Category Archives: UCU Alumni

Civil rights activist puts servant leadership into action

May 28, 2021Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology, News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

The Rev. Liberty Muhereza, who has degrees in law and divinity from UCU, receives an award from the Uganda Police in recognition of ALARM’s contribution towards the improvement of the force. Courtesy photo.

By Eriah Lule
Muhereza means “servant leader” in various parts of Uganda. According to Forebears, the world’s largest database of name meanings and distributions, more than 14,000 Ugandans are called Muhereza. One alumnus of Uganda Christian University (UCU) is among them, and appropriately so as he serves as a social justice leader for communities.

The civil rights activism of the Rev. Liberty Muhereza led him to write a training module focused on civil rights ideals to be imparted into society. When he shared his curriculum with leadership of the Uganda Police Force, they did not hesitate to take it up. Today, the module that Muhereza developed is part of the curriculum that is taught to trainees in police academies in Uganda.

Rev. Liberty Muhereza with his family. Photo/ Eriah Lule

“Since childhood, I have always dreamt of a world where there is equity and social justice,” Muhereza says.

It is this dream that even after completing his law degree course, the 38-year-old opted to work with civil society organisations, where he thought he would make more impact than setting up a law firm. He studied a Bachelor of Laws course at UCU, after which he pursued a Diploma in Legal Practice at Uganda’s Law Development Centre.

Muhereza is the Country Director of the African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM), a not-for-profit organisation that deals with conflict resolution, servant leadership development, social justice and reconciliation, as well as community transformation. ALARM, a Christian organization that was birthed in 1996, is based in Ntinda, a suburb of Kampala.

The organization operates in six countries in the Great Lakes region: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, where it started in 2002.

Muhereza, a father of two, started working with ALARM when he completed his Diploma in Legal Practice course. He joined the organisation as its head of the peace and justice department. It is while heading the peace department that Muhereza developed a module on social justice that was eventually integrated into the curriculum of the Uganda Police Force.

Police officers being one of the major enforcers of social justice, Muhereza explains, ALARM found it necessary to train them in servant leadership development, peace, justice and reconciliation. He said they also mentor a section of lawyers under the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity.

As a Country Director, he has created partnerships with Civil Society Organizations, Government agencies and many churches in Uganda to train pastors or church leaders. Muhereza says they have held sessions with leaders in the Church of Uganda, the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal churches.

To champion their goal of fostering peace and reconciliation, the organisation set up a vocational school, the ALARM Technical Institute in Pader district, in northern Uganda, to equip former child soldiers, wives of soldiers and illiterate teenagers with self-sustenance skills. Northern Uganda was a hotspot of a two-decade civil war, from 1986, with the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels forcing communities into internally displaced people’s camps.

At the technical institute, Muhereza says: “The youth are empowered with skills like carpentry, computer literacy, building and concrete practice, electrical installation and many more, in order to establish a job-creating generation rather than a job-seeking one.” He is the institute’s board chairperson.

Muhereza resigned from his job as the head of the Peace and Justice Department at ALARM in 2015 to pursue the Master of Divinity course at UCU. Upon completion, he joined All Saints Cathedral Nakasero, as part of its clergy. However, due to his exceptional service at ALARM, it did not take long for the organisation to call him back, this time as its Country Director, a position he holds to date.

“Attending UCU ignited my Christian values and leadership skills,” says Muhereza, who was a fellowship leader, choir master and was also involved in various ministries as a student at UCU.

Currently, Muhereza is a board member of Hope Children’s home, a not-for-profit that looks after underprivileged children. He also is the general secretary of the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity, and the board chairperson of Fashion and Compassion, an organization that empowers women with skills for economic development.

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

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 alumna awarded for non-communicable disease reporting

May 17, 2021News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Journalism, Media and CommunicationPatty Huston-Holm

Lynn Komugisha received the award of “Best NCDs journalist” 2021 in the Broadcast category, in a contest organized by the Non-Communicable Disease Alliance for East Africa.

By Jimmy Siyasa
Journalists are trained to be messengers of news. Not many of them are the news. Uganda Christian University (UCU) graduate Lynn Komugisha was both in 2020. The attention was on her and her reporting of non-communicable diseases (NCD).

The East Africa Media on NCDs Awards (EAMNA Awards) 2021 has acknowledged Komugisha as the best NCD journalist at the national level – Uganda. Her reporting was recognized as exemplary for highlighting the dangers and means of prevention for non-communicable diseases. Such diseases as diabetes, cancers, strokes and heart attacks cause more deaths globally than conditions that are contagious.

Komugisha told stories of Ugandans suffering from NCDs such as diabetes. Through these stories, she called upon relevant stakeholders to sensitize masses about diabetes. Her reporting covered the dangers of this condition that keeps the body from processing food properly, its causes, and what individuals and communities can do to support persons suffering from diabetes.

Her media message stood out above other entries from the region that includes Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Zanzibar.

Komugisha, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication degree from 2010, says health reporting is her passion. In 2020, when understanding that people with underlying, non-communicable health conditions were more at risk of Covid-19, she reported it.

Lynn Komugisha, TV and radio news anchor and hosts of a Talk Show on Urban Television

“The award encourages me to do more. An award is not only an appreciation for the work you are putting in. It is also a reminder that you can do more,” she commented from her office at Vision Group, the largest media conglomerate in Uganda.

At Vision Group, Komugisha hosts a TV show on Urban TV, reads news on TV, as well as on Vision Group’s radio, XFM. She reads and reports the news.

Komugisha is driven by both her passion for the news and a strong work ethic. She gets up at 3 a.m. and is at work two hours later, researching and preparing copy for the Urban TV show that she hosts. At 6 a.m., Komugisha is brainstorming with her producer. Some days, she anchors radio news on 94.8 XFM. She eventually retires for the day at 7:30 p.m.

Komugisha’s intense schedule pushes much of her role as a mom to an eight-year-old son to the weekend.

“Sometimes my son is not with me, so I get to see him whenever I really can. But I make time over the weekend to see him, my family and the people I care about,” she says.

While she appears tough on the surface, Komugisha has an easygoing and genial side. She says the tough demeanor is a shield she puts on herself to ward off some men who harass her, including male engagement in catcalling.

When asked how she is able to manage the pressure of working in a media house, Komugisha points to the sky to signal divine power. Every morning, when she wakes up, prayer is among the to-do items on her list.

“My faith in Christ, is my grounding force, for every move I make, He is my guide and the only one that keeps me on the right track,” she said, adding, “I am grateful to Uganda Christian University because it cemented my faith in Christ. I believe it nurtured me into the faithful woman that I am.”

Komugisha attended St. Hellen’s Primary School in Mbarara, a district in western Uganda, before joining Masheruka Girls Secondary School for secondary education. Masheruka is found in Sheema district, also located in western Uganda.

Komugisha says she was advised to pursue journalism at UCU by one of her former high school teachers who believed she had great potential in that profession.

