19, 2022COVID-19, Scholarship, Students, UCU School of Social SciencesPatty Huston-Holm

Gloria Clinton Kani says she looks forward to helping her family when she completes her course

By Kefa Senoga
In 21 years, South Sudanese refugee Gloria Clinton Kani has witnessed miracles countless times. Each time that she feels she has reached the end of the road, God gives her a new path. The latest revitalization was winning a scholarship for her degree program at Uganda Christian University (UCU).

This, then, is part of her story.

When she completed Senior Six, Kani lobbied organizations, including the Ugandan government, for scholarship opportunities.

Gloria Clinton Kani, a South Sudan refugee student at UCU, narrating her story.

“After bringing my plight to light, I started getting calls from people, informing me of the available scholarship opportunities,” Kani said. One such opportunity that seemed promising was the scholarship offered by Finn Church Aid Uganda. However, Kani’s hope was crushed in January this year when she learned that her first application was not successful. When she re-applied, she was.

Finn Church Aid Uganda is now paying Kani’s fees for the university accommodation and tuition for her Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration course at UCU.

Citing her frequent visits to the chapel at UCU, Kani says that the institution has enabled her to rebuild a relationship with God, because of its deep-rooted Christian values.

Life in a refugee camp

Kani, a daughter of two South Sudan nationals, was born in 2001, in Koboko, northern Uganda. Kani’s parents were among escapees of the southern Sudan civil war between the central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. That war eventually led to a cessation of South Sudan from Sudan, and the former’s eventual independence in 2011. However, despite the closure, peace has eluded South Sudan.

In 2007, when temporary normalcy returned to southern Sudan, there was repatriation of the Sudanese refugees like Kani’s family that was in a Ugandan camp. Kani and her family were among the people who returned to their country. Kani’s home area is in Yei state, in the southern part of South Sudan.

However, the war has kept Kani from fully feeling the warmth of her cradle land. In 2013, Kani and some of her family members were again back in Uganda after fresh fighting erupted in her home country.

“When our father abandoned us, our maternal uncle relocated us to Uganda so we could continue with our studies,” she said. Her mother, however, was not part of the people who came to Uganda at that time.

In 2016, Kani’s uncle died in South Sudan, prompting the rest of the family members who had stayed behind to relocate to Uganda. Among them was Kani’s mother.

“We moved into Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in northern Uganda, but I spent two terms at home because my benefactor had been killed, so I had no other source of money for tuition,” Kani narrates. She was in Senior Three at the time. Her cousin who had completed Senior Six was designated to help some of the family members. He took up the responsibility of paying Kani’s school fees using proceeds from his job as a shopkeeper for a Ugandan family.

However, there were instances when the tuition fees were beyond what Kani’s cousin could afford. In Senior Four third term, for instance, Kani got financial assistance from the mother of a friend while for two terms in Senior Six, Kani’s friend in the camp came to her rescue. By that time, her cousin had lost his job at the shop. The shop was one of the businesses closed due to a Covid-induced lockdown in Uganda.

Kani has been able to build for her mother a house in the settlement. She built using proceeds from a short term job she got during her Senior Six holidays, working as a translator for a Non-Governmental Organization.

As she embarks on her degree course, Kani is fully aware of the financial challenges – taking care of her siblings – ahead of her after the studies. But for now, she focuses on the course, to get the best possible grades, which can boost her abilities to get a job after school and meet those obligations.

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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.

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UCU team releases report on Covid conspiracy theory link to vaccination

September 28, 2022COVID-19, News, SRPGS, UCU School of Business, UCU School of Journalism, Media and Communication, UCU School of Social SciencesPatty Huston-Holm

Around two dozen in-person participants listen and ask questions about the Covid study.

By Patty Huston-Holm with audio-visual by Conrad Okello
Covid-19 – a pandemic waning worldwide – was the topic of discussion for two hours on a Thursday morning in a far corner of the Uganda Christian University (UCU) main campus in Mukono. More specifically, the talk surrounded how false information contributes to health crises overall and how communication of legitimate facts and figures could alleviate sickness and death.

Dr. Geoffrey Rwabaingi Mulindwa, the director of medical services through Allan Galpin Health Center at UCU/Mukono, was among 40 of the combined in-person and on-line participants on Sept. 8, 2022. He listened as collaborators of public health, social science, journalism and business faculty presented their phase one research entitled “Conspiracy Beliefs and Covid-19 Vaccination Hesitancy in Uganda” and shared his perspective over a tea break.

Dr. Bacwayo expresses appreciation for report questions and comments.

“Covid is real,” he stated without hesitancy. “Vaccination should be as annual as a flu shot.”

The medical doctor, age 60 and seeing first-hand cases of coronavirus, notes that the worldometer estimate of 169,396 cases and 3,628 deaths in Uganda is lower than for most countries in the rest of the world. The Uganda data are derived mostly from heavily populated areas in a country that is 75% rural. Residents in the rural areas have been mostly spared from the virus because they are not as close in contact with other people as city dwellers. He estimated at least half of the Uganda adult population has received at least one dose of a vaccination to combat Covid.

Regardless, Mulindwa said vaccination is a means of overall improvement of public health, especially as other diseases – such as polio – are coming back. Numerous credible sources, including the Yale School of Medicine, in August 2022, report the re-emergence of this once-eradicated, crippling polio disease.

Professor Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, director, Postgraduate Studies, speaks as the chief investigator of the study of conspiracy theory impact on Covid vaccinations.

Prof. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, an Associate Prof. of Governance and Development in the School of Social Sciences and UCU Directorate of Postgraduate Studies, was the Covid-focused study lead investigator with a multi-disciplinary team of colleagues from UCU. Others on the team are Emilly Comfort Maractho, Richard Sebaggala, Solomon Mwije, Mercy Amaniyo, Clare Cheremoi, Evas Kemigisha and Jacqueline Kobusingye.

The team was awarded a UCU research grant to study how conspiracy beliefs affected Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy in Uganda. In a three-year project with an online and physical survey of over 1,000 respondents, the team is examining conspiracy beliefs and their implications for Covid vaccination in Uganda.

Among the Covid conspiracy beliefs are:

The G5 cellular network is responsible for causing COVID-19.
Bill Gates used Covid as a plan to depopulate the world.
High-powered people released Covid on purpose.
Vaccinations having microchips that can be used to monitor behavior.

The study’s main objectives are designed to measure such conspiracy beliefs and establish how they impact vaccination decisions for adults and their children.

Assoc. Prof. Elizabeth Balyejusa Kizito, director, Research, Partnership and Innovation, applauds the UCU team for the Covid-related research.

The population engaged in the study is 47% male and 53% female from the Uganda areas of Mukono, Arua, Gulu, Sheema, Mbarara, Kapchorwa, Kabale and Wakiso. According to the study, inaccurate information is largely obtained through radio and social media via smart phones that are increasingly in the hands of both educated and less-educated persons.

“A lot of this false information was coming through WhatsApp,” Bacwayo said.

Conspiracy theories aside, among the data collected as of early September 2022 are:

Information is more trusted from health care workers than government officials.
Protecting other people is the main reason people get vaccinated.
Lack of safe and effectiveness proof about the vaccine are the main reasons people don’t get vaccinated.

Bacwayo reported that worldwide, the percentage of the population threshold that needs to be immune to achieve herd immunity for any disease should be in the 60% to 70% range. The World Health Organization lists lack of vaccination as one of the top 10 threats to global health.

“Vaccine hesitancy is as high as 70% in developing countries,” Bacwayo said. “Conspiracy theories are the biggest driver to no vaccination.”

Among the questions and feedback from the roughly 24 in-person participants on September 8 was a question about the term “conspiracy,” the actual origin of Covid, why people believe false information, how Ugandan tribal traditions impact beliefs and the reality of a need to get vaccinated more than once.

“We are using this feedback to inform our next phase of the research,” said Dr. Maractho, who is part of the research team.

