Category Archives: Students

‘Mummy, I have told you, I want to pray alone.’

News, Students, UCU School of Business


House of Rest existed as a church for over a decade on the top floor of the famous Fido Dido building on Kampala Road. Photo by Jimmy Siyasa

By Jimmy Siyasa and Joseph Lagen

On July 2, 2021, and during Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) 22nd graduation, Lorita Blessy Asiimwe will receive a Faculty of Business and Administration Bachelor of Human Resource Management degree – posthumously. 

Lorita Blessy Asimwe, a victim of the March 2021 building collapse, was slated to graduate in July 2021 with a BA in Human Resource Management.

She will not have a physical presence to cap off 19 years of study from primary through postsecondary. Her young, lifeless body was pulled on March 16 from a partially collapsed church where, ironically, she had gone to pray for a long life and prosperity. Asiimwe, who joined UCU in 2017, was among the more than 30 members of the Kampala, Uganda, House of Rest Church who had gathered for lunchtime prayers on the fateful day. 

Eyewitnesses said when the church had a power outage, a technician climbed to the ceiling to see if he could fix the problem. However, that was not to be. He came tumbling down with the ceiling onto the worshippers. 

Asiimwe was among those critically injured. She and other worshippers were rushed to the Mulago National Referral Hospital. There, she passed away. 

At first, there were no indications that this Tuesday was unusual for Asiimwe. However, as others look back at events of the day, there were signs of difference. 

Her mother, Ritah Bagyenda, had gone with her for the lunchtime fellowship at the church located on the top-most floor of an aging building on Kampala Road. Oddly, Asiimwe declined to sit with her mother for the fellowship. 

“Mummy, I have told you, I want to pray alone. Please let me be,” Bagyenda quoted her daughter as telling her. Asiimwe sat on the side of the church that was badly affected by the collapsed ceiling. Bagyenda escaped unscathed.

A woman who preferred anonymity and claimed to be a survivor of the accident, showed Asiimwe’s photo off her phone to curious onlookers just after the collapse of the ceiling. Her account corroborated that of Bagyenda. 

“They sat on opposite sides of the church. I saw her mother walk to her side before the start of the service. After failing to convince her daughter to sit with her, the woman went back to her seat,” the woman, who in her late twenties, said of Bagyenda and Asiimwe. 

Another woman, identified as Maama Naava, also succumbed to injuries sustained in the accident.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Geoffrey Sam Oyelolobo at the Kampala Central Police Station said they were investigating the cause of the collapse of the ceiling. 

In January 2020, six builders were killed and three others sustained serious injuries when a building under construction collapsed on them in the Kampala suburb of Kansanga. In May 20019, five people lost their lives after a wall fence collapsed on them during a downpour.

Asiimwe was buried in Kayunga district, central Uganda. Among the mourners at her burial was UCU Guild President Kenneth Amponda. 

“We went to console with the family of our sister and colleague,” Amponda said. “The collapse of the ceiling was an accident, but it took away someone dear to us.”.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Covid-19: UCU revises graduation program for 2021

COVID-19, News, Students


UCU Graduates celebrate after graduation ceremony on October 11, 2019.

By Ivan Tsebeni

Uganda Christian University (UCU) has announced that this year’s graduation ceremonies will be held in July and October – a departure from the usual March, July and October ceremonies. Another change in the ceremonies will be their virtual nature, as opposed to the usual in-person attendance, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A memo to the students, signed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. John Kitayimbwa, says the July 2 event also will involve the other campuses and constituent colleges of UCU. The university has two constituent colleges – Bishop Barham University College, Kabale, and UCU Mbale University College – and three campuses – in Mukono, Kampala and Arua.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, UCU would hold three graduation ceremonies at the main campus in March, July and October and one at each of its constituent colleges during a 12-month period.  The two constituent colleges would hold their ceremonies a few weeks after the primary one at the main campus. However, world over, the disruptive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have made institutions to move to a fully virtual graduation ceremony or a hybrid one, with just a handful of the graduands attending in person.

Graduates excited after their graduation at UCU Mukono-based campus in July 2018.

Kitayimbwa said no student will be allowed to graduate before clearing with all the university’s departments. The July event, which will be the 22nd graduation of the university, will also be the second time UCU holds a virtual graduation, after its maiden online event held on December 18, 2020.  In the December 2020 graduation, only guild officials and graduands who had attained a first-class degree were allowed to attend in person. 

UCU’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Olivia Nassaka Banja, noted that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic have made it impossible to run a normal graduation plan of up to five in-person ceremonies a year.  Dr. Banja said the decision on when to hold the graduation ceremony was made by the University Council. 

“Covid-19 has disrupted the program, so the University Council thought it wise to hold the graduation only in July and October, to give students ample time to clear their dues and the transcripts office to finalize the processes (of getting the transcripts and certificates ready),” she said.   

Commenting about the changes, Prof. Monica Chibita, the Dean of Faculty of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies, said everyone is in a “period of reading and learning” how to live in a new normal and that she was sure the university will “go forward,” despite the existing challenges.

Janet Natula, a final-year student of the Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration course, said although the new arrangement has hampered the graduation plans of those who expected the ceremony to be held in March, the university had to adapt to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Another final-year student, Andrew Semujju, pursuing Bachelors of Arts in Education, said the extension of the graduation date does not worry him much.  After all, and most importantly, he has completed studies all but a ceremony.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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.

Also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

UCU Law Student beats decades-older candidates in election

News, Students, UCU School of Law


Wabuyele with her declaration forms after being declared winner. Photo by Lule Eriah.

By Lule Eriah

Before January 2021, the closest Mary Immaculate Wabuyele had been to politics was campaigning for other candidates. 

In 2018, she was the campaign manager of Joshua Wanambwa, who was contesting for the position of Uganda Christian University (UCU) guild president. Wanambwa lost in that election. The following year, guild presidential candidate Timothy Kadaga brought Wabuyele on board as his campaign manager. This time round, Wabuyele’s candidate won.

Wabuyele during the campaign. Courtesy photo.

When Wabuyele, a fourth-year student of law at UCU, declared her intentions of contesting herself in national politics last year, she took many by surprise. It was even more surprising that the novice emerged victorious over contenders two decades older than her. For the next five years, she will represent Goma division in Mukono as a councillor in the local council three. She assumes office in June this year.

In Uganda, councillors monitor performance of the civil servants in their jurisdiction, ensure compliance of government policies, approve budgets of the respective local government, as well as monitor provision of government services.

Wabuyele attributes her victory to the support from her friends and family. The tenacity of the 23-year-old could have been passed down from her mother, Lorna Wabwire, the sole provider her daughter’s tuition especially since the death of her husband in 2018. 

“I don’t know the right way to explain how Mary has brought prestige to this home,” said an emotional Wabwire. “I can’t imagine that my girl represents all these people in the division.”

Wabuyele’s poster used during campaigns. Courtesy photo.

For a novice politician who only showed up to campaign twice a week due to the stringent academic schedule of the law school, one would understand the source of Wabwire’s emotion.

“I thank God that in spite of having less time to campaign, compared to my fellow contestants, the people of Goma still trusted me with their votes,” Wabuyele said. She contested on the National Unity Platform party ticket. Many candidates who contested on the same party ticket in central Uganda emerged victorious because of the party’s popularity in the area.

Her greatest challenge during the campaign trail was the language barrier. She was reaching out to not only the uneducated people, but also people with diverse dialects, the majority of whom do not understand English. 

“Since I was young and educated, if I had tried to use English during the campaigns, it would be construed as a mockery of their illiteracy,” she said. “Besides, some were already indifferent about the fact that I am a young woman who aspired to lead them.” The two contenders who Wabuyele defeated were her mother’s age. 

“I was very shocked when Mary told me she had joined national politics. In fact, till now, I am still shocked she won,” Carle Uwitingiyimana, a student pursuing a course in procurement and logistics, said. “I believe one day, she will become a Member of Parliament for the area.”

For now, Wabuyele has the uphill task of elevating her impoverished community by ensuring that the government services in the area reach the intended beneficiaries. Most of the residents are subsistence farmers. 

 “As a woman councillor, I want to lobby for my people from this society, so that I can inspire socio-economic development in the area,” Wabuyele said. Should she achieve this goal, voters may find it easy to give her another nod for an electoral office five years from now, if she chooses to contest.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Hostel owners hike fees as UCU students return for physical classes

COVID-19, News, Students


One of the plush hostels that accommodate UCU students

By Simon Omit and Yasir J. Kasango

The excitement was palpable on February 4, 2021, when Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni gave the okay for the physical return to school of learners, starting March 1. 

The permission for the return to school, which is expected to be in a phased-in manner, follows the October 2020 resumption of face-to-face learning of final-year learners, some of whom start their national exams in March 2021. Uganda closed all education institutions in March of 2020 to control the spread of the coronavirus, allowing on-line studies at mid-year. 

Hostel outside UCU Mukono campus gates

That excitement by Uganda Christian University (UCU) students about the resumption of in-person learning was, however, short-lived when they heard the news of the increase in fees by hostels located outside the campus gates in Mukono. In some cases, these hostels had increased their fees by over 70%. 