By the time she acquired her undergraduate degree in 2010, Komugisha had worked as an intern or volunteer at least at four radio stations in Uganda – Spirit FM (2007), FM J, Kampala FM and Capital FM. Upon graduation, she worked at Vision Radio, located in Mbarara, her hometown, for four years, after which she quit to join Vision Group.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

UCU law graduate mints cash out of tourism

May 12, 2021News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

UCU students of Bachelor of Governance on a study trip to Sipi Falls that was coordinated by Ecstacy Ventures Tourism and Travel

By Gloria Katya
The ultimate goal of many students who pursue a course in law in Uganda is to join legal practice. However, for Joackim Mumbere, the story was different.

After spending four years at Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Law School, the 26-year-old did not proceed to the Law Development Centre to pursue a diploma in legal practice, which would enable him become an advocate.

CEO of Ecstasy Ventures, Joackim Mumbere, with Miss Tourism Eastern Uganda at Sipi Falls

Mumbere instead opted to venture into tourism. While a student at UCU, Mumbere started a tour and travel company. He realized that tourism was a lucrative venture when he joined the Rotaract Club of UCU in 2014. As the chairperson of the club, he was put in charge of organizing trips, dinners and picnics for club members.

The experience Mumbere garnered from organizing such events soon changed his career path.

In his second year, Mumbere started a tourism and travel company called Ecstasy Ventures. Mostly on weekends, he promoted and conducted business of the company.

In 2018, following his graduation with a bachelor of laws from UCU, Mumbere returned to his company, as his colleagues hit the streets to search for jobs.

With him in the steering of the business, it expanded its clientele rapidly. Mumbere organized dozens of trips, weddings, parties, graduation parties and boat cruises for clients.

“I also worked with many corporate companies, such as Jumia and banks, and my network grew,” he says. He credits the rate of expansion of his business to the special services that he says he offered.

“My company organizes movies, campfires and celebrates birthday parties during the trips.”

Mumbere earns between sh500,000 (about $136) and sh1,00,000 (about $272) per trip he organizes.

“I organize two-three trips every month, but my dream is to double the number,” he said.

Mumbere’s company is online, but his dream is to secure physical space (offices) for it soon.

Studying law has helped Mumbere to realize the importance of documenting every transaction with clients, so that people don’t cheat him.

“With my law background, I am not easily intimidated by certain classes of customers because I know what the law requires,” he said.

Mumbere’s dream in the next five years is to grow the company so that it can acquire more assets, travel cars, land and at least a lodge in one of the national game parks. He urges students to embrace academics, as well as their talents.

“UCU has a lot of co-curricular activities that can make students successful in life, if well exploited,” he said.

Mumbere says his parents – David and Teopista Mayanja of Kasese district in western Uganda – are proud of his business acumen. Mumbere’s law lecturer at UCU, Samson Wanambuko, says he is not surprised by what his former student has achieved.

“He was a good, inquisitive student who used to participate in class, and was always eager to learn. He is very intelligent,” Wanambuko said.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

‘You were born to pass’

May 10, 2021COVID-19, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of BusinessPatty Huston-Holm

Asaph Lee Nsadha showing one of his products.

By Yasiri. J. Kasango
Somewhere in 18th century America the expression “shirt off your back” evolved to refer to the generosity of a person who would give up his/her possessions to help another. For Asaph Lee Nsadha, it means a quality shirt on your back – and front – and a way to make ends meet for him.

The Uganda Christian University (UCU) alum of a Diploma in Business Administration is an unplanned entrepreneur of T-shirts. Here’s how it fell into his lap during the Covid-19 pandemic year:

In late 2020, he worked in marketing for somebody else for sh300,000 (about $80) a month.
After 1.5 months, he was terminated without written reason and with no payment for the work he had done.
In January 2020, he re-joined UCU to expand his diploma to a Bachelor’s in Public Administration.
In March 2020 and because of a government-mandated education shutdown, he was both out of a job and out of education designed to provide him credentials to get another job.
In April 2020, his former employer paid him the money he was owed.
He used some of the money to start a business.

Asaph Lee Nsadha with a shirt printed by his business

The birth of Nsadha’s new idea of making money coincided with the government’s lifting of the three-month ban on private transport in Uganda. In June 2020, when the ban on movement of private vehicles was lifted, Nsadha opened an art store, to do fabric printing.

In order to have a fully stocked workshop, he needed sh7,000,000 (about $1,800). From that money, he could acquire a heating press estimated at sh1.5million (about $406). He also needed a plotter, a laptop, rent for his work station and the clothes, such as T-shirts, to start with, among others. That money was not available. But Nsadha’s will and determination was.

“Whenever my late grandfather sent me a success card as we approached national exams, he often wrote a quote ‘You were born to pass’,” Nsadha said. This statement has been the driving force in his business ventures. He translates this statement to imply that in everything he does, he is meant to succeed.

He started his art store with sh150,000 (about $40.60). He could take orders from customers through social media. He says he took advantage of social media to avoid middlemen. He also asked his friends and relatives to refer people to his business.

By the time government reopened schools in October 2020, Nsadha’s business had picked up, but he had to strike a balance between his work and studies. He managed to find time for class and his business, too. For now, he takes orders from his clients during the week and works on their requests over the weekend.

He adds that the biggest challenge he faces is people not trusting him. Since there are many scammers online, clients find it difficult to trust him with their money before he delivers. However, he says due to lack of equipment, he is forced to demand a deposit of 50% from the clients.

“There is a time I got an order worth sh1million (about $270),” Nsadha said. “The client asked me whether I had guarantee for his business.”

He asked the client to deposit half of the money. She paid, hesitantly. He says he worked and delivered the products. The client appreciated and recommended more clients to him.

According to Reagan Muyinda, one of Nsadha’s clients, the products are unique.

“I placed orders for him to do printing on five T-shirts,” Muyinda said. “He made the products and delivered on time. The T-shirts were good and durable. Whenever, I think fabric printing, he is the answer.”

Nsadha has not yet registered his company. He expects to do so when he gets a permanent location for it.

Nsadha advises youth to follow their hearts in whatever they want to do, arguing that it is only then that one can give whatever they do “their all.”

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Former UCU guild president and Partners-sponsored student is newly elected alumni leader

May 7, 2021News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Social SciencesPatty Huston-Holm

Wabwire sensitizing the youth about their rights in the Kampala suburbs in a campaign designed by Faraja Africa. Photo/Faraja Media Team.

By Lule Eriah
It is not the first time that Wabwire Emmanuel’s name is being etched on the annals of Uganda Christian University (UCU). From 2012-2013, Wabwire was the university’s guild president as he pursued a Bachelor’s in Development Studies.

When he left the university in 2013, if some people thought it was the end of his relationship with the institution, they were wrong. On March 5, 2021, Wabwire renewed his leadership relationship with UCU, when he assumed another role – chairperson of the UCU Alumni Association.

Those who have been close to Wabwire narrate how the 30-year-old has been a leader throughout his life. To close associates, Wabwire’s victory in the polls is simply one more testament to the fact that he never tires from service.

Wabwire is currently the Gold Award Winner of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, a non-formal education and learning youth program currently operating in more than 130 countries. The awards were founded in the UK in 1956 by the late Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Wabwire during the alumni presidential debate held early this year.

Wabwire, a holder of a Master’s in Business Administration from the Catholic University of Milan, is currently the Executive Director of Faraja Africa Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that deals in digital story-telling and youth leader-mentorship.

Former students speak glowingly of Wabwire’s tenure as UCU guild president.