“We believe this study is relevant and that it will bear fruits in other areas,” Dr. Bacwayo said.

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UCU launches post-graduate research and writing training

September 27, 2022COVID-19, News, SRPGS, StudentsPatty Huston-Holm

The UCU Directorate of Postgraduate Studies team spearheading the virtual research and writing training are (left to right) Dr. Godwin Awio, Dr. Joseph Jakisa Owor, Dr. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, Dickson Tumuramye and Jerome Makumbi.

By Patty Huston-Holm
In the midst of holding a job and raising a family, many a post-graduate student struggles with a blank computer screen destined for the required research paper. Filling that screen in a language – English – that isn’t a first language is an added obstacle for master’s and doctoral students at Uganda Christian University (UCU).

Help is on the way. It’s already here, actually.

An initiative called CRAWs, which stands for Centre for Research and Academic Writing Services, offers on-line instruction on the various parts of a dissertation and thesis. Led by a team of five within the UCU Directorate of Postgraduate Studies (DPS), the centerpiece of CRAWs is a virtual training module designed to increase understanding of the dozen sections of a research paper. Presenters are subject matter experts from among UCU’s 11 school and faculty areas.

Dr. Godwin Awio, one of the five DPS staff members spearheading CRAWs, is coordinating the module. The primary focus is on assistance to 300 students in the UCU master’s level pipeline.

“Every student can do this,” Awio said. “That’s our main message.”

The on-line module is based on an in-person training conducted by a team of Americans and Ugandans from September 2015 until Covid hit in March 2020. During Uganda’s two-year lockdown, UCU stepped up on-line learning. When the education shutdown ceased, UCU emerged with a plan to conduct nearly all post-graduate courses on line.

The CRAWs module, available without charge to all enrolled UCU post-graduate students, was launched in May of this year. It is designed to introduce participants to critical research and writing skills required to complete a research degree, diploma, publishable articles and other academic reports.

Learning outcomes are:

Identify features of theoretical paradigms
Undertake a literature review
Apply approaches to writing first draft, editing and proof reading
Apply processes in identifying and responding to publication opportunities
Apply time management strategies

Participants who attend at least 75% of the training and complete an assessment requirement receive a certificate. Those unable to complete a module can re-take portions with the next offering period.

For the first module in the spring, 200 students enrolled, with 50 receiving certificates. Most completions were from the School of Business, School of Education and Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity. The biggest problem expressed by students in this module was how to do problem statements and how to engage methodology.

The second module was slated Sept. 21 through Oct. 19, 2022. Based on UCU’s 73-page research manual, topics to be covered in addition to basics of writing include theory, methodology, questions, objectives and literature review. Awio is hopeful soon to incorporate virtual coaching that was part of the earlier model with a reminder “we won’t do the work for them.”

All members of the DPS staff have advanced degrees with understanding of frustrations and isolation of working on a research paper. Their content expertise is in social science, development studies and business. All have involvement and understanding of the process.

The five-member DPS team is:

Dr. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo – director of the directorate
Dr. Awio – head of publications, coordinating student training and publication of work
Dr. Joseph Jakisa Owor – head of research and training
Dickson Tumuramye – assistant registrar, coordinating writing services and staff research training skills
Jerome Makumbi – assistant registrar, managing post-graduate admissions and training

“We look at the training not just to finish a degree, but to sharpen skills to be used elsewhere and to yield quality papers worthy of being published and used by other researchers,” Awio said. “Analytical skills are valuable in multiple careers.”

Reflecting on his PhD research on employee engagement, Owor noted that beyond his thesis is the realization of the importance of his topic in the corporate world.

“Without involving the whole of your head, heart and hands on something, you cannot succeed or make any difference,” he said. “That’s what I invest in the task of promoting graduate research and training to yield quality output. I always insist on quality and, thereby, step on a few people’s feet.”

Makumbi, who did his master’s research on university employee turnover, said, “Research is knowledge sought for and it is humbling to know you are part of the process of changing the world because it’s through this that new innovation and knowledge is realized.”

Tumuramye, who did his master’s research on women economic empowerment, finds his biggest passion in research that involves children as both subjects and participants of studies, but is able to have compassion and understanding in all academic areas.

Awio said his poverty-surrounded environment and his belief in God drive him to serve students. One favorite scripture is from Colossians 3: 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

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‘It’s how God made me,’ artist says

September 16, 2022COVID-19, News, Students, UCU School of BusinessPatty Huston-Holm

Artist Joshua Kabitanya sitting at the base of the mural he created on UCU Mukono campus

By Patty Huston-Holm
On a not-even-a-bit overcast morning and with a student whistling “Jesus paid it all” from Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) nearby business incubation center, Joshua Kabitanya talks about the significance of stickers inside chewing gum wrappers, why a misshapen tree is more interesting than a symmetrical one and details of a mural project on the UCU Mukono campus.

Kabitanya is an artist. He modestly estimates 65% of the mural is his work.

Sitting at the base of the painting that covers a once-gray cylindrical water tank, Kabitanya’s all black attire and subdued demeanor contrast with the bold colors, messages and images of the mural. Just shy of his 32nd birthday, he admits his introversion with people and extroversion with his craft.

“I hear music, I sense nature, I feel God,” Kabitanya said of his artistic process.

Artistic rendition of UCU’s Bishop Tucker building embedded into mural

On this late August day, the sunshine envelopes Kabitanya. When asked what he sees when looking around him, specifically which of two trees in front of the School of Business center he is most drawn to, he picks the misshapen, asymmetrical one.

“It’s the tree that isn’t uniform that’s interesting,” he said.

The mural, sandwiched between student dorms and up a hill from the library and Noll buildings, was the idea of American Mary Chowenhill, a UCU School of Business lecturer and missionary with the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS). She was supported by American Jack Klenk, a long-time UCU supporter and a member of the board for the UCU Partners NGO. Both had previously acquired Kabitanya’s works.

“This is more than just a painting,” Klenk said. “This project was about entrepreneurship, which is the point of the hub (also known as the idea incubator) next door. It’s about how something ugly can be beautiful. What was formerly a gray tank is now a beautiful piece of art.”

Kabitanya, who met Klenk at Eunice Guest House on the campus, was the mural’s lead artist with contributions from Alex Kitonsa, as well as a small portion by UCU Human Resources student, Ruth Ayiyo Ayinza. A couple of students added their hand prints. Being cognizant of the need for Christian infusion, artists were otherwise given free reign for the designs. None had done a mural before.

Components of the artistic story include:

Six rays of light reflective of the work of God and people, omitting the seventh (day of rest);
Colorful rendition of the UCU Bishop Tucker building;
Alpha and Omega reminders that God remains from the beginning to the end of time;
Keyboards modernizing the Old Testament stories of music from other instruments;
Dancing as an expression of gratitude of the Lord; and
African joy in mud-and-wattle huts surrounded by wildlife.

“Some have asked why we didn’t depict our culture in more modern terms,” Kabitanya said, explaining, “Even today, people are more joyful when they go home to visit where they were born.”

Home for Kabitanya is Mukono. He is one of nine children.

Kabitanya’s earliest recollection of others noticing his passion and talent for art was when he was in Primary 3. Chewing gum with stickers of sports stars was all the rage. He took to copying images from those stickers. Other children and teachers were watching.

“I became the one who teachers would ask to draw things on the board during lessons,” he recalled.

Kabitanya identifies himself as quiet and oftentimes distracted by normal conversation while being drawn to his own imagination about his surroundings – traits commonly described by artists. He meditates and creates.

“It’s how God made me,” he said.

While certain of a destiny to art, Kabitanya learned to “hustle” with other work, making bricks and collecting stones for cement to pay for some of his clothing and school needs. At age 24 and with a diploma in electrical engineering from Kyambogo University, he decided to get serious with his artistic passion. Things were moving along, albeit slowly, and then Covid hit.

The term “starving artist” became a reality.