Inside the UCU main campus, students pay hostel fees per semester for accommodation in its halls of residence. At sh1.2million (about $330) to the university, a student gets housing as well as meals for the entire semester. However, the space in the halls is not adequate for all the students; hence, the need to seek accommodation in the hostels. 

In justifying the increase in hostel fees, hostel proprietors argued that they had spent a year out of business, and under Covid-19 guidelines can have fewer students in their facilities. Their income has suffered.  Having a smaller number of student residents in order to maintain social distancing has increased the demand for hostels around the university. For a few, it seems like an increase when actually the rent was reduced during a more restricted time and is now back to the previous rate. Many of the hostels announced their new charges in notices pasted on their gates.

Examples include: 

  • At Jordan Hostel in Bugujju, students now pay sh605,000 (about $164) per semester, up from the sh350,000 ($94.90) that they paid last semester. 
  • At St. Benedict Hostel, students will have to part with sh100,000 (about $27) more, up from the sh800,000 ($216) they paid last semester. 
  • For Ndagano Hostel in Bugujju, management has increased fees from sh400,000 (about $108) to sh600,000 (about $162) for a single self-contained room. New management said they renovated the hostel during the lockdown, rebuilding rooms to be self-contained.
  • The non-self-contained rooms, which previously cost sh300,000 (about $81) per semester at Luna Hostel in Bugujju, are now at sh650,000 (about $176). The hostel also charges sh850,000 (about $230) for the self-contained rooms, up from sh400,000 ($108) last semester.    
  • Orange Hostel is charging sh500,000 (about $135) this semester, up from sh300,000 (about $81). 

Ritah Kaitana, a student who resides in an outside-campus hostel, said the services have improved, which could justify the increase. 

“Previously, we used to fetch water from one stand tap in the hostel’s compound, but now the rooms have been fitted with taps,” she said.

The Benedict hostel manager, Jotham Kinene, echoed what other proprietors said – that the increase is intended to recoup the loses they incurred during the lockdown.  Charles Nabongo, the director of the Luna Hostel, said: “Last semester, we were considerate to the students because we were just emerging from the COVID-19 lockdown.” 

The proprietors of hostels are smiling, but most students are not.

Asaph Nsadha Lee, a student of business administration, said despite the increase in hostel fees, there is no innovation in the services offered. “I think the increment is because there are more students now, hence more demand for rooms.” 

 “The increase in prices would have been okay if we were living in normal times, but all of us have been hit by Covid-19,” said student David Awoko. “But hostel owners are still asking for exorbitant accommodation fees.” Awoko asked the university’s student leaders to engage with the hostel owners to reach a lower price compromise. 

UCU’s Guild President, Kenneth Amponda Agaba, called for calm among the students as the leaders engage hostel owners. 

Meanwhile, more students are weighing the less-expensive option of residing in university halls. 

“I will return to Sabiti Hall inside the university, where I know that after paying sh1,200,000, (about $335), I will have access to food and shelter, unlike in hostels where only the shelter is provided,” Janat Nalukuba said.

+++

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

Excitement as students return for face-to-face classes

COVID-19, News, Students


UCU returning students check in

By Dalton Mujuni and Ivan Tsebeni

With excitement, students returned to Uganda Christian University (UCU) after a year-long absence. For finalists, the face-to-face reporting for classes was February 8; for the rest, it was March 1, 2021. 

Their return to school follows the lifting of the ban the Ugandan government had imposed on all academic institutions in the country. On March 18, 2020, President Yoweri Museveni closed all academic institutions and banned gatherings, a move intended to limit the spread of the coronavirus. After a six-month lockdown, academic institutions were opened slowly to final-year students.

In January 2021, the government allowed universities and all institutions of higher learning to reopen in a staggered manner. Primary and secondary schools were also allowed to reopen, following the same pattern.  

University students had been allowed to study online, beginning October 2020. However, the online classes in many institutions were hampered by poor internet connectivity and inadequate skills among both learners and their lecturers.

Students in the queue for registration at UCU after returning for the Easter Semester

“It’s exciting to be back for physical classes,” Gloria Adikin, a year-three student of social work and social administration, said. Adikin returned to UCU mid-February for the Easter Semester that usually starts in January and closes at the end of April.  

Ruth Owomugisha, a second-year student of social work and social administration, said: “I have been missing friends, lecturers and the beautiful UCU compound…Home has many distractions that make reading and studying online difficult.” 

Marvin Sseruma, a third-year student of procurement and logistics management, said the face-to-face studies will enable him engage with his lecturers more. “Most of my course units have calculations in them and require face-to-face consultation,” he said.

Sseruma appealed to the university management to revise the operation hours of the library, to enable students catch up on lost time. He said an extension from the current closing time of 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. would create ample time for revision and research.

Rinah Mumpe, a second-year law student, said the e-campus that they were using for online studies lacked the social component of learning. 

“I was afraid I would fail to complete my assignments at the college if the university had not opened for physical classes. I am going to work tirelessly to accomplish my four papers, to be able to graduate on time,” Marvin Kaddu, a final-year student pursuing Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, said.  

The excitement of the resumption of physical classes at UCU spread to the students undertaking the Honor’s College Leadership mentorship program that has also been allowed to resume.  The new Head of Department at the Honor’s College, Pamela Tumwebaze, said students will be able to utilize all the resources in the university, to accomplish their assignments.

According to a memo to the UCU community dated February 8, the Vice Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, noted that all classes for this semester will be conducted in a blended manner – a mixture of online and face-to-face.

The university has been a hive of activity, with registration of students, training of staff in online teaching, elections for student leaders and campus beautification. The Easter Semester is expected to end by April 30, for the Trinity Semester to start in May.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Entrance to Church of Uganda Hospital in Mukono – one facility that benefited from UCU equipment donations

UCU shares medical equipment with Mengo, Mukono hospitals

News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Dentistry, UCU School of Medicine


Entrance to Church of Uganda Hospital in Mukono – one facility that benefited from UCU equipment donations
Entrance to Church of Uganda Hospital in Mukono – one facility that benefited from UCU equipment donations

By John Semakula

Whenever songs of the late South African artist, Lucky Dube, are played, many music lovers in Africa strike a chord with them. One of the songs, The Hand that Giveth, makes lovers of his music go wild – not just because of the beats, but also the message in the lyrics. The message in The Hand that Giveth is derived from Acts 20:35, which says it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The most recent act by Uganda Christian University (UCU) is a replica of the message in The Hand that Giveth. The institution has shared a donation of the sh520m (about $141,488) medical equipment that it received recently from the US with three hospitals in Uganda – Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital, Mukono General Hospital and Mengo Hospital in Kampala. The three beneficiaries are UCU’s training partners for its medical and dental students.

The medical supplies and equipment was donated and transported to Uganda by MedShare, a US humanitarian organisation.

UCU’s Vice Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi; the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, Mr. David Mugawe; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academics, Dr. John Kitayimbwa; and Dr. Edward Mukooza, the chairperson of the university’s health and safety committee, delivered the equipment to the hospitals.

The consignment included catheters, breast pump kits, blankets, abdominal binders, a Cook SP Tube Introducer Set, and PDB Kidney Shape Balloon. Also provided were applicators, antiseptic, swabs, Povidone Iodine 10%, cabinets, filing metal drawers, covers, face rest pad covers, disposables, thermometers, electronic probe, drapes, surgical and endoscopies.

At Mengo Hospital, UCU’s medical training school founded in 1897 by the Anglican Church, the consignment was handed over to the facility’s medical director, Dr. Rose Mutumba. Commending UCU for the gesture, she said. “UCU is walking the talk and we are excited about the fruits and the prospects of this partnership.”

At Mukono General Hospital, the donation was received by Dr. Robert Kasirye, who is in charge of the facility. Kasirye, too, expressed appreciation to UCU for the gesture. Part of the donation was delivery kits for expectant mothers. Statistics show that in Uganda, 15 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth-related challenges. Many of the expectant mothers who die during child birth delay to reach hospitals after failing to get money to buy delivery kits, hence developing complications.

“We shall use whatever you have given us equitably to the save mothers,” Dr. Kasirye said, adding, “For long, we have had a good working relationship with UCU. The university’s program, Save the Mothers, built a shelter at this hospital, for expectant mothers. That is a plus for UCU and we shall continue working with you.” 

At Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital, the Diocesan Bishop, James Williams Sebaggala, who is the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the hospital, received the equipment and supplies.

The prelate said he was glad to receive the donation at a time when they were looking for a Good Samaritan to donate the necessary equipment.

Assoc. Prof. Mushengyezi noted that the donations were intended to further cement the relationship between UCU and the hospitals. 

“We thought that as part of building our partnership in training students, we should support you also by providing some essential medical items that you need in your daily work, as you attend to patients,” he said. “We are here to show that we care for our friends by donating these supplies.”

Mushengyezi added that UCU’s first lot of medical and dental students who are in their third year now would soon be sent out for internships and asked the staff of the hospitals to accord them the necessary support.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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.