“He created a bridge between student leadership and the administration, which was quite a hard thing to do during that time,” Ronald Awany, a former student and now a communications assistant at UCU, says.

But that was then. Now, Wabwire said he wants to establish a leadership and business incubator for both UCU alumni and the entire UCU community. He intends to use the incubator to mobilize resources in order to avail UCU alumni, among other beneficiaries, loans and/ or grants for businesses.

Besides his impeccable leadership background, Wabwire also credits his tech savviness for giving him an edge over his competitors in the race for the alumni association chairperson. The campaigns were digital and the elections online, through the E-Chagua – an online voting application created by the university’s ICT department. Eligible voters would receive links through their email addresses registered prior to the voting day and, follow it to vote for the candidate of their choice.

Daphine Kumakune, the alumni office administrator, says voter sensitization and calls for voter registration were done on different social media platforms and reminders sent through emails to active members.

“I know it was a low turn-up, but, still, I was very sure of victory because I had campaigned very well and my voters knew what I had in my manifesto,” Wabwire said.

Background
Wabwire is the third of four children of Henry Nicholas Wabwire from Mbale in eastern Uganda. Growing up from a simple, God-fearing background, Wabwire’s spirit for leadership erupted at a tender age.

“I have been a leader from nursery school, where I was the class monitor. In primary school, I was a prefect and eventually became the head prefect,” he says. “In secondary school, I held many leadership positions in school clubs. However, the highest of them all was deputy head prefect.”

From 2008-2009, he worked with the Red Cross as the National Youth Council Treasurer for Mbale district. Later, in the same organization, he was assigned to lead the task force that oversaw rescue and rehabilitation at the occurrence of a major landslide that had left many homeless in Bududa and Butaleja districts, in the eastern Uganda. He was also the District General Secretary for the Uganda National Students Association for Mbale district.

Wabwire believes his service with Red Cross tickled his soft spot for charity work. “Initially, I wanted to be a lawyer, but after the Red Cross experience, I changed my mind into community service and social work,’’ Wabwire said, noting that the change of mind shifted his interest to development studies.

Like it usually is with many students, Wabwire struggled financially. During one of the semesters, he had failed to raise tuition fees. However, Uganda Partners was at hand to intervene.

“But I was saved by Uganda Partners, which topped up sh500,000 (about $137) on my tuition,” Wabwire said. “And I give them credit for their support toward students,” he added.

For now, we wait to see the fruits of Wabwire’s business incubator idea that he plans to implement during his term of office.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

UCU alumnus applies law degree skills as police officer

May 5, 2021News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

ASP Beyanga Cornelius poses in his police official uniform at one of the events at Naguru Police Headquarters. Photo by Police Media Team

By Lule Eriah

When Cornelius Beyanga was completing his Bachelor of Laws course at Uganda Christian University (UCU), he attended a talk during the institution’s Career Week. The presentation facilitator, then Uganda’s head of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, made a case for why it was beneficial for graduates to join the Police force. He made specific reference to a need for recruits with legal knowledge.

Having had a background of family members serving in the armed forces, Beyanga already saw working in the police or military forces as one professional option. Beyanga had three uncles who were serving in the military. The magnetic pull toward that work was made stronger during the career week talk.

When he completed school, Beyanga enrolled into the Police. And he was not alone with his legal background.

ASP Beyanga conducts a workshop in one of the Uganda police academies in the country early this year.

“During our entry into Police in 2014, we were 47 lawyers who joined,” Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Beyanga, a UCU 2011 Bachelor of Laws graduate, recalled. “I thank UCU for the Career Week that it organized. It is because of those career talks that I am what you see.”

He currently works in the Directorate of Human Rights and Legal Services of the Uganda Police, where he sits on a panel of six prosecutors of a Police tribunal. The tribunal was established as an internal mechanism for trying errant Police officers and guiding the Police disciplinary process. Beyanga’s work includes orientation of new recruits on the Police ethical codes of conduct in Police academies all over the country.

Before his current position in the Police, which he assumed in 2018, Beyanga was the deputy officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in Lwengo, a district in central Uganda. He also served as the Officer in Charge of Lamwo district in northern Uganda, from 2016-2017.

Dr. Anthony Kakooza, a former dean of the Faculty of Law, said: “I am pleased to see my students prosper in different fields. This encourages me to share knowledge more and enforce discipline in order to develop our nation.”

Edith Kamakune, the outgoing speaker of the UCU Alumni Association and Beyanga’s former classmate, is not surprised by achievements in the Police. “Our class was full of serious people. No wonder, Beyanga is in the Police to fight for the oppressed as he used to say,” she added.

When he rests his gun, Beyanga’s other hand picks up a hoe. He owns an agro-produce company called Cousin Factor Uganda Limited, established in Mbarara, western Uganda. This produces coffee, bananas and also deals in livestock farming.

“I am working hard to become one of the remarkable farmers in the country,” Beyanga, who hopes to make a demonstration, says. The father of two children, he is married to an alumna of UCU.

He hopes his colleagues in the forces can borrow a leaf out of his entrepreneurial endeavors, so that they diversify their sources of income while making a positive impact in various careers.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Ntege dances off stage, ending her ‘tour of duty’ as UCU librarian

May 3, 2021News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Journalism, Media and CommunicationPatty Huston-Holm

Retiring Librarian Monica Nabagala Ntenge and guests enjoy a meal outside the UCU Learning Commons Room at Ntege’s farewell party.

Story and Photos By Jimmy Siyasa

“Time limits are good things. No matter how good a dancer you are, you must leave the stage.”

This quote, attributed to former Congolese politician Patrice Lumumba, came to mind when Uganda Christian University (UCU) bid its recent farewell to the campus’ long-serving librarian, Monica Nabagala Ntege.

For half of the time she has spent on earth, Ntege has been serving UCU. She retires at 65, which is the university’s age of passing the baton.

“UCU has been my home. UCU has made me what I didn’t even expect to be. And I thank all of you for being part of that making,” Ntege told guests at a farewell party organized in her honour on April 26, by the Human Resource Department.

“It’s been a long journey. Some people were asking me to request for a contract extension. But the university retirement age is clear and we have to uphold it.”

Ntege is credited for many initiatives during her tenure, including starting a library choir whose sweet melodies always formed part of the ambiance outside the Hamu Mukasa Library whenever they met to practice.

Ntenge serves cake to Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi and former Vice-Chancellor, the Rev. Can. Dr. John Senyonyi, at her farewell party.

Top UCU managers, led by the Vice Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi and his two deputies – John Kitayimbwa and David Mugawe – as well as former Vice Chancellor, the Rev. Can. Dr. John Senyonyi and his wife, Ruth, were part of the team that convened at the UCU Learning Commons Room to celebrate Ntege’s dedicated service.

Senyonyi exalted Ntege for upholding Christian values and inspiring her subordinates.

“As Vice Chancellor, I visited the (library) staff several times,” he said. “And I saw her to be a mother, so caring and loving to the staff. Thank you for leaving the library without a scandal.”

Senyonyi added: “She could have actually served very easily as an Assistant Chaplain. Her interest in the spiritual life and spiritual vibrancy of this university is something that I can attest to.”