That’s when Chowenhill, Klenk and the leadership at the UCU School of Business stepped in, helping Kabitanya with a business plan as is part of what the incubator does for any who enter the building. While Kabitanya isn’t a UCU alum, he is a member of the surrounding community that UCU serves.

“Everywhere you step, God gives you a lesson,” Kabitanya said.

With Uganda’s two-year lockdown, survival became even harder. For Kabitanya, he reminded himself of the message from Joshua 1:9 to “be strong and courageous” and to not “be frightened or dismayed for your Lord God is with you wherever you go.”

Portraits became more viable than other creations, but even the ability to produce those was minimal with Uganda’s government-ordered lockdown that lasted nearly two years. Kabitanya got his break with the UCU mural commissioning. Klenk, one of many UCU Eunice Guest House visitors Joshua sold paintings to over the years, echoed what other customers have said as follows: “He has the ability to see things other people don’t see.”

Klenk and others secured funding and pushed Joshua to the project.

Three months of eight-hour days yielded a mural unveiled in a May 24 ceremony. As of late August, the paint hadn’t faded.

Kabitanya is modest and humble about compliments, finding hope in many who believe in him, including God, who, the artist says, gets all the glory.

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UCU revolutionizes accommodations after Covid lockdown

August 22, 2022COVID-19, News, StudentsPatty Huston-Holm

Students register online to access accommodations at UCU

By Israel Kisakye
The Covid-19 pandemic left much of the world on its knees. For others, it was an elevation opportunity. One such area related to the latter is the registration of resident students at Uganda Christian University (UCU). The university rolled out an online registration method to alleviate physical contact as the institution tried to keep up with the standard operating procedures against the spread of coronavirus.

“Students who have paid their full accommodation fees and 45% of the tuition fees are able to register online,” the Rev. Simon Peter Ddamba, the UCU warden for Nsibambi Hall, said. The development, according to Ddamba, has eased the registration process for both the students and the university.

However, some students who did not want their names to go on record do not agree. They say the online system sometimes locks them out, keeping them from completing the registration.

When Uganda Partners put this challenge to Bridget Mugume, the Director of Student Affairs at UCU, she said some of the students facing obstacles are those who have not met the requirements for online registration – paying full boarding fees and 45% of the accommodation fees. (At the time of writing this story, our writer attempted to register online, and he confirmed that the system was working well.)

Mugume noted that the new system has enabled the capture of students’ data from the time they report for studies.

“All the information is in the database, where it can be easily be tracked,” she said.

In a promotion video recorded in 2021, Ddamba said the halls of residence are equipped with computer laboratories and internet hotspots to enable students do research.

The university also has reduced the number of residents in a room from four, before Covid-19, to two.

Racheal Birungi, a student of Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance, who resides in Sabiti Hall, says they are having the best time of their lives in the halls due to a reduction in the number of occupants in a room.

“We no longer share wardrobes; this has created comfort and enough space in the rooms,” Birungi says.

UCU has two halls of residence – Sabiti for female students and Nsibambi for male students. The reduction in the number of occupants per room means less students will be accommodated than before. However, to cover some of the gap that has been created, the university in February 2022 acquired the Ankrah Foundation premises. UCU is currently using the facility for a resource centre, as well as accommodation for students, among others.

The interior view of a lounge at the Ankrah Foundation hostel

The Kodwo and Maxine hostel at Ankrah Foundation has 142 rooms, with each room accommodating two students. At least 116 students are currently residing at the hostel, with the number expected to increase. Innocent Owora, the Kodwo and Maxine hostel Residential Assistant, said with two students occupying each room, incidences of theft will be greatly reduced.

Ddamba said to augment the security, plans are underway to install security cameras at the students’ halls of residence.

There also are plans to establish single-rooms at the Kodwo and Maxine hostel. Mugume said there are 100 single-rooms that are being renovated into accommodation facilities at the Ankrah Foundation.

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UCU alum documentary accentuates Kabale sorghum tragedy

August 8, 2022COVID-19, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, UCU School of Journalism, Media and CommunicationPatty Huston-Holm

Alex Taremwa speaks in May to participants of the Junior Achievement climate change innovation challenge where he was a judge

By Vanessa Kyalimpa
Chasing birds away each morning when they came to eat the grains on the ears of the ripe sorghum has been a typical role for any young boy in Kabale, a district in Western Uganda. Such is one memory of the Rev. Prof. Manuel Muranga, a Kabale-born lecturer at the Institute of Language Studies, Kabale University.

“It was our culture,” Rev. Muranga recalls of people known as Bakiga. “We called it ‘okubinga enyonyi,’ meaning keeping the birds away, which wasn’t a nice exercise because it required you to be up very early in the morning.”

At that, Muranga adds, the unwelcomed boyhood task increased his awareness of the importance of sorghum. It was, he said “our identity.”

Alex Taremwa, Uganda Christian University alum

In Kabale, the sorghum seed used for human cereal and for pasture animals, has been the number one crop grown by over 95% of households. It has not only been food for the community, but also a crucial ingredient for brewing “enturire,” a local, delicacy drink made from sorghum and honey and traditionally given to visitors as a sign of hospitality.

This once Kabale delicacy, along with its economic support, is diminishing.

Climate change – namely temperature and water excess or depletion patterns – is to blame, according to Alex Taremwa, a digital journalist and alum of Uganda Christian University (UCU). Together with Shemei Agabo, a Kampala-based multi-media storyteller, Taremwa helped produce a documentary entitled “Enturire” that gives this Uganda agriculture example of what happens to food and people when humans don’t take care of the environment. In short, abuse of carbon (i.e., fuel) pollutes the earth.

The film, possible because of a grant from the Embassy of France, reminds the viewer that while the least industrialized nations like Uganda emit the least carbon, they continue to be impacted the most by climate crisis. In the case of sorghum, it is the world’s fifth most important cereal after wheat, Africa’s second most important cereal crop after maize, and the third most important staple cereal food crop in Uganda and number one in Kabale District.

The documentary accentuates the impact on thousands with a focus on the lives of Mrs. Million Oworinawe, a Kabale sorghum farmer, and Mrs. Alice Asiimwe, a businesswoman. Both have made enturire their livelihood for over 30 years but are coming to the frightening reality that they soon will be unemployed because the harsh climate is rapidly destroying the sorghum quality.

Deus Bagambana Baguma, principal agricultural officer, Kabale, talks about the crop obstacles resulting from rain uncertainty

“Growing up in a family of farmers made me see how profitable sorghum was,” Milion Orinawe recalls. “I used to plant sorghum on a quarter an acre of land and get about 300 kgs (661 pounds) of sorghum when I harvested. The harvest was very bountiful.”

In 2022, Orinawe gets as little as 50kgs (110 pounds) from her garden. She has since moved into Irish potato and maize growing as alternatives.

“More than 90% of the households in Kabale District are finding it harder to grow sorghum – the most grown cereal in Kigezi Sub-region,” Taremwa, a co-founder of Last Drop Africa, a climate change activism not-for-profit, notes in an article that appeared in the Daily Monitor newspaper. “As a result, sorghum production has nosedived.”

This plummet affects incomes of hundreds of farmers, especially women, according to the 2022 Kabale District’s Third Development Plan (2020-2025).

The documentary shows that while the developing nations such as Uganda emit the least carbon, they continue to suffer the biggest effects of the climate change crisis.

Kabale, which was known for chilly weather is now suffering from, “unpredictable rains and rising temperatures,” as captured in the opening statements of the nearly 18-minute documentary.

“In the old times, a farmer would know that by a specific month on a certain day, rains would come, so they would do the early planting,” says Deus Bagambana Baguma, a principal agricultural officer in Kabale. “But now, they have to wait for the rains to first come in order for them to plant and it could stop after a few days. This really affects how the crops come up and how many farmers grow the crop. In fact, now farmers have resorted to doing other things.”

Dr. Richard Edema, director for Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MARCCI), notes that the Kabale hills are warming up, a happening that has reduced the rain and increased the incidences of pests and diseases.