Also, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

UCU International students celebrate during the International Students Cultural week in 2019.

UCU student services reorganized as part of Covid cost-saving plan

COVID-19, News, Students


UCU International students celebrate during the International Students Cultural week in 2019.
UCU International students celebrate during the International Students Cultural week in 2019.

By Grace Bisoke

Uganda Christian University (UCU) has made changes in the three offices that handle student-related issues under the office of the Director of Students’ Affairs (DOSA).

Largely as a cost-cutting measure, the university fused the previously independent international student administrator’s office, the guild record’s office and the Ugandan student administrator’s office. The Covid-related, government order to close education institutions in Uganda during 2020 grossly affected the purse of various establishments, including UCU. 

The Director of Students Affairs, Bridget Mugume K. Mugasira, said that in addition to cost savings, the fusion reduces the duplication of services. Previously, for example, there was a thin line between tasks handled by the guild records assistant’s and student administrator’s offices in regard to financial requests for students. The international student administrator’s office that focused on helping students from countries outside of Uganda is closed with that role assumed by the guild office. 

Reception area of DOSA office in 2020.
Reception area of DOSA office in 2020.

These changes made through the UCU human resource department, which could be temporary, resulted in loss of staff positions. 

“I feel sad to see some of the people under my office leave after we have built a strong relationship,” Mugume said.

While Tom Toboswa, the guild records assistant, said he stands more than ready to help the international students under the new arrangement, he likewise laments that others are without a job. 

The former international student administrator, Edgar Kabahizi, said it was not easy for him to leave his previous office, but he understands the re-organization need. 

“I ask the international students to support whoever will be working with them,” he said, adding: “I will also not be far away since I lecture at UCU. During the International Students Association (ISA) meetings, I will always be with them.” 

“He knew his job well,” said one beneficiary of the international services, Hellen Akek Marial, a student from South Sudan.  “He knew everything about that office and, even when was tired, he would never let his face show.”

Gracia Bwale, a third-year student of bachelor’s of mass communication from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Kabahizi has left a big gap that will take time to fill. Bwale said Kabahizi was among the people who helped her fit into the university when she arrived. 

Another example of UCU’s fiscal responsibility plan is the introduction of the Management Information System (MIS). The MIS helps an individual perform tasks that were previously handled by other people, rendering some office positions obsolete. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

UCU Post-Graduate Student, Prisca Nandede, and niece

American lecturer describes e-teaching experience in Uganda

SRPGS, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Social Sciences


UCU Post-Graduate Student, Prisca Nandede, and niece
UCU Post-Graduate Student, Prisca Nandede, and niece

By Patty Huston-Holm

On a Saturday and at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and via Zoom, the niece of one of my Uganda Christian University (UCU) students in silliness stuck out her tongue at me. I playfully stuck mine back. Then, in a time zone eight hours later, Prisca Nandede, a sociologist pursuing a UCU Masters in Development, shooed away the niece and a younger nephew hanging on her neck, as we got down to business. 

Such is how I did my work – coaching doctoral and masters level students about writing and research – virtually in the Covid-restricted learning environment of 2020. 

It was a setback. I didn’t want to teach this way. 

Author/Lecturer Patty Huston-Holm teaching at UCU in January 2020
Author/Lecturer Patty Huston-Holm teaching at UCU in January 2020

The beauty of being on the ground, engaging an entire classroom and praying one-on-one with a struggling student was replaced with text in emails, unfamiliar names asking questions in an e-learning platform and faces blurred through wireless optics via Zoom across the Atlantic Ocean. The pandemic that beached me in the state of Ohio USA did the same but in closer proximity to other UCU lecturers and students.  

Misery does love company.  But as a volunteer faculty member, I took no solace in the worse suffering of my East African colleagues who were without teaching jobs or teaching with greatly reduced pay. Nor did I relish the shared desolation of students struggling even more to have jobs, put food on the table and access technology to learn and get a degree. 

We were in the same e-boat, keeping afloat as best we could.  

My course was optional – a seminar, actually – and free of charge to post-graduate students.  It was a research and writing seminar designed to help them with their dissertations and theses.  Since 2015, I lead the training in person alongside faculty within the UCU School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies (SRPGS). The summer of 2020 was to be a time to focus on a train-the-trainer model in which Ugandan scholars would assume greater ownership of this assistance to students and to their research supervisors.  

When leaving Uganda in February 2020 after seven weeks of face-to-face assistance in Mukono and Mbale, I promised Dr. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo and Dr. Joseph Owor to be back in July.  As we exchanged hugs and smiles, we knew nothing about a deadly virus drilling into our countries with economic, educational and health consequences. 

Starting in mid-March 2020, the coronavirus changed life – and the delivery of education – as we knew it. In both the United States and Uganda, the emphasis was on a greater shift to on-line learning with the realization that the students most financially and technologically challenged would encounter the greatest obstacles. 

For my seminar, the content was much the same as what I delivered in person for six years. The focus was on guiding students through the components of the UCU Academic Research Manual with strategies for good writing, quality research and plagiarism avoidance mixed in.  My new delivery model involved 16 virtual lecturers on 20 different topics.  With eight lecturers from North America and eight from Uganda, we recorded subject matter experts in business, social work, theology, law, education, engineering and journalism, among others. Through YouTube videos of under 15 minutes each, they provided a real-world context for academic learning. We conducted live zoom chats with professionals.  We offered e-badges and e-certificates for students successfully completing the quizzes and short writing activities.

From mid-September to mid-December 2020, there were more than 100 students enrolled into the 24-7 e-seminar. Roughly half of those engaged in the content at some level.  Nine got certificates.  Five, including Prisca Nandede, took advantage of my free services as a virtual writing/research coach. 

UCU Masters in Development student, Prisca Nandede
UCU Masters in Development student, Prisca Nandede

During that Saturday Zoom session, we discussed Prisca’s research topic about how a woman’s participation in the economy impacts her spousal and overall family relationships. Prisca, in her early 40s and working with the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment, also shared her passion for her job and her concerns about the health of some family members, challenges with technology in Uganda, fears of pre-election violence, remembrances of living in Mbale and Masende and her love of Christ. 

While realizing that quality is often more important than quantity, I shared my disappointment with student participation in the e-seminar. I expressed hope for better engagement in the next seminar – March 8 through May of 2021. I asked Prisca for advice to reach and help more students. 

For the students and their teachers struggling with on-line delivery, she said, “They need to understand that we all have to adapt (to change) at a certain point.” Concluding our one-on-one Zoom session before the ending prayer, Prisca, one of the UCU students who persevered (i.e. Romans 5:5 with a message of hope) to finish the pilot e-seminar in December, issued this reminder: “It all comes down to God – His plan for us.” 

I look forward to what He sets before me in this next 2.5 months. 

++++

For more of these stories and experiences by and about Uganda Christian University (UCU) staff, students and graduates, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org. If you would like to support UCU, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

Also follow and like our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

Odongo poses with Rosa Malango, the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, after a meeting at her residence in Kololo.

UCU student uses innovation to challenge youth leadership stereotypes

News, Students, , , , ,


Odongo poses with Rosa Malango, the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, after a meeting at her residence in Kololo.
Odongo poses with Rosa Malango, the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, after a meeting at her residence in Kololo.

By Alex Taremwa

When I first met Solomon Odongo in 2017 at the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Honour’s College, he was working on an innovation that would transform the lives of rural Ugandans using a bicycle dynamo technology to charge their mobile phones. At that time, Odongo was working with a team of three to design a functional prototype that would pass for mass production, if approved. 

Three years later, not only has the final-year UCU Information Technology student successfully engineered a working prototype for his game-changing bicycle technology for which he has won several awards. Odongo also has championed youth innovation at a national and global level. 

While at UCU, Odongo – a bespectacled natural charmer always in jacket and tie – was elected president of a global youth-led development club, AIESEC.  

Odongo speaking at the 2020 International Youth Day Celebrations in Kampala.
Odongo speaking at the 2020 International Youth Day Celebrations in Kampala.

“AIESEC gave me the opportunity to create change in my community by providing the right networks and partnerships to grow both as a person and an entrepreneur,” he said.  “I gained invaluable leadership experience and skills that have been the benchmark of my career growth.”

From UCU, Odongo – the young man not known for settling for less – decided it was time to go big. He threw himself in the race to become AIESEC’s country director. The position was never held by someone still a student. He lost the first try. On the second attempt, Odongo made headlines as the first-ever AIESEC university club president to successfully transition to the position of Country Director. 

In his time at the helm, Odongo has forged numerous partnerships with multilateral organisations to bring voices and innovations of young Ugandans to the table and opened up conversations with stakeholders on investment opportunities in the youth sector. The consideration of young entrepreneurs is significant because most youth don’t have funds to elevate their innovations. 

One million solutions for SDGs
Odongo is part of a team of young leaders spearheading the United Nations One Million Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Solutions Challenge to accelerate scalable innovations to help in the achievement of the SDGs by 2030.  