Ntege’s strong Christian values are reflective of a conventional brand of Christianity that was popular in the early 1930s, as espoused by an Anglican movement then known as the East African Revivalists.

Her not-beating-around-the-bush approach to life could have rubbed some students the wrong way, but it, no doubt, won Ntege admiration from not only “people that matter,” but also those to whom truth matters.

“I am so obliged to celebrate your hard work. I have not worked for long with Monica, but for the few months I have been here, a few things have struck me about her; she is someone who is natural.” Assoc. Prof. Mushengyezi said.

One of the things the library staff will miss about Ntege are the pancakes that she would bake for them. “Every small thing she had, she shared with us. She made sure we had something, especially for breakfast,” Annet, a front desk officer at the library, said.

A daughter of Mr and Mrs. Isaac and Ekiria Ntege, who were both primary school teachers, Ntege is the eighth of 14 children. Both her parents have since died. Ntege joined Nabisunsa Girls School for O’level at 11 years and later proceeded to Trinity College Nabbingo for A’level. It was at Nabbingo where she gave her life to Christ, at 17 years. She later enrolled to pursue a Diploma in Library course at Makerere University.

Ntege joined Bishop Tucker Theological College on June 1, 1988, as the Assistant Librarian. Bishop Tucker Theological College became UCU in 1997. Before joining Bishop Tucker Theological College, Ntege worked at Kibuli Secondary School in Kampala as a librarian.

To sharpen her competence edge, Ntege flew to England to study a bachelor’s degree in library studies, which she completed in 1996. At the time, there were plans to transition from a theological college into a university, so she needed the academic qualification to work in a university library. World Council of Churches sponsored her course in England.

In 1999, Ntege returned to England to pursue a master’s degree in library services at the Loughborough University.

Upon her return, Ntege was employed as the Deputy University Librarian, a position she held till 2015, when she became the Librarian, upon the retirement of Dr. Frederick Mukungu, who held the position.

As a child, Ntege’s parent taught her to appreciate reading. While she says her father did not know much English, he often bought for them books to read, to sharpen their literacy. It is no surprise that the grammar Nazi once punished Frank Obonyo, currently the UCU Communications and Marketing Manager, in his student days, for poor punctuation.

In her retirement, Ntege plans to open a bookshop, so she can “strengthen the reading culture among children.”

Ntege leaves the library in the able hands of David Bukenya, who has been deputizing her. Bukenya will be the acting University Librarian.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Two UCU soccer players help team secure 5th trophy

April 30, 2021News, Sports, Students, UCU AlumniPatty Huston-Holm

Fred Atuhwera, UCU student and star soccer player with the Gomba Lions

By Ivor Sempa and Joseph Lagen

Two final-year students of Uganda Christian University (UCU) were among the players who helped their team win a soccer tournament at the finals played at the picturesque St. Mary’s Stadium, Kitende, off Entebbe Road. For their outstanding performance, Fred Atuhwera, Derrick Mbowa and teammates helped their team – Gomba Lions – walk home with a sh12m (about $3,300) cash prize after roaring past the Buddu Buddu Football Club (FC).

Part of the award money is distributed among the football players and part supports administration of the club.

Twenty-three-year-old Fred Atuhwera is a final-year student of Bachelor of Business Administration, while Derrick Mbowa, 24, is pursuing a Bachelor of Procurement & Logistics Management course, also in his final year.

The Masaza Cup tournament, held since 2004, was one of the sports activities affected by the Covid-19 lockdown imposed on sports in the country last year. As a result, the competition, which usually attracts a record number of spectators in the country, started six months later, in December 2020. The finals, held on March 6, were played behind closed-doors to fans. Attendance was only by invitation. The tournament is played by the local administrative units in Buganda, called counties. Buganda is the biggest kingdom in Uganda.

Atuhwera, a three-time winner of the Masaza Cup, is a central defensive midfielder. UCU also has had the opportunity of benefitting from his immense talent. In 2019, Atuhwera helped UCU win the soccer league of Uganda’s University Games.

Atuhwera’s three medals in the Masaza Cup have come with three different teams – Mawokota in 2015, Buddu in 2016 and the most recent, Gomba.

UCU student and soccer player, Derrick Mbowa

On the other hand, Derrick Mbowa is an attacking midfielder on UCU’s soccer team, the Cardinals. For four years, Mbowa has been part of the university soccer team, until 2020, when he retired from competitive university sports. Mbowa has also previously played for other counties in the Masaza Cup, such as Kyaggwe FC.

When asked about the performance of Atuhwera and Mbowa, the coach of Gomba Lions, Ambrose Kirya, said: “These two players have helped the team win and their names will remain etched in the Masaza Cup history.”

For his outstanding performance, Atuhwera was named the best central defensive midfielder of the 2020 competition, while Mbowa scored one of the three goals that helped his team roar to victory.

Kirya lauded the vibrancy of Uganda’s University League, saying it is from there that he scouted Atuhwera and Mbowa. He tasked other universities with borrowing a leaf from the books of UCU’s level of organisation and commitment to develop the game of soccer.

Atuhwera said: “Winning has always been a part of me. While I am excited, it is normal for me to win trophies as I have done back home at UCU. Winning for UCU brings me particularly more joy because I get to represent the university’s students.”

Mbowa, who will be leaving the university soon, pledged commitment to help his alma mater, even when he is out. “I am proud to have served UCU and I pledge to bring more young talent to the university, in order to grow the team,” he said, adding: “I send my appreciation to all those in UCU who have always believed in me.”

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Work on UCU’s Bishop Tucker Road stalls

April 23, 2021News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Business, UCU School of Journalism, Media and CommunicationPatty Huston-Holm

Part of the Bishop Tucker Road that is tarmacked

Story and Photos by Israel Kisakye and Joseph Lagen
It is commonplace for vendors on the Bishop Tucker Road to wipe thick dust off their merchandise. Some traders operating electronics shops have been forced to buy electric blowers to remove dusty grime from their displayed equipment. The road, 4.7 miles long, links the Kampala-Jinja highway to Namilyango. It is also the main road to the Mukono campus of Uganda Christian University (UCU).

Reagan Muyinda, a graduate of Bachelor of Public Administration and Management at UCU, operates one of those whose business – selling ice cream – affected by the state of the road. “My customers leave the shop immediately after buying ice cream because of the dust,” Muyinda says.

But dust is not the only challenge on the road, named after the Bishop Tucker Theological College (later becoming Uganda Christian University). The street is also riddled with pot-holes.

Part of the Bishop Tucker Road that is not tarmacked.

In December 2020, people operating businesses issued a sigh of relief when Mukono Municipality’s local council started renovations on the road. The constructors placed fresh tarmac on the section of the road from the Bus Stop on the Kampala-Jinja road to Wandegeya trading centre, just before the UCU small gate, a distance of about 0.4miles.

However, the excitement of the businesspeople was cut short. For now (mid-April 2021), the works on the road have stalled.

Nevertheless, the Mukono Municipal Council’s head engineer is hopeful the road repairs will be completed.

“We are working alongside the central government to get the construction done,” says Josiah Sserunjoji, an engineer who blames the snail pace of the construction on the lack of funds. “We are co-operating with the government to get enough funds to complete the road works.”

According to Sserunjoji, it costs a little over $880,000 to construct a mile on the road.