“There are a variety of things that are alleged to be causing this but you cannot deny the change in weather in these places,” Dr. Edema said. “The weathers of Kabale that used to suit the growing of these crops have changed which also affects the performance of these crops.”

While food scientists and agronomists scratch their heads for solutions, such media as Taremwa’s are helpful to create awareness about the dangers of climate change that touch the daily life elements, such as a drink inside a cup.

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Equipment informs future doctors about evidence-based patient care

August 1, 2022COVID-19, News, Students, UCU School of Dentistry, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

UCU School of Medicine students Alituha Constance, Melodie Munyakai, and Kasule Steven engage in microscopic learning. — UCU School of Medicine students Alituha Constance, Melodie Munyakazi, and Kasule Steven engage in microscopic learning.

Story By Patty Huston-Holm with Photos and Podcast by Vanessa Kyalimpa
Within five minutes of the first time that Vanessa Kyalimpa and I met Dr. Gerald Tumusiime, he was casually lifting and touching cleaned bones extracted from donated cadavers. Vanessa, a student in the Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Journalism, Media and Communication, captured photographs while I took notes.

I wondered why this rubber-gloved dean for the UCU School of Medicine (SoM) was so attentive to the skeletal part of the human body.

SoM Dean, Dr. Gerald Tumusiime, uses human body parts, including this brain, as part of his teaching

Later, I got my answer. I discovered Dr. Tumusiime’s two bone-related pieces of research – both within the last year and concentrated on femur (thigh) bones of East African men. In brief and not doing justice to the studies by the esteemed doctor, senior lecturer and dean, I summarized his research on the 333 African men were about:

External opening of femur bones to make a correlation between whether the opening that enables blood flow necessary for healing after surgery is inherited or acquired (International Journal of Anatomy and Research, India); and
Size and shape of femur bones as this relates to assessing fracture risk and stability of hip joints and design of implants for hip replacement (Austin, Texas, Journal of Anatomy).

Whether serving in his role as researcher, teacher or practicing doctor, Dr. Tumusiime epitomizes excellence in the field of medicine. His passion for lifelong learning and elevating UCU SoM student knowledge and skill were clear on April 5, 2022, as he showed us around with a focus on how equipment informs evidence-based patient care. Much of what we saw in three different buildings, including where the UCU School of Dentistry (SoD) is housed, was donated a year ago by MedShare and Midmark through the non-profit Uganda Partners organization.

dical training, including the value of Christian faith integration.

Dr. Gerald Tumusiime, Dean, UCU School of Medicine, gives a historical, current and future perspective of medical training, including the value of Christian faith integration.

“Biomedical equipment promotes holistic and evidence-based patient care,” Dr. Tumusiime said. “While we teach that patient history and physical exams contribute over 80% to an accurate diagnostic, the equipment donated through the United States in 2021 is extremely valuable in shaping our future doctors into evidence-based, health care practitioners.”

Year two SoM student, Nalujja Chloe Immuaculate, engages in studies in the Gross Anatomy lab

The donated equipment and consumables contributed to the accreditation and licensure of UCU’s SoM and SoD by the Ugandan regulators, as well as the continuity of teaching and learning during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The equipment boosted the schools’ ability to be accredited by the Uganda National Council for Higher Education. Such tools supplement learning in the UCU biomedical laboratories in gross anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, histology and microbiology and immunology.

The UCU equipment for the SoM, mostly donated in the past two years, and brief descriptions include:

Microscopes (providing the “Gold standard” for tissue diagnosis) – Magnify what the human eye can’t see, such as cells indicating diseases, such as sickle cell
Centrifuge – Separate, purify and isolate cells, proteins and viruses for further observation
Vortex mixer – Combine vials of liquid to study enzymes and DNA
Incubator – Maintain temperature, humidity and gas content to grow or maintain cells
Bunsen burner – Used for heating samples and sterilization
Safety cabinets – Protect researchers and others from potentially infectious materials
Medical waste bins – Add safety from biomedical waste and sharp instruments
Medical refrigerator and freezer – Protect and extend shelf life of bio-specimens, reagents, drugs and vaccines
Protective gear (aprons, face masks, face shields, goggles, gloves) – Support safety in teaching and learning, research and patient care
Assorted clinical diagnostic equipment – Promote the quality of patient diagnosis and research

The SoM Dean expressed appreciation for the donations that, despite a year of Covid-related distance learning, have boosted the holistic, evidence-based capabilities of UCU’s 230 students in the SoM and SoD as each completes a five-year program.

“There are many examples of how technology equips us to improve Uganda’s health care,” Dr. Tumusiime said. “For instance, in dealing with malnutrition among children, we are able to help by analyzing blood samples to guide nutritional interventions and monitor progress. In all age groups, we screen and diagnose non-communicable diseases like sickle cell anaemia, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and metabolic disorders that are currently on the rise in Africa.”

Dr. Tumusiime said that the need for more laboratory tools is ongoing, and singled out the equipment that is urgently needed to enhance teaching and learning, research and community service. In 2022, these necessities and their roles are:

Biological teaching microscope – Enables the instructor to demonstrate to the learners in real time
Hematology analyzers – Allow study of blood disorders and expanded understanding of human immune response
Chemistry analyzers – Enable testing of 100 different components, including urine for detection of various infections, kidney disease and diabetes
Blood gas/electrolyte analyzer – Measure blood sample parameters, such as oxygen concentration

“I appreciate that in a resource-limited setting, some of these equipment may not be readily available,” he said. “But it’s critical to the profession that they know they exist and know how to use them.”

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UCU student champions fight against HIV

July 21, 2022COVID-19, News, Students, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

Brendan Katushabe and musician Joanita Kawalya (right) at the launch of activities of Own Your Future (OYF) in January 2022 at UCU’s Nkoyoyo Hall.

By Vanessa Kyalimpa
At last year’s World AIDS Day on December 1, UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed optimism that it is still possible to end the epidemic by 2030. However, Guterres emphasized that for that to happen there would be a need for “stepped up action and greater solidarity.”

UCU Law student Brendan Katushabe says many university students in Uganda are ignorant about sexual and reproductive health

In a direct response to Guterres call for “stepped up action,” Brendan Katushabe, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) student, has taken matters into her own hands, to champion advocacy about the danger that still exists with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

She says there is usually more hype about the epidemic during the commemoration of the World AIDS Day and noticeable silence for the rest of the year. The year-four student of Bachelor of Laws says she is aiming towards change by taking action to better empower communities with information on sexual and reproductive health – namely HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Her vehicle is an advocacy initiative called Own Your Future (OYF), which she founded in early 2022.

Katushabe says many university students in Uganda are ignorant about sexual and reproductive health, which makes them prone to contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD). Through the OYF initiative, she holds sensitisation campaigns in a more structured manner. One such activity was in January 2022 at UCU’s Nkoyoyo Hall.

Under the theme, “Combat STDs once and for all, advocating for a free, healthy Uganda,” the event attracted information seekers as well as other promoters of sexual and reproductive health.

At the January campaign, Joanita Kawalya, a vocalist with Uganda’s Afrigo Band and activist on health and reproductive health, thanked Katushabe for organizing such a platform and encouraged students to take advantage of initiatives like those to inform themselves.

The activity, which included a free medical camp, was attended by students from UCU, Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Nkumba University and Kampala International University.

After testing the waters with her initiative, Katushabe was back again at UCU in March 2022, this time to launch her program. At the launch, Katushabe had the backing of Reproductive Health Uganda, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), and Uganda’s Ministry of Health.

“We need to put emphasis on the health of the young people for the next 10 years,” Dr. Richard Mugahi, the assistant commissioner in charge of reproductive and infant health at Ministry of Health, said at the launch of OYF in March. He added: “We have the capacity to do all it takes if all partners harmonize their approaches and strategies.”