The initiative, which is run on www.ugandayouthsolutions.com, is aimed at identifying and mobilizing Ugandan youth to present one million solutions. In  2021, the challenge will be televised. Of the 50 innovations submitted, 40 Innovations were selected to receive support from UN agencies and partners in Uganda.

One of the solutions is a solar-powered oxygen machine. Another is a local mosquito repellent diffuser that uses solar energy to emit human friendly gases from locally sourced herbs. 

In January 2021, Odongo was part of a youth delegation under the Youth Coalition for SDGs umbrella slated to meet Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni to discuss the youth’s contribution in achieving the SDGs and government’s support towards their innovations.

He planned to use the opportunity to garner attention for innovations from young people and call for a youth-inclusive government that would bridge the youth divide that often creates a mismatch in prioritization of resources at implementation level. 

Odongo also was nominated by Uganda’s government-owned daily newspaper, the New Vision, as one of the Top 40 under age 40 in the category of youth leadership and entrepreneurship in 2020. 

A UCU ‘Silicon Valley’?
Odongo believes that UCU has the right talent mix among students, staff and partnerships to run a successful innovation and entrepreneurship center that can incubate new solutions and have the potential to employ hundreds of the university’s graduates. 

“I know the Faculty of Business has an incubation hub of sorts but I would love for the new Vice Chancellor to expand it into a university innovation center where not just business students but lawyers, journalists, programmers, agriculturalists and artisans can put ideas together, incubate them and come up with scalable solutions,” he said. “Imagine graduating 3,000 students and at the same time, launching 50 new products to the Ugandan market. One product alone can even employ half the number graduating.”

Odongo said he had presented the idea to the former Vice Chancellor, Rev. Canon. Dr. John Senyonyi, and now hopes that new leadership can bring the idea to life.

“A university in today’s world of technology must invest heavily in research and development in order to create local solutions for the community in which it operates,” he noted. 

+++

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.

Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Security personnel takes body temperature of a UCU staff before letting her into the University premises.

How UCU community observes COVID-19 regulations

COVID-19, Faculty, News, Students


As COVID-19 continues to spread in Uganda, academic institutions are increasing their efforts related to health and safety of staff and students. At Uganda Christian University (UCU), the management has put in place several tight measures to ensure that members of the community strictly observe coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). These include washing hands with the help of tippy-taps placed in different locations (gates, classroom blocks, residence halls, etc.). No person is allowed to access the University before washing or sanitizing their hands. Meanwhile students without facemasks are not allowed into the examination rooms and during community worship. In these pictures, Samuel Tatambuka, a University Communications Assistant, shows how measures are in place at UCU.

Security personnel takes body temperature of a UCU staff before letting her into the University premises.
Security personnel takes body temperature of a UCU staff before letting her
into the University premises.
A University staff member washes her hands at the Bishop Tucker Gate before entering the University.
A University staff member washes her hands at the Bishop Tucker Gate before entering the University.
Mass Communication students of UCU sitting at a distance from one another during their examinations in Nkoyoyo Hall on December 28.
Mass Communication students of UCU sitting at a distance from one
another during their examinations in Nkoyoyo Hall on December 28.
A University chapel warden takes the temperature of students before allowing them to access community worship in Nkoyoyo Hall.
A University chapel warden takes the temperature of students
before allowing them to access community worship in Nkoyoyo Hall.

 

Kenneth Agaba Amponda UCU’s new Guild President

UCU’s 2020-2021 guild president elected in ‘new normal’

News, Students, , , , ,


Kenneth Agaba Amponda UCU’s new Guild President
Kenneth Agaba Amponda UCU’s new Guild President

(The election for the 2020-2021 top Student Guild president at the Uganda Christian University Mukono (main) campus occurred virtually in November. Campaigns were conducted through social media. Of 8,086 possible voters, 1,959 students cast ballots using their phones and computers. This is an interview with the new guild president, Agaba Kenneth Amponda, age 24, and studying in the Faculty of Law.)

By Winnie Laker

What is your family background?
I am a Mukiga from Kabaale district (Western Uganda), born and raised from the Ihanga trading center under Bubaale sub-county. I am the second born in a family of seven children, and my parents are Jackson Bitama and  Jackline Akankwasa Kibingo.

What is your educational background?
I attended my primary level in Kabaale Universal Nursery and Primary School. I then joined Mbarara High School for three years and completed my Ordinary-level from Standard High Zana. I later went to Gombe secondary School for my Advanced level.  Currently, I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in law at Uganda Christian University (UCU).

Kenneth Amponda, the current Guild President, with Timothy Kadaga, the former Guild President
Kenneth Amponda, the current Guild President, with Timothy Kadaga, the former Guild President

Apart from your current position as guild president, what other leadership roles have you played?
My leadership list is quite long, but allow me to brief you on a few of them. In my primary six, I was elected sports prefect, and this was a stepping stone to my servanthood. I then became a class coordinator in Mbarara High School, the chairperson of school council in Gombe Secondary School, a residential assistant for two years in UCU, and I am the treasurer of Kigezi Community fellowship (a students’ fellowship group in UCU).

What has been your inspiration in serving as a leader?
First and foremost, I am proud to say the holy word of God has been my inspiration from day one. And although I did not mention it earlier, I have always served in church up until now, being a member of Mustard Seed Choir. It is because of this acquaintance with the Bible that I learnt how to handle and solve different kinds of problems within my environment, and in the end I realized that many have appreciated my decisions making role.

What nudged you to be guild president?
Of course I knew my capabilities, but that alone couldn’t push me to stand as a University’s guild. During my services as a residential assistant, I was consistent in addressing the students’ problems, especially during consultation meetings with the administration. I always made sure most of the complaints were addressed to suit my brothers in the halls of residence, and it is these very students that pushed me to this position as their guild president today. Because they loved how I served in a lower position, they saw it best if the entire student’s body gained from my leadership.

How did you campaign within the campus COVID-19 guidelines?
I put everyone’s health first. I have a foundation called AMPONDA CARES, which I opened up way back, but activated it during the lockdown in March. Ever since its activation, it has been distributing food, masks, and some financial help where necessary to especially students. So when it came to campaigns, both the foundation and my campaign team, decided to distribute over 2,000 masks to the student’s fraternity. And unlike my opponent who had already released his posters, I decided to invest my finances in the manufacturing of masks, which I distributed (carefully and safely) to quite a good number of students.

How do you see your role in the pandemic?
Surely, my government has a very big role to play, but allow me to first of all to express appreciation to the University and the outgoing government for introducing e-learning such that no one (especially non finalists) was left behind. Today, we can see the effort these people have put in due to the unprecedented pandemic. We are all studying which is a good thing for everyone. My government will therefore, endeavor to work with mostly the grassroot leaders that is, the residential assistants, class coordinators and members of parliament, who can best explain the issues to be addressed in relationship to students. We will work hand in hand with the administration and I can promise you that, all our services will be under the goal of building a bridge to the new normal.

Where do you see yourself after your term is finalized in 2021?
I will humbly respond to you that I did not see myself as a guild president in the first place. Rather, I have always viewed myself in the image of a leader. It is those around me that boosted my popularity to the rest of the student’s fraternity, who later positioned me where I am now. So being a strong Christian believer, I will not predetermine my future. Only God will give me what I deserve after all this.

Away from leadership, are you in a relationship?
No, I am neither in a relationship nor am I searching at the moment. All I want is to serve my brothers and sisters at UCU as best as I can.

Any last words you would like to say?
I want to thank all the students that entrusted me with their votes. All I can say is that “Amponda will serve you with all his strength and might,” to the end that a bridge to the new normal is built.

 +++++

For more of these stories and experiences by and about Uganda Christian University (UCU) students and graduates, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org. If you would like to support UCU, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

Also follow and like our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

uthor Winnie Laker, at right, and workmate recording UACE best students at The New Vision newspaper.

COVID-19 saved me from registering a dead year

COVID-19, News, Students


uthor Winnie Laker, at right, and workmate recording UACE best students at The New Vision newspaper.
uthor Winnie Laker, at right, and workmate recording UACE best students at The New Vision newspaper.

By Winnie Laker

Two weeks before the official lockdown of the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was already sick.

At the beginning of March, I started seeing a temporal defeat of life in my health. Fever, dry cough and general body weakness were the signs and symptoms that I was experiencing. In other words, they were not any different from what we had been hearing about the coronavirus. Could I have contacted COVID-19?

Just as with past times that I had malaria, I didn’t let it hold me down.  I continued my internship at The New Vision. My task was registering best performing schools and students after the release of the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) information. I was determined not to let health interfere with my career climb and my passion for writing in communications and journalism.

As time progressed, I was sure my illness wasn’t the virus.  Still weak, however, I notified my mother who delivered some bad news about my studies at Uganda Christian University.

“After finalizing with your internship, go and register for a dead year,” she said.  “Your father and I have lost all means of paying for you this year.”

The author’s mother and nieces visit the soy beans in the garden
The author’s mother and nieces visit the soy beans in the garden

On that March 5, 2020, day, the emotion of sadness slipped into my soul, using it as a thorn to prick my heart. I needed a miracle. I wanted my God to rescue me from a full year away from studies. Meanwhile, our return for the Advent semester was pushing closer.