The Mukono Municipal Council says it is responsible for the section of road from the Bus Stop on the Kampala-Jinja Road up to the end of the university fence. After that, the responsible agency for managing the road is the national roads agency, the Uganda National Roads Authority. The money used by the Mukono Municipal Council for the road works comes from their fund of locally collected taxes.

UCU’s Director of Facilities and Capital Projects, Eng. David Kivumbi, says since 2010, they have been in discussions with the Mukono Municipal Council over the works on the Bishop Tucker Road.

“Sadly, we hit a dead end each time we hold the discussions,” Kivumbi, who is also in charge of construction works at the university, says. “While they promise to work on the road, all they do is fill the pot-holes with murram, which easily erodes.” Murram is laterite which is largely used for surfaces of seasonal roads in Africa.

Beyond the impact on businesses, the uneven, dusty road negatively effects the image of UCU, endangers pedestrians as they dodge vehicles weaving in and out of potholes and hinders UCU student travel to classes.

Lillian Nganzi, a final-year student of Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Communication, said whenever it rains, the road becomes slippery for cars and foot travelers. Students’ clothing is covered with dust in dry weather and mud when it rains, causing discomfort and often delaying their time to classes.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Francis Okumu: UCU graduate who never saw the campus

April 12, 2021UCU Alumni, UCU School of Social SciencesPatty Huston-Holm

Francis Okumu (second right) and fiancée pose with friends.

Story and Photos by Jimmy Siyasa
Francis Okumu could be a modern-day Mordecai, a biblical exile who saw God’s hand draw him from a pit of peril and hopelessness. For Okumu, age 36, his challenge and lack of hope were two-fold: visual impairment and lack of funds.

He overcame these obstacles and graduated from Uganda Christian University (UCU) on December 18, 2020, with a Bachelor in Social Work and Social Administration (BSWSA) – even though his lack of transportation from Mudodo, a hamlet of Tororo district in eastern Uganda, meant he couldn’t be there in person. He had no funds to travel from his home to the UCU main campus 120 miles away.

Okumu and his fiancée, Abbo, when she visited him at UCU

He never scored below 4.00 GPA throughout his three years at UCU. He was one of the best students in his class of 82.

Okumu enrolled at UCU in September 2017 with hopes for a scholarship that didn’t initially materialize and an understanding that his sight problems would be a challenge.

“No other university or course of study was more ideal for me apart from (the social work program) at UCU,” he says. “I knew in UCU they would serve other students and me with that Christian heart. I also knew I would get more knowledge about God at UCU, as opposed to studying in a public university.”

Okumu says he wanted to avoid non-Christian institutions where lecturers seeking bribes for marks, sexual harassment and other vices would be more prevalent.

Keeping his focus on UCU, Okumu prayed. One morning in 2018 while he was in Tororo, he received a call from Kasule Kibirige, the head of department of Social Works and Social Administration. The purpose of the call was to tell Okumu that he could study at UCU for free.

“I knew it was God who had given me the chance,” he says. “I was surprised that my lecturers had been discussing how to help me and how they could bring me back to my dream campus.”

Kasule had lobbied the UCU Directorate of Teaching and Learning into absolving Okumu of paying fees. They would later grant him the green light for free meals, accommodation and education.

“I also knew the requirements of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) regarding people with disabilities,” Kasule said. ” I can confidently say that Okumu was among the top 10 students in his program who deserved all the help he needed.”

Okumu is a Jopadhola from Tororo. His mother, Alowo Angelina, died in 1991. He was survived by his father, Ochieng David, who later died in 1994. He was then left to the care of a paternal aunt. He lived in Bunya, one of the six traditional chiefdoms of Busoga kingdom in eastern Uganda. This was until 2001, when his grandmother succumbed to an unknown illness, while he was in primary five. He was then moved back to Tororo where he would live until adulthood, in the custody of a paternal aunt.

By infancy, Okumu already had optical complications that only worsened as time passed. As a child, he could make out colors, shapes, and his environment.

He often suffered severe eye ache that later escalated into monocular vision. Growing up from an impoverished family, Okumu’s father could only afford trivial treatment such as eye drops and only occasionally could he take the boy to a hospital in Busolwe, a town in Butaleja district. Mr. Ochieng’s shoestring budget could not warrant a proper oculist-appointment.

In 2003, Okumu completely lost sight.

“I remember, I woke up one morning and my eyes were paining. I could not see anything,” he said, with no emotion. “I felt very bad. Like my life had ended. But as I kept on moving, I realized that only God can help m–even if I had killed myself, it would not help.”

Okumu was introduced to Perkins Brailler while at Agururu Primary school in Tororo Municipality, Western Division. Thereafter, he joined St. Francis Madera secondary school of the blind in Soroti district. While in secondary school, senior six, his hope to ever see light again was shuttered when he was referred for a checkup to Benedictine Tororo Eye hospital. There, he was urged to stick to Braille because his eyes were beyond repair.

With UCU tuition fees, meals and accommodation sorted, Okumu still had other challenges. He needed a laptop with Braille and, at the end of his undergraduate studies, an aide to help him do research.

For his research, he could not single-handedly execute the mundane task. He needed a seeing pair of eyes to support him. Blessedly his faculty permitted him a research assistant with whom he analyzed data and typed the work. But Okumu had to pay him $40 for the job. This was a fortune, considering the former’s financial inhibitions.

To help disabled students who will in future seek to study from UCU and other Universities, his research topic was: Visual Impairment and Learning Capabilities of Students at the University.

Okumu hopes his undergraduate research will reveal some of the hurdles which learners with visual impairments face in higher institutions of learning. Most importantly, to him, the findings of the study will guide lecturers on how to not only best-handle students with the kind of impairment Okumu suffers, but also to assess the latter based on their learning capabilities.

Okumu says his desire after school is to serve the community and participate in charity works.

While in Tororo, Okumu has always volunteered as a counselor for his home church.

Okumu is now aiming to achieve two things: forging himself a career but also walking down the aisle with his fiancée, sometime in 2021.

Immaculate Abbo, said “Yes” to Okumu’s proposal in 2020. They have known each other since 2013, as church-mates, but only started dating in 2017. Abbo is a teacher of English and Religious education at Apex Junior School in Kireka, a suburb of Kampala. They plan to live together in Kireka. Abbo has no disabilities.

Okumu says he would be glad if he got an opportunity to do a master’s in theology.

“There are many poor people with disabilities who feel discouraged and think it’s over,” he said. “I want to motivate them.”

+++++++++++

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

‘This Ph.D. is not mine…This was purely God’s grace.’

April 2, 2021News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of BusinessPatty Huston-Holm

Dr. Isaac Wasswa Katono, left, and son, Jim Katono, at one of their projects.

By Jimmy Siyasa

With a new doctorate degree under his belt, Dr. Isaac Wasswa Katono is eager to live his wish of being among the most cited scholars from Uganda Christian University (UCU). In December 2020, the former dean of the Faculty of Business and Administration at UCU graduated with a Ph.D. in Business Science and Entrepreneurship from the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. That journey further reinforced his passion and understanding of the value of research for publication.