A screenshot of a OYF Twitter Space event held in May 2022

The president of the UCU Debate Club, Suzan Owomugisha, said that many young people had forgotten about the importance of paying attention to their sexual health.

“Ever since the start of Covid-19, people have been minding more about the pandemic than any other disease,” Owomugisha said, noting that the information that was shared during the OYF activities will help reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancies and HIV among young people.

Edbert (full name concealed), who is living with HIV, urges the community to restore hope among people living with HIV, instead of stigmatizing against them.

“Stigma is one of the biggest challenges affecting most people living with HIV,” Edbert said, emphasizing that with concerted efforts from the community, negative perceptions and shame can be eradicated.

HIV stigma was among the topics of discussion in a May 2022 OYF-hosted Twitter Spaces event, where the chief panelist was Emily Katarikawe, the Uganda Country Director of jhpiego, an NGO that advocates saving lives and improving health. Katushabe says more such engagements have been lined up to promote health advocacy.

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Cookies support South Sudanese student

July 1, 2022COVID-19, Students, UCU School of BusinessPatty Huston-Holm

Askada Julian (front, in black top) with her friends after class at Uganda Christian University (Courtesy Photo)

By Eriah Lule
All had been well for the family of Uganda Christian University (UCU) student Askada Julian Julius until political unrest broke out in South Sudan in 2013.

Julian’s father, Sebiti Mamuru, a successful businessman, was accused of providing financial assistance to the rebels who were causing violence in South Sudan. Mamuru was forced to leave his country with 17 children, including Julian, and take refuge in Uganda.

When the family arrived in Uganda, they settled in Arua, a city in the northwestern part of Uganda. Julian, the fourth born and eldest daughter, had to quickly find ways of supporting herself and the family members. She found an answer in cookies that she baked and sold to supermarkets and shops. She baked them in flavors of vanilla, coconut and ginger, among others.

In 2020, when Julian’s aunt heard of her cookie success, she convinced her niece to expand to making other food that she would deliver to people in offices. Julian took advantage of the Covid-induced lockdown in 2020, when many people were afraid of moving around, for fear of catching the virus. She, thus, started supplying cooked food to essential workers who made it office during the lockdown. Bank staff were part of her first clients.

Some of the packed food that Julian sells. (Courtesy Photo)

Now a year-two student of UCU’s Bachelor of Governance and International Relations program, she sells in many places with the help of two employees. When she is studying, her mother, Dudu Clara, is in charge of the business.

“The cookie clients introduced us to the food clients,” Julian said. She sells each plate of food at sh5,000 (about $1.3) and earns up to sh60,000 ($16.3) per day in net profit.

Since Julian is usually a reserved person, not many know of her catering service business. Instead, she is known more, for another type of on-line business. She deals in second-hand clothes and bags, which she sells primarily to university students and on the internet.

“One will never understand Julian, unless you are close to her,” said Nalubega Nicole, Julian’s course-mate at UCU. For the time Nalubega has been close to Julian, she says she has learned that in order to earn a living, one needs to cultivate the skill of being creative and innovative.

Seeing her level of entrepreneurial skill, one would wonder why Julian did not pursue a course in business. However, she says she felt a course in governance and international relations was a better fit for someone like her who is considering working as a diplomat for her country one day.

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Post-lockdown UCU dentistry: Moving forward to fill the gap

June 1, 2022COVID-19, News, Students, UCU School of Dentistry, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

Dr. Arabat Kasangaki, dentist and lecturer at the UCU School of Dentistry, discusses a tooth X-ray with student Diana Hilda Ayikoru

By Patty Huston-Holm with Vanessa Kyalimpa
That ache in your tooth can cause a pain in your belly. To be more precise, oral bacteria weakens the stomach’s ability to fight infection and could result in inflammatory bowel disease. Vice versa, gastrointestinal issues can yield gum sores.

The human body is one package, according to Dr. Arabat Kasangaki, a dentist and lecturer with the Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Dentistry. He explains this more than once each day to students and patients at the Mengo Hospital, Kampala, location. On this day, April 5, and seated at left with year-four student Diana Hilda Ayikoru and a male patient to his right, he reinforced the importance of using the proper words – explaining well and sensitively.

UCU School of Dentistry lab for student simulation practice

“If you only chew on one side of the mouth, chances are the food is not breaking down properly,” Arabat said in response to the male patient’s assertion that he has learned to live with discomfort. “It will not get better on its own.”

After an X-ray, it was determined the patient needed a root canal, a procedure where the infected pulp is removed to save the tooth.

Ayikoru, slated to finish UCU’s five-year dentistry program in 18 months, already knows that the teeth incisors and canines cut and tear food and that molars crush and grind. But as monotonous as that is for a dentist or dentistry student, the patient needs the education to understand, approve and trust.

“A good dentist serves and teaches to convince the patient to let us help do the right thing,” Arabat said. “The way God created us, we run when we feel pain.”

Uganda has 320 dentists licensed to practice in the country with more than 45 million residents, resulting in shortage that the Uganda Dental Association (UDA) attributes to limited training institutions. UCU is working to fill that gap – progress stymied with the Covid lockdown.

The UCU School of Dentistry has 29 students. The dentistry school has the same number of “pioneer” students – nine – it started with in 2018, but the later classes declined. The third-year class has seven. The second-year class numbers eight. Only five new students enrolled in the current, first year. For the first two years, much of the curriculum for School of Medicine and School of Dentistry is the same, with students in the same classes.

“Dentistry has always been less attractive in our country than medicine, even though the skill sets are much the same,” Arabat said. “Our numbers took a greater hit during the pandemic shift to no learning and then on-line learning that was new to most students and many faculty.”

Dr. James Magara, the SoM dean with a prestigious dentistry practice in Kampala, knows the global virus impact from the education, economic and service side of his profession.

“In normal times, wellness is difficult to reinforce here,” he said. “During the height of the pandemic when many were not earning money, it was even harder for us to send the message that regular dental checkups would help prevent emergencies like severe tooth pain from happening…and even harder to recruit students into a career where you are in close proximity to the disease-spreading mouth.”

Peter Kabuye, pioneer student of UCU School of Dentistry

Peter Kabuye, a pioneer student of UCU School of Dentistry that was launched in 2018, described the challenges faced during the two on-line semesters because of two Covid-related, government-ordered lockdowns.

“There are times when Moodle platform was unreliable, so we had to resort to platforms such as Zoom and Google Meets to have real time lectures,” he said. Additionally, not all resources on the UCU Moodle platform were free. For dental, as well as medical students, “we had to dig deeper into our pockets” to pay sh3,000 (85 cents) to sh5,000 ($1.40) each to access real-time lectures, he said.

Despite all the challenges, there was no option, but to persevere to reach his goal of being a dentist. Tuition from an American friend and the mentorship of both Dr. Ken Chapman, an American and Ugandan dentist who serves as a lecturer at the UCU school of dentistry and director at the Mengo Dental Clinic; and Dr. Martin Aliker, retired dentist, have sustained Peter.

“I’ve always wanted to be a dentist since I was very young,” he said. Since age four, his parents’ medical insurance privileges allowed him more than two dozen visits to a dentist to learn and reap rewards of good oral health.

Additionally, Peter’s family has high hopes for him after graduation in 2023. These expectations are premised on the fact that he was privileged to have attended good schools and is the first born of three siblings, leaving “no room for failure.”

Like most School of Dentistry and School of Medicine students and faculty, he returned in January to in-person training with Covid-19 vaccination status and wears a mask as usual. Patients do not have those requirements.

The return found equipment donations through Midmark and the Uganda Partners. These include sterilizers, a suction machine, compressors and work stations with chairs, as well as a simulated lab with computers.

In his early 60s and maneuvering around outside debris to share the location of the suction equipment in a room visible 30 feet from the patient treatment room, Arabat is on a mission to educate students to the greatest extent possible. Despite the Covid learning hurdles, Arabat is keenly aware, he says, that his work and his mission to play a role in yielding quality dentists are “directed by God” and that accomplishments are to His glory.