On that day, I vividly remember the high sunlit clouds drifting across a clear blue sky. I sat cross legged, with my head facing the floor. When I stood up to finally get permission from the Editor for my official end of work note, I stumbled on my every footstep. I didn’t have any strength left within me, but I had to talk to the editor on duty, Mrs Hellen Mukibi, about my situation.

Although my decision to end my internship was abrupt, I decided to tell Hellen the whole truth. She provided the around-the-clock emotional support I needed. The friendly exchange of conversation gave me hope.

While at home, I slept more and felt sorry for myself. At that, I began to strategize about what I could do to get back in school. Agriculture, an area I knew little about, emerged as an answer in my country that is rich with crops in many locations. Surely God was somehow involved in keeping my entire class from reporting back to school. I traveled to the village, specifically Gulu (in the North), to work in agriculture production.

When the president announced the official two-week lockdown beginning March 19, 2020, I was in the village doing farming, which I had never done physically my entire life. Farming, particularly small-scale, was a side business I started up in 2018, the year I joined the University. At first, it was due to influence from my siblings, but as time went on I realized it provided for my allowances at school.   Nonetheless, I had to expand on the scale this time round, if I really wanted to get back to school.

During the more than seven-month period of lockdown, which included suspension of all classes at UCU, I had an acre of soya beans, one and a half acres of groundnuts and maize and half an acre of simsim. I  had clear confirmation that I did not serve a dead God as the education delay was not just on me but on everybody.

The farming life was not easy. It involved weeding and harvesting. I well understood it was easier paying someone to do this job than doing it yourself.  But I didn’t have that option. So I would wake up as early as 6:00 a.m. to go to the garden and by the time I am set to rest, I would have forgotten to even switch on my phone for any alerts. My mother and nieces worked hard side by side in the garden. Whether studying or working with my hands, I did not sit and stare.  I worked.

At the beginning of October, the soya beans had its market ready for sale after harvesting. My hope was at its peak, being sure of resuming school together with fellows who were also home due to the effect of the pandemic. Moreover, the sale I made from the soya beans was enough to get me started back at school.

Today as I write this article, I am in school (virtually) with my very classmates, with whom I started with in 2018 (in-person studies). And although I have not completed my tuition, I can affirm that the groundnuts, maize and simsim, yet to be harvested by my mother, will be more than enough to pay my tuition. God willing, in October 2021,  I will be graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication.

For me, an experience was gained but I also learned a very big lesson. If life lifts a fire of hope and sprinkles water in it, I can always go an extra mile and rekindle it to recover my laughter once more again.

UCU staff members discuss on-line learning enhancements in the Mukono campus eLearning Centre.

UCU set to reopen for online eLearning on Sept 15

COVID-19, Faculty, News, Students, , , , , , , ,


UCU staff members discuss on-line learning enhancements in the Mukono campus eLearning Centre.
UCU staff members discuss on-line learning enhancements in the Mukono campus eLearning Centre.

(NOTE: At the time this was written, the Ugandan government agreed to allow medical school students only to return to in-person education. There were unconfirmed rumors that physical delivery could be allowed for all schools by the end of September. If permitted, this could impact the UCU plan as outlined in this story.)

By John Semakula

Uganda Christian University (UCU) students, who missed their end of Easter Semester (January-May) examinations because of the country’s COVID-19 lockdown, have cause to smile. According to the office of the UCU Vice Chancellor, the students can take the Easter Semester examinations from September 15 to October 15, 2020.

“These will be done as take-home examinations, as it is the practice in universities all over the world,” read a statement from the VCs office dated September 4, adding, “Teaching for the Trinity (normally starting in May) and Advent (normally starting in September) semesters will commence on October 15.”

Students enrolled with UCU for the first semester of this calendar year missed their examinations when all the academic institutions in the country were closed on March 20 as part of a government-imposed, country lockdown to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. These students were mostly completed with their studies except for their final semester examinations. At that time, and despite UCU’s readiness to conduct on-line learning and administer take-home exams, the University’s efforts were denied by President Yoweri Museveni on grounds that the process would discriminate against individuals from poor families.

In early September, UCU had that approval, including from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) that conducted an early August inspection. According to a letter dated August 26 and signed by the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Dr. John Senyonyi, after assessing UCU’s capacity to undertake online distance eLearning, the NCHE gave the University a green light to resume teaching virtually.

NCHE also cleared the University’s School of Medicine and the newly named School of Dentistry to continue operations after an inspection by the regulatory body conducted on August 10. Early this year, the NCHE had raised some concerns about the standards of most medical schools in the country, including the medical schools at UCU and Makerere University, and asked the institutions to improve or be denied a chance to offer the courses.

In a letter dated August 28, NCHE’s Executive Director, Prof. Mary J.N. Okwakol, noted that UCU’s medical and dental programs met the requirements for the training of medical doctors and dental surgeons within the East African Community (EAC) as set out in the guidelines.

“Upon qualifications, therefore, the graduates shall be eligible for reciprocal recognition within the EAC partner states,” she wrote. “The University may admit students to the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Dentistry programmes, ensuring adherence to the recommended number of students for each programme.”

Dr. Aaron Mushengyezi, UCU’s new vice chancellor, speaks at a press conference.
Dr. Aaron Mushengyezi, UCU’s new vice chancellor, speaks at a press conference.

In his August 26 letter to UCU staff, Dr. Senyonyi commended those who worked hard to ensure that both assessments were successful. He said he was sincerely indebted to them.

The University has since advertised vacancies for first year students who would wish to take those science courses advising them to apply online for the courses.

The new Vice-Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, also confirmed NCHE’s clearance for UCU to continue teaching in a letter to staff dated September 4. He also revealed that the University Senate had as a result of the clearance by NCHE met on September 2 and passed several resolutions to pave way for the University to reopen for online distance eLearning.

 

Key among the resolutions, which Senate passed, was that the University would hold a virtual graduation – a first for UCU – for those students who will have finished their studies. The ceremony is scheduled for December 18, 2020.

Also important to note is that students who are supposed to be in session for both the Trinity (May-August) and Advent (September- December) semesters will first complete the Trinity Semester. To have access to inexpensive Internet services for online learning and while tuition costs are in discussion, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, Dr. John Kitayimbwa, advised students to buy MTN cell phone sim cards to access Internet hotspots.

+++++

To support UCU, 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.

Also visit us on Facebook and Instagram.

Anguzu walks out of his office at River Oli Division

Anguzu: UCU social work graduate restoring sanity in Arua

News, Students, , , , , , ,


Anguzu walks out of his office at River Oli Division
Anguzu walks out of his office at River Oli Division

By Douglas Olum

Lying in my bed in the Kudrass Hotel in Arua City on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, a sharp female scream pierced through the walls. Even though I did not understand the Lugbara language the woman used, I could tell from the sharp cries that she was in trouble. I rushed to the hotel reception to inquire about the problem.

“I think they are robbing someone,” the young man at the reception said. “There are gangs around here who rob people daily.”

I retreated to my room with a reminder to be cautious wherever I would go around this northwestern Uganda city. Arua is one of the four regional cities created recently in Uganda. It is located 520 kilometers (323.113 miles) Northwest of Kampala, in the West Nile region of Uganda.

Women make and sell popcorn and other snacks along a walk path in Arua City
Women make and sell popcorn and other snacks along a walk path in Arua City

This incident also reinforced the message delivered hours before in a conversation with Morris Anguzu, a 2018 Uganda Christian University (UCU) Social Work and Social Administration graduate who works in this area. Amidst our discussion, he shared with me his experience of the previous night when he received a 2 a.m. emergency call from a motorcycle rider whose bike was robbed while he was rushing a patient to the Arua Regional Referral Hospital. As the Gombolola Internal Security Organisation (GISO) officer in River Oli Division since 2011, Anguzu’s role places him directly at the centre of handling a complex web of societal problems ranging from domestic violence, child neglect, drug abuse, theft and robberies.

Of the two divisions in Arua City, River Oli has the largest population with approximately 50,700 residents of the estimated 72,400 city population (Uganda Bureau of Statistics Population projection report, 2015-2020).  About 80 percent are Muslims. Anguzu said the three greatest challenges in this community are low literacy rate, polygamy and lack of parental guidance. He said most parents spend time looking for money, thereby leaving their children exposed to bad peers who introduce them to stealing, abusing drugs and smuggling goods from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the day, the city centre is busy with pedestrians, motorists and cyclists transporting all tribes of goods in and out of the city, crisscrossing everywhere. Sweaty, bare-chest men are seen offloading goods from large trucks, which bring them from Kampala, and sometimes loading them in smaller trucks that buy them from local wholesalers. Along the corridors, walk paths and backstreets, women and children are seen hawking carrots, cassava, ginger, onions, pepper, among other vegetables. In the same areas, others also are seen serving cooked foods, porridge, tea and snacks to the lower class city dwellers and some visitors.