Metric data from the Web of Science reveals a promising, proactive researcher whose impact has risen steadily since 2010. ResearchGate, a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers, shows that Dr. Katono has 16 publications, 7,029 Reads and 382 citations. This places him at the pinnacle of UCU’s distinguished scholars. GoogleScholar has juried his research on action-based entrepreneurship training, automatic teller machine quality and government impact of multi-party politics, among others.

Katono does not simply bask in the glory of his Tudor bonnet. He always has his scholarly sleeves rolled up.

Dr. Isaac Wasswa Katono in his office at UCU.

“Currently, I have a list of 10 papers, which I am supposed to have finished and published, because I already have the data,” he said. “I pray for God’s peace because all I now need is to sit down and do my data analysis. God willing, I will have executed all of them by year’s end.”

Not only Google but friends and colleagues attest to Katono’s unwavering zeal for research.

“One thing I know about him is his passion for research,” said Richard Sebaggala, a lecturer of Economics. “He encourages us to do research and always looked out for opportunities for staff to upgrade their studies when he was still Associate Dean in the faculty. Dr. Katono is also a very humble person.”

Everything about Dr. Katono, 65, seems mellow and simple. His office space is unlike a typical Ugandan office; it is clean and clear of old, dusty files or piles of papers. While a Ph.D. somewhat warrants its bearer in Uganda and some other developing countries some pomp, Katono brushes off that elevated status.

He says, “This Ph.D. is not mine. It is for my benefactors. But most importantly, it’s not a fruit of my labor. This was purely God’s grace. And you should emphasize that…”

Dr. Katono and wife, Christine, at a recent traditional marriage ceremony.

Katono’s graduation ceremony in South Africa happened (virtually, due to Covid-19) in December, just as UCU’s 2020 virtual graduation ceremony did. He was the only graduate from the UCU Faculty of Business and Administration, let alone being the only Ugandan from his Ph.D. class of 2020 from the South African-based university.

His PhD thesis is titled: “Cultural Predictions of Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Competencies on Graduate Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Cross-Sectional Survey of East Africa. The research focuses on the impact of culture on entrepreneurial orientation.

Dr. Katono was admitted to UCT in 2012 but wasn’t able to join until 2016 because of lack of funds.

“When I received the news of my admission, I shouted and all the neighbors came,” he said. “I knelt down and thanked God… My admission for the Ph.D. was absolutely by God’s grace. Not my performance or intellectual prowess.”

After his admission, Katono applied to the UCU Staff Development Committee for a scholarship. His fingers were crossed to receive the financial award. To his shock, Katono was granted a full scholarship by UCU. To him, this was a miracle as the $70,000 cost of private pay sponsorship was insurmountable.

From his Ph.D. research, Dr. Katono established that the rate of unemployment in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania is appallingly high. “Many graduates cannot be employed in the formal sector because jobs are not there,” he argues.

He attributes this “tragedy” to the unfavorable cultural/ entrepreneurial orientation in the countries in question. A common string he found tying youth in the three societies is retro activeness and poor attitude toward risk-taking.

He calls upon students and youth at large to embrace risk-taking, be proactive and undertake entrepreneurial ventures. Dr. Katono further argues in his thesis that the education curriculum in these countries must change to solve the problem.

“We don’t let the students think for themselves under the current curriculum,” he said. “We simply cram them with notes, which we expect them to reproduce during exams.”

Katono’s natural business acumen evolved after acquiring a Bachelors of Science from Makerere University in 1979. He was charged with running the family business – a secondary school called Seeta College where he was Principal for six years. Thereafter, he joined Kasuru Enterprises, an agricultural company in Uganda, where he was head of agrarian projects. In 1995, he quit and enrolled for an MBA at the Makerere faculty of commerce.

Earlier in 1986, at age 30 years, Dr. Katono invested in a company called Wasswa Katono’s Hatchery. He bought 50 acres of land in Njeru, Mukono district, for the project. It still stands to date. Dr. Katono hopes that his children can master the art of business management, learn the fundamental principles so that they can effectively manage the estates, assets and reputation that he has curved out of unstinting effort.

Dr. Katono counts himself blessed because he saw UCU at its beginning stage as it hatched from Bishop Tucker School of Theology in 1997 to become the “Center of excellence in the heart of Africa” as a university with other faculty. He went to Bishop’s Primary school Mukono and Bishop Senior Secondary school, in Mukono – both schools adjacent to UCU. Thereafter. he joined Kololo Secondary School, in Kampala, from where he attained a high school certificate. He is married to Christine Katono for 40 years. Together, they have four children.

+++++++++++

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

UCU shares medical equipment with Mengo, Mukono hospitals

March 15, 2021News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Dentistry, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

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.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

UCU alumnus ‘will not be intimidated’ as icon of justice

March 10, 2021News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

(NOTE: 2004 Uganda Christian University graduate and civil rights lawyer, Nicholas Opiyo, was imprisoned in Uganda for eight days, including Christmas 2020. The charges were related to fundraising of the human rights’ nonprofit organization, Chapter Four Uganda, where he serves as executive director. Without access to Opiyo until his release on December 30, this story was written largely with information from sources outside Opiyo. Once released, he posted on his Facebook page his response to his written/spoken support. That response is at the end of this story.)

By Douglas Olum

The mention of the name, Nicholas Opiyo, rings a bell of justice and the struggle for protection and defense of human rights among many Ugandans.

As Diana Muhanguzi puts in her Facebook post, “I [first] met Nicholas Opiyo in the year 2016 when he was representing my father in court for free and he managed to get for him bail.”

In the same vein, Bryan Ksg, a medical doctor writes, “During our internship three years ago, [the] Ministry of Health brought up a draconian policy of bonding Medical Interns into work without any compensation at respective hospitals. Imagine working 24 hours as an intern without food or even rent! Counsel Nicholas Opiyo offered zero cost legal services to medical interns and helped us secure a Court injunction to stop this policy.”

In the words of a renown Ugandan columnist and journalist, Daniel K. Kalinaki, “Few lawyers spend as much time hobnobbing with the police trying to find ‘disappeared’ people, helping folks post bail or just press back against the overreach of executive authority [as Nicholas Opiyo does].”

Nicholas Opiyo, right, interacts with his client, Dr. Stella Nyanzi, during one of her trials in 2019

Nicholas Opiyo, a 37-year-old, bespectacled Uganda Christian University graduate, is described by his colleague, Robert Kirunda, as “tall, dark, gentle, soft spoken and deeply caring. Selfless to a fault, and loyal in every way. Deeply reflective and thoughtful in every task and time. Never to shy away from a fight and yet as carefully strategic and methodical.”

Opiyo is the Executive Director and Lead Attorney at Chapter Four Uganda, a civil rights charity. He is the recipient of German Africa Prize, 2017, UCU Law Society Alumni Human Rights Award, 2018, Voices for Justice Award from Human Rights Watch 2015 and the European Union Parliament Sakharov Fellows Prize in 2016. Until March of 2017, he was a member of the Team of Experts to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association. He also is a visiting scholar at the Centre for African Studies, Stanford University, Calif., and the Global Health Program at the University of San Francisco (UCSF), California.

His work has over the years been characterized by a series of wins. But asked what the secret to his success was, he told The Independent Magazine journalist, Joan Akello, in a 2014 interview that, “I do not believe that there is any secret to my work except hard work, persistence and being able to take the walk along sometimes lonely legal roads. [But] I chase causes not a big cheque.”