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UCU community sets up food bank to rescue needy students

April 27, 2022COVID-19, StudentsPatty Huston-Holm

Students collecting food packs at the UCU chaplaincy in July 2021 during a government-ordered Covid-19 lockdown. Again, during the Lent period in 2022, needy students were receiving food packs at the chaplaincy, a practice continuing after the Easter season.

By Muduku Derrick Brian
Acaye Innocent Oscar has always had a supportive father who paid his tuition fees and provided money for upkeep on time. It was the reason in 2018 that he applied for the Bachelor of Science in Economics and Statistics course at Uganda Christian University (UCU).

All was well as Acaye reported to university. However, hardly two years into his course, his source of funds got cut off. “My bread winner got another partner and started to prioritize another family at the expense of ours,” Acaye said.

Acaye said he did not just lack the money for tuition, but also was “hungry most of the time,” something that he says started to affect the level of his academic output.

He wasn’t alone. He is among 100 UCU-Mukono campus students existing mostly on water at any given point in time. When members of the UCU community discovered that some students like Acaye who live in hostels go without food because they cannot afford daily meals, they created the food bank through the Chaplaincy office. This act coincided with the Lent period, when Christians, in preparation for Easter, fast and give alms.

The Rev. Canon Eng. Paul Wasswa, the Chaplain at UCU, says that the food bank was introduced “to stand with students especially those who sleep in hostels and run out of food from time to time.”

Wasswa adds that students with challenges of food are more easily compromised and end up in relationships they are not prepared for, just because they “want to survive.” He says once people get to know of the desperate situations of such students, they begin to involve them in sexual immorality and drugs in exchange for food.

For Acaye, his downward spiral away from his goal to be a data analyst started in 2020, when his financial situation forced him to take a dead year. As others frowned over the closure of learning institutions in 2020 due to the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, to Acaye, it appeared to be a blessing in disguise. He expected to use the closure period to collect some money for tuition. However, the effect of the lockdown on the economy did not give him a chance to earn anything meaningful to use for university expenses. Acaye accumulated debts at UCU from the previous three semesters.

According to Wasswa, though the idea of the most recent food bank came up during Lent, the collections are expected to continue beyond the Easter season. For now, all collections towards the food bank are deposited with the chaplaincy. From there, needy students go and sign for whatever food items are available.

When Acaye went to the chaplaincy to collect his portion, he says he was given “two kilograms for each package of rice, beans, maize flour and sugar.” He also got two packets of spaghetti.

This is not the first time that the office of the chaplain is coordinating a donation of food to students.

In July 2021, students who got stranded in hostels during a government-ordered Covid-19 lockdown were given food. Each student received a food pack containing beans, sugar, maize flour, salt and soap. A pack was valued at sh23,000 (about $6.5).

“When we got a report about students who are stranded in hostels and in need of food, the chapel council raised some money to help them out,” Wasswa said last year. The Chaplain has been praying ever since for contributions to help these neediest students.

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UCU nursing alumnus provides life-saving care at Uganda’s national referral hospital

April 22, 2022COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, UCU AlumniPatty Huston-Holm

Mwebembezi Frank admitting a patient into the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago National Hospital

By Eriah Lule
In a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the need to make split-second decisions when the health status of a patient changes only means one thing: The nurses have to keep on their toes. That has been the work environment of Mwebembezi Frank for four years.

Mwebembezi in the ICU at Mulago National Referral Hospital at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mwebembezi is an ICU nurse at Mulago Hospital, Uganda’s national referral health facility. ICU nurses are mainly charged with the duty of providing lifesaving care to patients, many of who are fighting for their lives, and therefore, need a 24/7 nursing care. At Mulago, as with many other health facilities, crisis is an everyday occurrence. To execute his work well, this Uganda Christian University (UCU) alum has to summon a certain degree of level-headedness.

By his admission, Mwebembezi seems to have been well prepared for such a task. As a student of Bachelor of Nursing Science at UCU, Mwebembezi says he visited several hospitals for nursing practice as an intern.

“Those days,” he says, “were the formation of my resilience and bone-deep passion for health work. We used to do practical studies in different hospitals.”

With such programs, the 27-year-old says they got invaluable mentorships from senior medical professionals in the medical field, especially with the specialty of nursing, something he believes helped sharpen his love for the job.

At the UCU Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, students are availed real-life training opportunities to practice health work through internships and community outreach programs.

Denis Kuteesa, a UCU alumnus working as a volunteer at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago, says it is “always exciting to learn from peers like Mwebembezi “who has a background of studying at UCU. “He is approachable and a supportive peer-mentor,” Kuteesa adds.

Mwebembezi’s journey at UCU began in 2014. Four years later, he graduated. His joining UCU had the influence of an older sibling who is an alumnus of the university.

Before joining UCU, Mwebembezi attended Nyakatsiro Primary School, Bishop Ogez High School, and St. Kaggwa Bushenyi High School, all in western Uganda.

He is of the view that nurses in Uganda are not co-operative enough to have their concerns, such as issues of welfare, addressed. He says the welfare of medical interns was among the thorns in his flesh as their leader.

From 2018-2019, Mwebembezi was the chairperson of the Federation of Uganda Medical Interns. He says during his term of office, he advocated for timely payment. At the time, the interns were receiving their allowances every quarter. Mwebembezi succeeded in getting the payment changed from quarterly to monthly.

For those who know Mwembembezi’s family, it was no surprise that he became the leader of the intern-nurses. His father, Tuhimbise Lemigious Kakyebezi, is a political leader in their district, Mitooma, in western Uganda. Mwembembezi’s mother, Kevin Deudata, is a retail trader in the same district.

Subsequent to receiving his undergraduate degree, Mwebembezi has obtained a Master’s of Science in Medical Microbiology from Mbarara University of Science and Technology in western Uganda. As an aspiring medical scholar, Mwebembezi believes a PhD is within reach.

He hopes to acquire a doctorate within the next five years, so that he is able to “impact my society through publishing research.”

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UCU On-line Education: Despite Challenges, it’s here to stay

April 18, 2022Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology, COVID-19, Faculty of Engineering, Design & Technology, UCU School of BusinessPatty Huston-Holm

Dr. Stephen Kyakulumbye, Business Chair, UCU Center for Open Distance Learning, says on-line learning is the wave of today – not tomorrow.

By Patty Huston-Holm and Nicole Nankya
For those who think Uganda Christian University (UCU) started on-line learning because of the country’s Covid lockdowns, think again.

The movement started five years prior. The succession of government-ordered education lockdowns from March 2020 through December 2021 simply accelerated education delivery known globally as on-line, virtual, digital, edu-tech and e-learning, among other terms.

With a directive from former Vice Chancellor Rev. Dr. John Senyonyi, Dr. Stephen Kyakulumbye, senior lecturer and business chair, Center for Open Distance Learning, was leading the charge early on, as well as when the new Vice Chancellor, Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, came on board in the height of the pandemic.

“People who lagged behind were running around buying and borrowing laptops to get on board,” Kyakulumbye recalled of the mid-2020 period. “It was clear that Covid and restrictions were not going away and in order to work here, they had to adapt.”

On a late March 2022 morning and from his office inside the UCU admissions building, Kyakulumbye shared the story of how e-learning began at UCU five years ago, how it accelerated in 2020 and what role he played in it alongside the late Dorothy Mukasa and her successor as manager for UCU e-learning, the Rev. Dr. Jessica Hughes.

“It was not Covid that got us thinking about on-line education,” he asserted. “The pandemic both slowed us down and moved us faster.”

The slow down occurred because of Ugandan government concern about fairness for economically and technologically disadvantaged students and because of the normal bell curve with middle and late adopters. The hastened move was motivated by job security.

“Jump on board or lose your job,” Kyakulumbye said, adding that he observed “the diffusion theory in action.” The theory is one that seeks to explain how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology spread.