Taking a ride with Anguzu along Lemerijoa road, in the afternoon of Wednesday, August 5, we witnessed a large group of young and older boys, drinking, smoking and chewing the leafy drug called mairungi. Anguzu explained to me that Lemerijoa is regarded as the hub of the gangs that rob people in Arua city on daily basis, and that the gangs are feared by both the community and local council leaders because they threaten them every time an attempt is made to confront or stop them.

Determined to change the narrative, Anguzu is applying various social work skills he acquired from UCU during his studies to help restore peace and security in the city. These skills include counseling and community engagement.

He said UCU equipped him with unique skills that have greatly improved his work results. He holds meetings with parents of boys to figure how they might work together to get the children to drop their bad habits; and speaks with many of the boys in one-on-one meetings.  Before the COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda, he was more actively engaging elders, religious and local council leaders to derive a sustainable, effective approach through which they could permanently address problems.

While Anguzu’s colleagues are barred from speaking to the media by the terms of their work, others provided praise.

Benard Ezama, a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) rider, said they have more hope in Anguzu than the Uganda Police because he does not demand money from them and normally quickly responds in case of an attack or robbery.

To Jane Aikoru, a shop operator in the city, the increased insecurity in Arua “cannot be solved by arresting and imprisoning the perpetrators because at some point they still return from jail and continue to wreck havoc on people.” Aikoru thinks that Anguzu is the only hope they have because he is unafraid of the boys and he sometimes helps people recover their stolen property from the gangs.

In June this year, and on his way to lunch, Anguzu saw a young boy snatch a phone from a woman and run away with it as the public merely watched. He chased after the 13-year-old boy and recovered the woman’s phone before taking the boy to police.

For many people, the engagement would stop there. No so for Anguzu. Hours later, he went back to police and had a talk with the boy. Together with the Arua Child and Family Protection police department, Anguzu arranged for a meeting with the boy’s family where they resolved to withdraw the case on condition that the boy start working to turn his life around. The family of the minor, whose name is withheld to protect his identity, said their son has since transformed. They say without the intervention of Anguzu, the boy would have a life on the streets. Anguzu says his vision is to make Arua an educated and self-sustaining society that fears God.

“As a born-again Christian I believe my job is a calling from God and I should serve our people wholeheartedly,” he said. “I face rejections from some members of the Muslim community who mistake me to be fighting their belief, especially their practice of polygamy, but I also am motivated further when people appreciate the things I do for them.”

++++

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

Barriers to integrating e-Learning into Uganda’s education system

COVID-19, News, Students, UCU Alumni, , , , , ,


e-Learning compatible with multiple devices that can be accessed by both staff and students. COURTESY PHOTO/UCU Law Society

(NOTE:  This article was written before the Uganda National Council for Higher Education gave late August 2020 approval for UCU to offer on-line courses.)

By Alex Taremwa

On Friday, July 3, 2020, my good friend Rebecca Karagwa, a recipient of a generous Uganda Partners scholarship, should have graduated with her Bachelor of Laws from Uganda Christian University (UCU). Only that did not happen. After waiting for online exams in vain, she celebrated anyway. She cut the cake and ate it.

Her official school completion was delayed partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced schools shut but also due to the Ugandan education system technological limbo in 2020. Since the colonial era, classroom instruction in Uganda – even at top government-supported universities like Makerere University (the 8th Best in Africa according to recent rankings) has been a blackboard and chalk affair.

While students in countries like Rwanda begin to interact with computer technology as early as primary school with the help of education tablets that the government freely distributes, it is common for a student in Uganda from a rural area like Kazo to join a university without ever touching a computer.

UCU Students browse online reading material in the UCU Hamu Mukasa Library. COURTESY PHOTO/UCU E-Learning
UCU Students browse online reading material in the UCU Hamu Mukasa Library. COURTESY PHOTO/UCU E-Learning

I write from experience. Before I joined UCU in 2010, the best I knew about a computer was to correctly identify the mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was the first-year, UCU Basic Computing Foundation Course Unit that moved me to computer literacy; I scored 98%. This is true today for many students at Ugandan universities.

While the Ugandan government directed that Information and Computer Technology (ICT) be taught compulsorily at secondary level, most schools in rural areas and some in peri-urban areas have at most eight functional computers to be used by a population of 800 students or even more. At the maximum, each student will have interfaced with the computer for about five full hours in a term. To say that this time is insufficient to create any sort of mastery is an understatement.

Nevertheless, students move on to the universities where some semblance of e-Learning can be felt. Lecturers often send course material on Email and can ably grade assignments through academic systems such as Moodle. But from experience, both students and lecturers confess that the traditional approach where assignments are typed and printed is more “effective” than the modern style because the latter requires an internet connection or a physical presence at the University where one can access free Wi-Fi.

But there is an even bigger reason. Most of the courses taught at universities had not been customized for online delivery. When you visit the Uganda National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) website to see the listed of accredited online courses for universities, you’re met with an empty list. There is, however, a list of new guidelines that the NCHE is mooting to furnish universities in a bid to support their customization of online programs.

Online programs have to be immersive and interactive to compensate for when the students are not physically present at the university as the case is now. The challenge is that neither the university nor the government can guarantee that students will have access to a computer and stable Internet to support this kind of learning.

Statistically, only 42% of Ugandans are connected to the Internet, according to the Uganda Communications Commission. This represents 19 million of the 45 million Ugandans. If you break this figure further, the biggest concentration of Internet users is in Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Entebbe, Jinja and other major towns, but most of the rural countryside where the students are during this lockdown is largely uncovered.

To worsen matters, Uganda has the most expensive Internet per megabyte of all the countries in East Africa. It doesn’t help our case that social media platforms like WhatsApp, on which students are currently interacting as they hope for take home exams, also attract a daily tax.

It would have been better and cheaper for the government to lift tax on social media to promote learning via smartphones on Facebook Live and YouTube but instead, the government is settling to buy two radio and television sets for each of the 140,000 villages in the country. While this happens, universities like the United States International University in Africa in Nairobi, Aga Khan University and other ultramodern institutions have already closed their semesters successfully by administering exams online. All the institutions had to do was to use part of the students’ already paid tuition to activate for them data bundles with which to access, write and submit the exams.

Together with an e-Examination system that closed submissions after the permissible three hours, the universities were able to avoid physical access to the premises, keep COVID-19 at bay and still successfully close their academic calendars with minor interruptions.

Selfishly though, the government has refused to allow institutions like Uganda Christian University (UCU) that have the necessary infrastructure to support e-Learning to proceed with their academic calendar, claiming that some students who are in rural areas will not be able to access the learning material – even when the very students petitioned the Speaker of Parliaments seeking permission to sit their exams and move on with their lives.

Uganda has attempted and failed twice to allow finalists to return to their respective institutions of learning to write their examinations. Information from the corridors of power now has it that the government is mooting to force a dead year on students like Karagwa that were hoping to graduate simply because there is no infrastructure to support e-Learning.

As long as COVID-19 is still a global pandemic, education in Uganda will remain on halt and even when schools resume in the near future, e-Learning will remain a far cry until the technological barriers to uptake are addressed.

Alex Taremwa is a journalist, a graduate of UCU and an MA student at the Graduate School of Media and Communications (GSMC) of The Aga Khan University in Nairobi.

+++

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.

Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Chizoba with her host mother and sisters

COVID lockdown in a foreign country

COVID-19, Students, , , , , , , ,


Chizoba sells candy to a customer in Yesu Mulungi hostel
Chizoba sells candy to a customer in Yesu Mulungi hostel

By Maxy Magella Abenaitwe

The COVID-19 shutdown of Ugandan education has halted career-building knowledge and skills for 9,000 Uganda Christian University (UCU) students. The stories of students returning home or stuck a few hours away and picking up odd jobs and doing manual labor to get food instead of engaging in their studies are common.  The lesser-known stories involve UCU students from countries outside of Uganda. Since mid-March 2020, international students have been stuck inside Uganda’s closed borders.  Some wondered how they could survive a day in a foreign country with no relatives, the added language barrier and poor knowledge of how to get around.

These are two such stories – of Eziuzo Chizoba from Nigeria and Rogers Moras of South Sudan.

Chizoba with her host mother and sisters
Chizoba with her host mother and sisters

Eziuzo Chizoba – Nigeria
Eziuzo Chizoba, a second year Nigerian student of governance and international relations could not imagine how hard life would get if not for the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Kolawole, her host family. To Chizoba, it is not just a roof over her head but a life-transforming encounter.

From her host mother’s girl talks about Christ centeredness, saving capital for future purposes and premarital sex, Chizoba has made resolutions to polish her spiritual, academic and physical life. She now knows that she must build her future today if she must give back to a society that has shown her so much kindness.

“I have made up my mind to be a giver,” Chizoba says. “But in order to do this, I must first work on myself. Mother Ruth Kolawole always says that giving is a medicine for prosperity.”

She adds that her ambition for making money has grown. Chizoba looks at every aspect of life as an opportunity to earn a living.  For example, she vended sweets in student hostels when she travelled back to check on her property in Mukono. Chizoba earned $9 (Shs 32,000) every time she sold off a tin of candy initially purchased at $4.5 (Shs 16,000). She hopes to carry on with the business once studies resume.