Recently, Opiyo has represented the leading Uganda opposition politician and presidential candidate, Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), the controversial Makerere University academic, Dr. Stella Nyanzi, and many others he believes have been unfairly and illegally arrested and detained. He has been in the forefront for condemning actions of security operatives who torture and abuse Ugandans.

On December 22, 2020, Nicholas Opiyo, alongside three other human rights advocates – Herbert Dakasi, Anthony Odur and Esomu Obure – was abducted by plain-clothes, armed men from a restaurant in Kamwokya, a suburb of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where they went to have lunch. Until late evening of that day, police said they had no clue about the arrest and did not know the whereabouts of Opiyo and his colleagues. But with mounting pressure, they later revealed that the four were under their custody.

Opiyo was charged on December 24 with money laundering and remanded to Kitalya Prison, while his colleagues were released. Prosecution alleges that, in his capacity as the Director of Chapter Four Uganda, Opiyo, on October 8, received $340,000 through the organisation’s account, “knowing at the time of receipt that the said funds were proceeds of crime.”

Chapter Four Uganda denied the claim. The arrest and detention of Opiyo attracted criticism from diplomatic missions in the country, Civil Society Organisations and the legal fraternity.

Partners for Democracy and Governance, a coalition of 14 diplomatic missions in Uganda, including the US, UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the EU, among others, expressed concern over the arrest, saying that “Human rights defenders play an important role in every country and should be able to work without fear of arrest or reprisals, wherever they are.”

On Monday December 28, Opiyo re-appeared before a Kampala Magistrate via video conferencing from his detention facility, and he was further remanded until January 11. He, however, attained partial freedom on Wednesday, December 30, when High Court Judge, Jane Okuo Kajuga, who heard his bail application, granted him a Uganda sh15m ($4,104) cash bail.

Prior to his arrest, unknown people, suspected to be government security operatives, broke into Opiyo’s house and took his “laptop, phones, other electronics and several other items,” as his September 9 Twitter account states. Similar break-ins have been reported in various civil society offices in the recent years.

Chapter Four Uganda, posted on their Facebook Page, shortly after the arrest that at the time, that Opiyo was gathering evidence of the killing of more than 50 Ugandans in Kampala during a demonstration over the arrest of presidential hopeful, Robert Kyagulanyi around Mid-November.

As Daniel Kalinaki sums it up, “Officials whose capacity has been “built” under Western donor funding to the “Justice, Law and Order sector” go around hunting for people receiving money from abroad. The government is happy to beg and borrow… but will spear any citizen it finds in bed with the aforementioned partners…”

The first Facebook post from Nicholas Opiyo since his release expresses his appreciation for messages of support. In part, the post states: “I am teary reading all of your messages… Thank you so much. We will fight these baseless and malicious charges. One thing is clear; we will not be intimidated. I will continue to do my work and defend the rights of the vulnerable and marginalized in our society… I can only repay your faith and belief by fighting on and continuing the work we have been doing over the years. I am undaunted by this minor inconvenience, rather inspired by it.”

+++++++++

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

American lecturer describes e-teaching experience in Uganda

March 5, 2021SRPGS, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Social SciencesPatty Huston-Holm

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

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

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.

Family roots + UCU applied learning = graduation

January 28, 2021COVID-19, News, UCU Alumni#entrepreneurship, #Kapchorwa, #potatoes, #UgandaChristianUniversity, business, Mukono, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

By Collin Wambete

In addition to sickness and death, the COVID-19 pandemic reaped loss of employment and gaps in education around the world. Youth in Uganda have been discouraged and even more hard pressed to make money, including acquisition of funds to go to school.

Amidst the storm, Cherop Lillian found an answer to her personal situation. That answer – potatoes with an occasional onion, fruit and other edibles – enabled her to graduate on 18th December 2020 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Entrepreneurship at Uganda Christian University (UCU) with financial security.

She brought Irish potatoes from her home in Kapchorwa District, which is roughly 266 kilometers (165 miles) away from the UCU campus Mukono District. Starting in February 2020, she set up a retail business 50 meters (164 feet) away from UCU’s main gate. First, raw potatoes, onions and fried potatoes were sold. Ready-to-eat, fresh fruits followed.

Cherop Lillian at her December 2020 graduation from UCU

For Lillian, the lockdown that started in March and the subsequent loss of customers posed a threat to the survival of her business. She’d make fries from potatoes and sell to the students that were on campus. Her target market predominantly being students, the lockdown threw a wrench in her plans.

Who would she sell to? With transportation being shut down for 32 days, what would she sell?

She cut down her usual trade of six-to-seven 100kg (220 pounds) bags of potatoes to two bags. For most of 2020, no one was around to buy ready-to-eat fries. Lockdown measures eventually eased up and UCU, under Standard Operating Procedure guidance from the Ministry of Health, was permitted to let finalists return to campus and complete their studies. These final-year student customers returned on October 15th when UCU re-opened.

Food was the obvious product for sale. History told her so. The earliest business venture she can remember is selling vegetables on her veranda. On holidays, she fried cassava chips in senior six and senior four.

“It is a must for everybody to eat food, so this is a viable business.” She said.

Logistics was part of the survival. Since her produce comes from Kapchorwa, her business depends on the stability of crop prices there. Transport costs shooting up all over the country due to curfew and new road restrictions was an added obstacle.

“I spend 75,000 Uganda shillings ($20.50) to transport five bags of Irish potatoes and this is too high for me,” she said. “I wish I could buy my own van; it could be much cheaper.”

Lillian’s business survived. On January 1, 2021, it was stationed 100 meters (328 feet) from the main UCU gate. Most days, she was at her stall by 7 a.m. She employed five staff. In addition to potatoes, sometimes they sell homemade passion juice.

“At my age (24) I am trying as much as possible to find my destiny, and the mistakes I make today become very big lessons to me especially in business,” she said. “I do not ask for money from people and my parents are glad that as a girl child, I am independent and able to cater for my basic needs”

She advised fellow youth to venture into business, have self-drive, and aim at growing business instead of focusing on profits at the beginning. These skills, she acknowledged, were largely learned in her program of study at UCU.

++++

Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Former UCU Guild President publishes book on youth and leadership

January 11, 2021News, UCU Alumni#book, #CourageUnderFire, #Guild, #Leadership, #PriscaAmongin, #UgandaChristianUniversity, business, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Prisca Amongin (center) and friends at the launch of her book in December 2020.

By John Semakula

Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) former Guild President, Prisca Amongin Nangiro, has published a book challenging Christian youth in Africa to aspire to become leaders.

In her book, “Courage Under Fire: Let No One Despise Your Youth,” Amongin observes that the more Christian youth assume leadership positions on the continent, the easier it is for youth voices to be heard.

Prisca Amongin and the current UCU Guild President Kenneth Agaba Amponda during the launch of her book last month.

“We have to find our way into these big rooms to let decisions be taken in our favor,” Amongin writes in the 128-page book. “We need ambassadors, we need vessels.”

She observes that leadership positions give youth an opportunity to fulfill the burdens that are on their hearts.