At UCU, the idea for virtual learning was advanced in 2016 when five UCU faculty members were chosen for an on-line teaching, virtual training out of Muranga, Kenya. Kyakulumbye, already known for his expertise in Information Systems Curriculum Design, relished the fact that he was among the five.

Likewise, when Covid hit and on-line learning was a necessity to continue education while avoiding the deadly virus, Kyakulumbye was front and center because of his academic credentials and experience. He has a doctorate degree in Information Systems (University of the Western Cape South Africa), a master’s degree in management studies with an ICT specialization and a bachelors in computer education. His subject matter expertise includes on-line digitization of curriculum since 2010.

The work to get UCU deeper on line involved acquiring software to do compression, understanding that the hardware being used by faculty and students ranged from phones to computers, and instructing teachers and students in the new way of learning.

Rev. Dr. Jessica Hughes, Manager, UCU e-learning

In the midst of Kyakulumbye leading the charge and before Uganda had ready vaccines, he got a mild case of Covid. Still, and with a team that included the current manager for UCU e-learning, Rev. Dr. Jessica Hughes, and despite the Covid-related death of the then-manager Dorothy Mukasa, UCU pushed ahead – moving content and assignments onto an on-line platform called Moodle.

“The perception still is that on-line is all about the lecturer’s content,” Kyakulumbye said. “If you do it right, there is peer review, peer chatting, e-badge awards and more.”

One challenge was bandwidth for lecturers to upload videos, assignments and other content. According to Kyakulumbye, another challenge was lecturer “work-arounds” such as having students send completed exams as email attachments, resulting in lost marks.

Regarding unaccounted for student test results, Hughes said, “ln that time, there were a lot of things happening that caused that result, which is unfortunate. We are continuously working to ensure that our processes are leading up so that students don’t have that experience again.”

Hughes, a lecturer with the Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology with her first master’s degree in human performance systems, specializing in instructional design, defined the difference between online and physical studies as learner- and teacher-centered.

“A big difference is that in the classroom, it is teacher centered education where by you sit for two hours and the lecturer talks for two hours,” she said. “Online learning should be learner-centered, by which students engage in more research, critical thinking, and analysis.”

The UCU plan through 2025 includes delivery of face-to-face, on-line and blended curriculum. Due to emergency guidelines issued by the National Council for Higher Education, all the courses are being revised across the university to address on-line learning. At UCU, at minimum, all courses will be blended.

“The library is expanding the digital resources for research so that research students are able to use books and on-line journals,” she said. “When you come to campus, you have a blended experience, whereby some work will be on line and some physical.”

Hughes said the online movement at UCU is leading the way throughout Uganda, making it “a very exciting time to be here.”

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UCU restores longer, better staff contracts after Covid-19 lockdown

April 13, 2022COVID-19, Faculty, News, StudentsPatty Huston-Holm

Vice-Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi addresses the staff during the annual thanksgiving in December 2021.

By Yasiri J. Kasango
Long-term and improved employment contracts are becoming more common at Uganda Christian University (UCU). The University Council resolved to offer staff long-term contracts at a meeting it held last year. The action benefits 344 employees, who are full-time staff members at the UCU Main, Kampala, School of Dentistry and Medicine, campuses.

While short contracts for employees hired to work 40-hour weeks have been commonplace for at least a decade at UCU, for the last two years, employment has been more tentative. UCU staff have been operating on short contracts, with some running for three months. The shortened employment agreements and in some cases job curtailments were more common with the disruptive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the institutions of learning globally.

Staff members attending the annual thanksgiving.

In March 2020, Uganda closed all schools, including higher institutions of learning. Schools were only opened for in-person learning for final-year learners seven months later. It was not until March 2021 that schools were opened for in-person learning, only to be closed again three months later, due to the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19 in Uganda.

The lockdown on academic institutions affected UCU since students who are the source of revenue were not learning. During the university’s end-of-year thanksgiving ceremony held on December 17, Vice-Chancellor Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi announced that the University Council had passed a resolution to give the university staff long-term and better contracts.

In a bid to attract and retain more competent staff, the university has also restored most of the other benefits, including medical, that the staff were entitled to before Covid-19 struck.

The contracts awarded are in three categories, ranging from two to five years. The University Council also has approved the issuance of staff performance-based contracts with annual financial reward incentives.

The Director of Human Resource, Florence Nakiyingi, confirmed the changes, saying senior teaching staff were given a contract ranging from four to five years, while the lower cadres received three years. During thanksgiving, Mushengyezi commended staff for what he called “resilience, devotion, and determination” during the pandemic.

The UCU staff have welcomed the restoration of long-term contracts.

“We are grateful to God because we know that after the storm, some people were unable to get back to their work; but we did, and have better contracts,” said Ruth Manzede, the admissions assistant.

The long-term contracts will help the staff create better long-term plans for themselves and their families and enhance loyalty to the institution.

“The new contracts can enable a manager or anyone to plan effectively for the office in the period they have been given to serve,” said Walter Washika, the Financial Aid Manager.

Harriet Asiimwe Iraguha, a staff member, gives glory to God that she has a job. She said the pandemic has led to many job losses and pay cuts.

“I’m not any better than those that have not received contracts or those who were told to wait a little longer,” she said. “I give glory to God that I have a job.”

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UCU student uses poetry to advocate human rights

April 1, 2022COVID-19, News, Students, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

Edwin Masingano, law student with love of writing and music

By Agatha N. Biira
Writing and music are the apple of Edwin Masingano’s eye. They occupy equal status as passions.

As a child, Masingano says he remembers the hunger he had for writing because it “challenged me to think.” As he grew older, he discovered another soft spot – music. He found music “innovative” and something that would bring out the happy side of him.

Now a fourth-year student of Bachelor of Laws at Uganda Christian University (UCU), Masingano finds his love for writing and music even stronger. For instance, he recently published an anthology of poems that sound out the common vices in society. Before that, he put some of his words to music. (Note that singer/pianist at this link is James Tukupe, also a Law student.)

He argues that the spoken word can be a powerful weapon of peace and a tool for advocacy. The two Covid-19-induced lockdowns that Uganda had in 2020 and 2021 led to a rise in gender-based violence in many homes, according to Uganda Police statistics.

In his book, Omuwala Sanyu, translated to mean “The Girl Called Sanyu,” Masingano has not kept silent on that injustice. He says girls are more sexually harassed than boys, and the community needs to speak up against such vices if they are to be tackled.

After close to two years of school closures in Uganda due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in January 2022, buildings were re-opened for learners. However, one of the biggest stories after the re-opening was the failure of many girls to return to school. In Amuru, one of the districts in northern Uganda, authorities said more than 3,200 girls aged 15-19 were impregnated, eloped or were forced into marriage during the time schools were closed. Such evils, Masingano says, can only end if they are spoken about.

As if to offer a remedy for the challenge that the girls faced during the lockdown, Masingano prescribes parents showing more love to their children, so that they can feel they are safe at home.

Society’s expectation of newly married couples in Uganda is bearing children. However, sometimes, the children may not come as quickly as society expects. Masingano has used his book to speak about the issue as well.

He says: “Everyone presumes that as soon as you get married, you should have a child. But what about those who cannot get that chance, sometimes, due to health complications?”

In order not to drop his other love, music, Masingano often performs his spoken word poetry on background music.

“When I am on stage, I don’t just read. I explain and make you feel like you are listening to a song poetry,” he says.

All this, Masingano attributes to the schools he attended. He says at York Primary School and Seeta High School, Mbalala in Mukono, his teachers gave him the platform to think that he can pursue his passion, as well as continue to perform well in class.

Masingano has used his talent to train secondary school students in poetry recital. Students at his alma mater Seeta High School, St. Peter’s Naalya and Lowell Girls’ School – in central Uganda – have been beneficiaries of his projects. He also has been invited for poetry presentations at high-level functions at UCU.

When he eventually becomes an attorney, Masingano has no plans of dropping poetry. He says he will continue with poetry recital, alongside using the professional qualification as a lawyer to advocate for people’s rights.