In one bid to build herself, Chizoba deactivated some of her Facebook pages.  She realized she had spent too much time on social media.

“I feel everything I do should have a positive impact on society and on me,” she said. “If it is a Facebook account, I need it to have motivating content. That’s why I intend to resume social media interactions only when I have something (significant) to offer.”

In the lockdown and without university classes, she also mastered cooking.  She perfected various delicious dishes and snacks like plantain chips, pizza and chicken soup.

Moras rolls a vegetable rolex
Moras rolls a vegetable rolex

Rogers Moras – South Sudan
By end of October this year, Rogers Moras, a South Sudanese refugee student at Uganda Christian University, was expected to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics Managment. To Moras, graduating was a free ticket back home – to reunite with his family in South Sudan and establish himself with quality employment. Unfortunately with the continued lockdown of academic institutions, Moras might not graduate soon.

“Uganda is a very beautiful country,” he said. “I enjoy being here. But I look forward to getting back home because I need to contribute to the growth of my country. Additionally, that it is where I belong.”

With the initial lockdown notice, Moras decided not to go home because of the high cost of travel and because he believed “the situation could settle within the thirty two days as per the (Ugandan) Presidential address.”

In addition to the financial and academic strains for all university students, as an international student Moras suffers added despair with lack of socialization in a different country.

Despite difficulties, however, Moras has used the quarantine period to master skills such as baking vegetable rolex. He hopes to put up a rolex business around campus as soon as the university reopens.

Moras also has adopted a reading culture for purposes of self-improvement and stress management.

“Books help me get over stress and rebuild my hope,” he said. “A novel like ‘Becoming: Michelle Obama’ helped me understand that I choose how I see the world and that my happiness depends on me. If borders are never opened, my life must go on even in a foreign country.”

Unable to access a gym, Moras has improvised ways to stay strong and healthy. He has developed self-made weights of two jerricans filled with wet sand and joined by a stick. He also jogs and climbs Ankhra hill in Mukono.

The lockdown has taught Moras to build relations with productive people, engaging in activities like debates and trade fairs.

He says: “I have vowed to live my life as if the present day was my last because I cannot be sure of what tomorrow holds for me.”

The writer of this article, Maxy Magella Abenaitwe, is a 2018 graduate of Uganda Christian University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication. Before the lockdown, she was an intern for the UCU Standard newspaper.

++++

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

Apac, Uganda, nursing school director credits UCU for her impact

Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine, , , , , ,


Margaret Ekel, founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda
Margaret Ekel, founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda

By Douglas Olum

While growing up in a northern Uganda village in the 1960s, Margaret Ekel admired nursing assistants who occasionally visited to interact with the people, including her parents, Tezira and Jeremiah Okot.  As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming one of these smartly dressed, well-spoken medical people.

In 1968, after learning letter writing in her primary six classes, Ekel, then age 11, used that skill to begin applying to the Lira Mid-wifery Training School, seeking admission to the nursing program. Ekel overstated her age as 14. Unfortunately, because she lacked the minimum academic qualification for admission, she received a denial response with the word “regret.” As Ekel narrated this childhood memory in 2019, she could not help but smile.

“I didn’t understand the word ‘regret’,” she said, laughing.

To Ekel, that rejection was mere postponement of her admission. Her target was to get the ordinary level certificate, which she obtained in 1973. With that in hand, she applied for the nursing course while one of her brothers submitted documents on her behalf for the Laboratory Assistant program. She was admitted for both, but dropped the Laboratory Assistant offer.

After enrolling in the Masaka Nursing and Mid-wifery Training School in central Uganda, Ekel encountered challenges with the practical side of learning, including the administration of injections to patients.  Giving a shot was terrifying as was dealing with death. When patients died, she hid inside a small room until the body was wrapped and taken away.

“Whenever I would lose a patient, I would cry with the relatives instead of simply empathizing with them as the profession requires,” she said. “I kept wondering why my fellow nurses would not drop a tear.”

With the help of tutors and colleagues, Ekel overcame these professional obstacles. With a midwifery certificate, she pursued a diploma in Nursing from Mulago School of Nursing and Mid-wifery before taking on a tutorship training course.

Realizing the gaps in the Uganda’s health sector, Ekel, who had worked in Government Hospitals, including at Nebbi Hospital in the West Nile region, knew that she could not do that single handedly. She opted for an early retirement from Government service as a nurse to pursue further studies so that she could influence the change she desires through imparting the knowledge and skills for a younger generation to close those gaps. So she decided to establish a school of nursing to train more Ugandans at certificate level in Apac District, Northern Uganda shortly after graduating from UCU.

Margaret Ekel at graduation from UCU in March 2014. She received her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree before enrolling for a Masters in the same field.
Margaret Ekel at graduation from UCU in March 2014. She received her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree before enrolling for a Masters in the same field.

Ekel received a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) in March 2014.

“My training in UCU opened my eyes to see the profession from a different perspective,” she said. “I was taken through the details of essentials like nursing care and nursing problems – which deals with how nurses can connect emotionally with their patients, listen to them and discover problems that could delay their healing processes.”

A mother of five boys and a girl, Ekel, who is currently a student in the Master of Nursing Science program at UCU, is founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda. The school runs alongside a sister hospital, Nightingale Hospital, Apac.

Through her school and hospital, Ekel hopes to restore patients’ hopes in the nursing profession by restoring what she considers the lost image of the profession. Administratively, Ekel says her time at UCU has made her a leader with a difference because through the various fellowships and prayer sessions, she learned that it was important to involve God in everything.

“Seeing the Vice Chancellor go to eat with students at the DH (Dining Hall) taught me key leadership skills like paying attention to the people you lead, listening to them and being humble all the time,” Ekel said.

In August 2018, Ekel suddenly collapsed while she was interacting with visitors from Gulu Regional Blood Bank who had checked into her school. She was rushed to Nightingale Hospital in Apac,  where she was resuscitated before being referred to Nakasero Hospital for CT Scan and Naguru Hospital for a surgical procedure. Investigations revealed that she had cerebral thrombosis, a blood clot condition in the brain, which meant the vein that supplies oxygen to her brain was blocked and she needed to stay away from stressful and physically hectic duties. The condition is normally permanent in patients, which meant she had to drop out of her masters program which she painfully did.

But to her surprise, about a year later, a doctor told Ekel that her condition had normalized. She remembers asking the doctor what could have healed her, to which the doctor reportedly responded: “Somehow God has planted a new vein to supply your brain.”

In April 2020, she was considering a return to complete her course with mostly individual research remaining.

Because of that miraculous healing, Ekel believes that: “When you are with Christ, it is different than when you are with the world.”

+++

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.

Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, left, UCU Head of Nursing, and students meet with Magdalene Nayonjo, a community resident

Community collaboration is asset to quality nurse delivery in Uganda

Faculty, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine, , , , , , ,


Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, left, UCU Head of Nursing, and students meet with Magdalene Nayonjo, a community resident
Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, left, UCU Head of Nursing, and students meet with Magdalene Nayonjo, a community resident

By Caleb Bamwesiga

Magdalene Nayonjo is one of 653 residents of Nakkoba Village, located in rural Dundu Parish, Kyampisi Sub County – about a 45-minute mostly bumpy bus ride from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) main campus. At age 89, she’s the one I remember most during a February 2020 trip with UCU Nursing students and their head of department, Elizabeth Nagudi Situma.

Openly in her Luganda language and while plucking tiny stems from the bitter miniature apple fruit called katunkuma, she says she is barren. She admits that over the years she has been shunned for her inability to have children.  Now approaching 90 years, however, she is an accepted part of her community.  With her husband who has had other wives with children, she is content.

Segayi Dessan Salongo, coordinator for UCU nursing student visit in Nakkoba
Segayi Dessan Salongo, coordinator for UCU nursing student visit in Nakkoba

Segayi Dessan Salongo, a village council member and the student nurse contact for the day, agrees. Magdalene is a respected and valued member of this poverty-stricken village.  He supports the student visits not just for their ability to apply learning but also for what they teach residents about health care.  In this village, safe drinking water is not abundant.  There is no health care facility or pharmacy.  Knowledge of the importance of cleanliness is sparse.

Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, who sits next to me enroute to and from the village and remains with me as I meet residents, explains that these visits are part of the year four learning for students working toward a UCU Bachelors of Nursing Science degree within the School of Medicine and give opportunity to students get exposed to health care at the grass roots level.

While healthy for an elderly person, Magdalene struggles more than younger residents who spend hours in farming or brick laying and ride motorcycles called bodabodas into towns with stores and clinics.

In order to address rural and urban health care disparities, Elizabeth says that the university joins forces with the Mukono district health service.

“We signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mukono district health service,” she said. “We carry out community health nursing outreach, educating people about the health preventative measure. This program is just one aspect of the university’s efforts to improve health care in rural communities around the university.”

The UCU Head of Nursing notes that the community nursing program’s strategic initiative is emphasizing preventive measures that not only have direct impact on rural areas, but also cultivate learning opportunities for students.

“With preventive measures at finger tips, this places people in the community at a privileged position of not suffering from communicable diseases, and other diseases resulting from poor sanitation are minimized,” she said. “Students are able to address critical issues encountered by health care professionals every day, from the prevention of disease to the delivery of care.”

She also noted that public awareness of symptoms of conditions and diseases (such as strokes) can help improve the speed of receiving medical help and increase the chances of a better recovery.

“On some occasions we encounter people who are sick with diabetes or blood pressure and live without knowing they are sick,” the head of nursing said. “This delays the chances of one seeking diagnosis from medical professionals. The untreated condition can advance and get worse. In these cases, the benefit of treating the disease promptly can greatly exceed the potential harm from unnecessary treatment.”

Residents are encouraged to go to government hospitals where they can access free medical services. Mulago hospital, for example, has free diabetic clinics.

John Bosco Ntambara, one nursing student, noted long-held cultural beliefs and practices keep people from seeking health care facilities.  Often, they prefer traditional healers because they are better known and live nearby.

“That’s why they go for medical treatment late,” John said. “They first believe that they will get better. Some traditional healers will tell them that the payment arrangements will be made when they heal.”

However, the university head of nursing notes that one aspect of quality nurse service delivery is understanding culture and also getting to know what traditional healers offer to clients for easy clarification to community members.

“We don’t just talk,” she said. “We listen.”

+++

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.

UCU Nursing student Nankya Brenda Diana visits a village family

Community visits reinforce practical side of Ugandan health care

COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine, , , , , , , , , ,


UCU Nursing student Nankya Brenda Diana visits a village family
UCU Nursing student Nankya Brenda Diana visits a village family

By Patty Huston-Holm

Four plastic cups of passion juice. Several crumbling, miniature queen cakes. Bananas. Two melting strawberry and vanilla ice cream cones – a relatively new treat on the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono campus. Laughter.

For 15 of the university’s year-four nursing students, that’s how the ride in a burgundy and white bus in central Uganda’s scorching heat started.

Loosely called a “community visit,” this weekly trek supplements learning that takes place in classrooms and laboratories on the campus. The trips into remote villages enable students to see the practical side of health care in their final months before graduation. In years one, two and three, the book, lecture and Internet knowledge have been complemented with real-world experiences in hospitals and health centers.

Previous real-world experiences have included conversations with traditional healers and professionals dealing with mental illness and observing circumcision and critical care of accident and HIV/AIDS victims.

On this sunny, February 2020 pre-COVID-lockdown day, the student nurses and Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, UCU head of nursing in the School of Medicine, travel on bumpy, dirt-rutted roads 45 minutes away from the main campus. They serve and learn in village of Nakoba – an area too remote to be found on a map. With guidance by Situma, students listen, observe, record and advise two residences each at various locations within an approximate one-mile radius.

“I think it was more than worms,” student Nankya Brenda Diana said about one child’s protruding abdominal area. “When you push on the stomach, it feels like an organ or something out of place.”

Normally, she said, a child’s extended belly means intestinal worms. They contract them from uncooked food, walking barefooted among cattle feces or eating dirty mangoes. In her kit, she has mebendazole, a drug that she can provide to eliminate worms. The better resolution is prevention through proper sanitary practices. This time, however, Brenda is not so sure that the stomachs of a two-year-old and her four-year-old brother are filled with worms. She puts her suspicions in her report.

The mother, Helen, has six children, including two sets of twins. Giving birth to more than one child at a time is a much-esteemed blessing in Ugandan culture. In addition to discussion of hygiene related to chickens that roam freely in the family’s cooking and sleeping areas, a rudely constructed rain water pipe and lack of dedicated space for the household’s bathroom habits, Brenda is ready today to discuss family planning.  Steven, the husband and father, is there to get advice, too.

Brenda, wearing a backpack and holding a clipboard, talks to the family in their Luganda mother tongue.  Helen sits on a single stool, nursing the baby, as Steven and their other children, barefooted in torn and dirty clothes, lean against trees near their humble home. Across an unpaved, dirt road are more than 20 gravesites, signified by a few stones but mostly by rounded mounds of dirt.

Roughly a half mile away, John Damasen Ntwari has his second weekly meeting with Niyonsaba, a mother of seven who, along with her husband, escaped here from Burundi ethnic disputes in 2015.  They are Tutsi who fear death still today from the richer, more powerful Hutu. In broken English, she explains that they want to go back someday. But the time is not yet right.

John Damasen Ntwari, president of the UCU Nursing Class of 2020, visits with a family in a remote village near Mukono.
John Damasen Ntwari, president of the UCU Nursing Class of 2020, visits with a family in a remote village near Mukono.

“I am very happy to see John,” she says.  She shares that her family is better off than most with two children enrolled in school.  While her young daughter smiles broadly, Niyonsaba says her problems with allergies and a weak heart seem less than John’s last visit and the daughter has healed nicely from a vaginal repair.

John, who is president of the nursing class, scribbles notes as walking to his second site. There, 15-year-old Nabaweesi Zakiah emerges. As when John previously visited, she’s alone.  Again, in clear English, she says her mother is away “just one day to visit a friend.” When she returns with school fees, Zakiah can return to school.

Situma emerges and deepens the questioning about what the girl eats, if she is alone, if she is afraid at night, and if anyone hurts her. She praises the surroundings that include a vanilla plant and trees plentiful with bananas and jackfruit. Zakiah carries a large knife to a tree, cuts down some matooke and carries it back to her small living quarters.  A dog, kitten and chicken with babies scatter.

“It’s hard to know,” John said. “I’ve asked that her mom be here today, but she still isn’t. Maybe next time.”

For most of the UCU student nurses, including Brenda and John, the desire to work in health care stems from a young age when encountering a void in medical attention for a family member. In addition to this motivation, there is a government promise of a paid job for at least one year after graduation. They are placed around the country with a 750,000 UGX ($200) a month salary for 12 months.

Seat backs filled with ready-to-eat avocados. Fingers dipped into large, freshly opened shells of sweet jackfruit. Some laughter, but mostly vocalized thoughts about the conditions, causes and remedies for health maladies. That’s how a February six-hour day – but not professional careers – concluded.

“Ultimately, I want to work in cancer care,” John said.  “But I’m prepared for anything.”

+++

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.

A crowd under Ojok's exercise instruction after the MTN marathon last year

‘Choose to see the good in the bad thing’

COVID-19, Students, , , , , , , , , , ,


A crowd under Ojok's exercise instruction after the MTN marathon last year
A crowd under Ojok’s exercise instruction after the MTN marathon last year

By Maxy Magella Abenaitwe

For most Ugandans, the COVID-19 lockdown has been a financially painful time of watch and see. The presidential speeches have been a wave of hope whose flap never settles. Lives have come to a standstill.

For a few, however, it has been a time of growth and development.

Denish Ojok, a second-year Social Work student at Uganda Christian University (UCU), is among those few. Being alone since childhood presented him many challenges to sail through storms at their worst. The lockdown with the inability to attend UCU classes was yet another to overcome. For Denish, of Gulu, the answers came through food, fitness and market deliveries with a bit of radio inspiration on the side.

Income from his Rock of Ages fitness club helped pay his tuition. When the club was shut down through government orders, he moved workouts online. Clients subscribed at a daily fee of 80 cents (Shs.3000), accessing exercise through such platforms as Go to Meeting and Facebook.

Ojok preparing a traditional dish for delivery
Ojok preparing a traditional dish for delivery

Realizing this wasn’t enough, he thought about how his other skills could be used. Ojok, who is good at boiling a cow hooves, started making door-step deliveries of a much-prized dish known as Mulokoni. Most days, this brought Ojok a minimum of $9 profit.

Ojok’s third idea related to helping people obtain food when they weren’t allowed to travel. With the suspension of public and private means of transport but allowance of motorcycle deliveries, he took orders and made deliveries of sugar, rice and other market goods. Business was so good that he was able to employ a handful of youth to help him.

This voice of hope – one that resonates with biblical scripture – has been echoed by Ojok on Rupiny FM radio. His encouraging words on youth radio talk shows are about growth during a pandemic, thinking “beyond the nose” in a positive way to overcome circumstances, and continuing good sanitation habits after the COVID-19 virus is controlled. Such habits as handwashing will solve other problems such as diarrhea, he said.

“Exercise financial discipline, spend less and learn to cope with any condition that comes your way,” the 24-year-old student entrepreneur said. “Choose to see the good in the bad thing. Stay positive.”

Despite the great work progress, Ojok is dissatisfied with the fact that a large portion of his potential clients are unable to access his services due lack of communications through smart phones and the Internet. This is a circumstance he is working to resolve.

Much as the lockdown has kept him away from people who inspire his spiritual journey, Ojok has disciplined himself to read and understand scriptures. Before he does anything he prays, as inspired by his UCU lecturer, Peter Nareba, who begins every lecture with prayer.

Ojok plans to maintain his online business after the lockdown. He believes post lockdown will be an era of innovations since it was a shock that left the world with so much to learn, think about and take action.

++++

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