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First class nursing graduate eager to fill gap in Uganda critical health care

March 4, 2022COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, Students, UCU AlumniPatty Huston-Holm

Catherine Iyogil attending to a newborn baby in a ward

By Eriah Lule
Just a handful of the many patients admitted to Ugandan health care facilities seeking critical care and emergency nursing services receive those services. The reason? Either the infrastructure to provide the necessary services is absent or the people to operate the available equipment are not skilled enough.

Having worked in the Intensive Care Unit during her internship as a student, Catherine Iyogil, a new recipient of Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Bachelor of Nursing Science degree, saw the gap and wants to do her part to fill it.

Iyogil graduated with a First-Class degree, garnering a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.68 out of 5.0 at UCU’s graduation held on October 22, 2021. For her feat, the university gifted Iyogil with a plaque, indicating her meritorious performance on the graduation day. The overall best student at the graduation, Sore Moureen, scored a CGPA of 4.78.

Before Iyogil plunges herself fully into the world of medical practice, she will have to jump the required hurdle of a yearlong internship to become a Registered Nurse in Uganda.

Catherine Iyogil on her October 22, 2021, graduation day

Iyogil developed the inclination to provide critical care services during her internship sessions at Naguru Hospital in Kampala, in 2019 and Soroti Hospital in eastern Uganda, in 2020. At both hospitals, she served in the ICU unit and watched firsthand, the limited number of staff providing critical care services at the facilities.

In many parts of Uganda, some severely ill people, as well as those who sustain injuries die due to lack of access to timely and effective first aid and emergency care. To make matters worse, many hospitals have no functional ambulances to offer evacuation services.

A 2019 Ambulance Census indicated that Uganda had 449 functional and 94 grounded ambulances. However, the figures could be higher than that with the recent acquisition of more ambulance vehicles to support in the management of the Covid-19 cases.

Born to Charles Okurut, a retired banker, and Iyogil Consolanta, a nurse in Ngora district, eastern Uganda, Iyogil’s love for medical practice is not surprising. Iyogil got inspired to pursue her nursing science course at UCU because it is where her mother, Consolanta, pursued her Master of Nursing Science course. When Consolata shared her unique experience at UCU, little did she know it would sway her daughter into falling in love with the institution.

And when Iyogil got to UCU, she says she was never short of people to inspire her. Iyogil looks up to Elizabeth Ekong, her former lecturer and also the Chairperson of the Uganda Nurses and Midwife’s Council. Ekong, a resilient and passionate professional, became a nurse three decades ago.

According to the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization, a nurse to patient ratio of 1:3 for emergency units; 1:2 for intensive care units; and 1:8 for other wards is recommended. However, statistics in Uganda indicate that the nurse to patient ratio is about 1:1,884. At this rate, the system could harvest a burnout on the part of the nurses.

Therefore, when people like Iyogil choose to offer medical care in the field of nursing, they are lifting a heavy load off the already stretched workforce.

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‘Thank God, the angelic Uganda Partners was there in my time of need’

February 15, 2022COVID-19, UCU Alumni, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

Mpyangu Denis Swanyi graduated with a Bachelor of Laws, on October 22, 2021. Photo/ Jimmy Siyasa

By Joseph Lagen
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic that included business and education lockdowns in Uganda, the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Financial Aid Office put out an advert, calling for applications for financial relief. For some students who were stuck and unable to pay their tuition fees, help was possible. The benefactor was Uganda Partners, a USA-based organization that provides material and spiritual support for students through sponsorship.

When Mpyangu Denis Swanyi, at the time a final year student at UCU, saw the advert, he did not hesitate to apply. As a result of that action, Mpyangu is a graduate. He was among the 468 students who received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2021.

“I often wondered where my tuition fee would come from. Thank God, the angelic Uganda Partners was there in my time of need,” Mpyangu says, adding: “May the good Lord reward those kind hearts.”

The gesture by the Uganda Partners has tickled a charitable spirit in Mpyangu. He could not even wait for his graduation before rolling out his benevolent cause. At Mpyangu’s area of residence, Nansana, near Kampala, he has brought together youthful residents against a burgeoning evil.

“I initiated a community coalition called Nansana Division Coalition Against Drugs. The initiative offers peer-to-peer education and advocacy for a drug-free generation,” says Mpyangu, who hopes to use the knowledge he gained at school to build a better community and next generation.

He is also a frequent guest at one of the local community radio stations, Tiger FM, where he broadcasts the same lifestyle message and solicits volunteers for the same cause.

But why did Mpyangu choose UCU as his university of choice for his bachelor’s degree?

“With its Christian values and client centeredness,” Mpyangu says “there is no university in Uganda that is as friendly and welcoming as UCU.”

“I was further attracted by their excellent service and the good reputation their law faculty has built over time.” Of the 3,368 students who graduated on October 22, 2021, 14% received Bachelor of Laws.

Mpyangu says he was a big beneficiary of the cohesion among students at UCU, as well as staff members.

Coming from a large family of 15 children – both nuclear and extended – the third born in the family says raising the $1,000 tuition fees twice a year was not an easy task for his family. Mpyangu says on more than one occasion, he was rescued financially by Good Samaritans.

To practice law in Uganda, one must attain a Diploma in Legal Practice at Uganda’s Law Development Centre. Mpyangu has enrolled for that course. He says after the diploma course, he hopes to acquire a master’s and PhD in law one day to help him argue cases in court from a more informed point of view.

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Partners beneficiary in nursing has ultimate goal of starting health center

February 4, 2022COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, UCU AlumniPatty Huston-Holm

Isaac Bagenda (left) with classmates on graduation day.

By Gloria Katya
Growing up, an anguished Isaac Bagenda watched his siblings have asthma attacks. He was frustrated that he could do nothing to help them breathe and lead more active lives.

This early encounter with family members as well as observations of others with health challenges gave Bagenda the impetus to follow the path of medical practice. He was proceeding well toward his career goal as a Uganda Christian University (UCU) nursing student until Covid-19 emerged.

Bagenda’s dream was disrupted as the pandemic and subsequent government-ordered lockdowns since March 2020 hit his parents’ purses. He had no money to complete payment of the tuition fees to enable him graduate with a UCU Bachelor of Nursing Science.

When Uganda Partners, a USA-based organisation that seeks support for UCU students through sponsorship, indicated that it could financially support some disadvantaged students, Bagenda applied to be one of those. The UCU Financial Aid office approved.

“I got to know about the scholarship after it was announced by the UCU Financial Aid Office and I immediately picked interest since I had a big debt with the university,” he says.

The 23-year-old was among students who graduated at UCU’s 22nd graduation ceremony on October 22, 2021.

Joining UCU to pursue the Bachelor of Nursing Science course was itself a big achievement for Bagenda. He almost missed out on the course because his parents had made it clear to him that the cost was out of their reach.

Instead, Edward and Flavia Bagenda wanted their son to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Education at Kyambogo University. The parents, living in Mpigi District, central Uganda, argued that tuition fees in a public university like Kyambogo were more affordable for them – about half the cost.

However, Bagenda, convinced of a medical calling and at UCU, applied for and received a government loan for studies at UCU. The loan scheme was a partial funding with his parents providing the rest. Upon getting a job, the Uganda government expects Bagenda to repay his loan.

Bagenda, who received his lower-level education in Mpigi, completed Heritage Nursery and Primary School and St. Mark’s Secondary School Kamengo, where he studied O’level and at Gombe Secondary School for A’level.

With a nursing degree Bagenda will, as required, complete a yearlong, mandatory internship program in a hospital. Bagenda says he is eager to help mothers, especially those in labor wards, to have successful baby deliveries.

Bagenda says he hopes to return to school for post-graduate studies one day so he can acquire the skills necessary for him to be able to set up his own medical center, as well as share knowledge in the medical field as a lecturer in the nursing schools in Uganda.

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