“Heaven is on the search for men and women who will make a difference in our days,” she writes. “Dear friends, God is counting on us; on you dear reader. Our generation has so many wars against us, which we must fight. We cannot afford to maintain the status quo in politics, in health, academics among others. May the Lord make us restless and separate us for His work…”

Amongin’s book has received endorsement from prominent and influential Ugandans such as the Rt. Rev. Sheldon Mwesigwa, Bishop of Ankole Diocese in Western Uganda, and Lawrence Ssebulime, her former UCU lecturer.

Ssebulime describes the book as “a burning sensation that evokes a positive attitude even in the toughest of challenges.” Bishop Mwesigwa says the book is a “spell binding” story that takes the readers through the scenes and emotions that shaped Amongin’s resolve to engage in youth leadership positions with a desire to transform society.

“With Amongin’s brain power, godliness, down to earth character, social capital and zeal for service, youth will be inspired to exploit their leadership potential, even without adequate resources,” Bishop Mwesigwa writes in his endorsement message. “I unreservedly recommend this book, which illustrates that youth are leaders of today and not tomorrow.”

Amongin, who became the first directly elected UCU female guild President in 2016 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Accounting in 2018, started writing her book in March 2020 when the Ugandan government imposed a countrywide lockdown to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Amongin says it is good to always look at the silver lining in every looming cloud.

“Who knew the COVID-19 pandemic season would finally birth the hours I needed to put into this book to get it started?” she asked rhetorically during the launch of the book on December 27, 2020, in Kampala.

Prisca Amongin (in black) and her older sister, Filda Nangiro Loyok, at the launch of her book last month.

“I wanted to invite us on a journey to think together on why we are here in this world . . . To find ways for us to contribute and participate to resolve some of the issues in our immediate communities, especially as leaders and as the young people of our generation.”

Amongin who is currently contesting for the Female Youth National Parliamentary seat in Uganda, says that if elected, she wants to use that office to coordinate programs for youth development.

“I will use whatever there is within my means to advance the desirable change for all the youth,” she wrote. “This shall be made possible through partnership, lobbying and advocacy.”

Amongin’s book advises youth to enter politics with an ideology.

“Rome was not built in one day,” she says. “Each decision we make comprises of a collective approach. As a house is built brick by brick, so our lives are built decision by decision. These decisions have a collective destiny. In order for us to achieve the greater goal, we need the right ideology.”

Amongin’s family shaped her love and passion for leadership. Her mother, Eunice Lochoro Nangiro, served as a teacher before joining the National Resistance Council in the early 1990s to represent the people of Kotido District in northern Uganda. Her father, Simon Apollo Nangiro, taught her and her other siblings how to face life by ensuring they had experience with the family business in Moroto town.

“Through that experience we learnt people skills and staff management,” Amongin says. “He also taught us all how to stand up for what we believed in and work hard.”

Amongin, 28, comes from Natumkasikou village, Rupa Sub County, Moroto District in the Karamoja region, which is one of the poorest and least developed in Uganda. She urges youth not to let their humble backgrounds to stop them from scaling higher heights in life.

++++

Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

‘I welcomed Christ into my life’

January 4, 2021Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology, News, UCU Alumni#BishopTucker, #EasternCollegeAustralia, #RevOchen, #UCUGraduate, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Christianity, God, Theology, UgandaPatty Huston-Holm

Ocen Walter Onen at the UCU Mukono campus

(NOTE: In October, UCU Partners published an article about how this graduate of UCU helped the poor. That article is here: https://www.ugandapartners.org/2020/10/we-cannot-keep-preaching-the-gospel-to-the-poor-without-helping-them-realize-their-potential/. This article is the “back story” of that alum.)

By Ocen Walter Onen

BEFORE KNOWING CHRIST
In the morning hour of about 8:45 a.m. on March 2 of the year of our Lord 1992, my mum gave birth to me. Like any other baby, I cried at my first arrival into the world, which was going to be my home for some years as the Lord so wished. My mum later told me that I was born during an insurgency – various Ugandan civil wars.

Though, what was worse than my country’s rebellion against government is the fact that I was borne into non-Christian family. This meant that my life and growth were somewhat controlled by the traditional ancestral deities. For example, when I was a four-year-old, I fell sick and my parents consulted a traditional healer, who said that “the god wanted my name to be changed from Okot Walter Onen to Ocen Walter Onen.” This practice of listening to witch doctors was inherited from our great-great ancestors and continued until 2005, when Jesus Christ interrupted this evil chain – starting with me and then with all my family by 2014.

KNOWING CHRIST
On May 5, 2005, I welcomed Jesus Christ into my life. The burdens accruing from my countless sins had suffocated me and sincerely speaking, “I was dead pretending to be alive.” So, when a preacher quoted Matthew 11:28 (Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.), I realized my vulnerabilities and the need to accept the free mercy of God to redeem me from my state of hopelessness.

I could say much more about this wonderful day, but let me turn your attention to what happened after I got saved. Immediately, I felt my heart lightened, and my fears of guilt disappeared. In fact, the spirit of God filled me and I began going to church, sharing with brethren through fellowship and Bible study.

I began to question where God was leading me. What was my purpose? What does He exactly want me do? Why did He create us in his image instead of animals, trees, mountains and other non-human creations? Why does He cherish us so much to the extent of giving us His only Son? These questions shaped my thinking and ignited my quest for a philosophical understanding of the church’s doctrines. It was also one of the key reasons that compelled me to pursue a degree in Theology and Divinity at Uganda Christian University.

AT UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (2016-2019)
At UCU, I met distinguished scholars, especially from the faculty of Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity who encouraged me to wrestle with new theories and concepts about Christianity and its mission in the world. For example, Rev. Can. Prof. Byaruhanga Christopher challenged us to think outside the box and avoid the temptation of spiritualizing Jesus’ proclamation in Luke 4:16-18, but apply it to fight multidimensional poverty, injustices and the all forms of ungodliness in our vocational context.

According to him, “a pastor is the fifth gospel” meaning that people will always look up to you for the meaning of righteousness. Another professor, Rt. Rev. Prof. Alfred Olwa, who was our dean then, also would reinforce the message that the centre of Christianity is shifting from the global north to the global south. The theologians in the global south, including Africa, should be more prepared than ever to shape the discussion revolving around the orthodoxy of the unchanging gospel truth in the dynamic world.

I wondered how we might do this if most of the biblical scholarship is still being done in the western world. The urgency of theologians in the south to participate in sharing the Word became more apparent.

AT EASTERN COLLEGE AUSTRALIA (2019-CURRENT)
In 2019, the words of the “Amazing Grace” hymn became ever more real. I received my degree from UCU on July 5 that year. Just the day before, I learned that I had been awarded a scholarship to pursue a Master in Transformational Development at Eastern College Australia. What a blessing! In fact, I felt like God’s exhortation to prosper us had just visited my door. Glory be to him, our rock and our redeemer.

In November 2020, my post-graduate studies are deconstructing, reconstructing and restructuring the worldview I had built from UCU. Indeed, it has created a platform for me to amalgamate both theology and development in one single unit of “integral mission.”

CHRIST IN EDUCATION
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges throughout the world, including in Uganda and specifically with education. A shift to on-line learning has been difficult for many.

Despite obstacles, I encourage current students of Uganda Christian University to appreciate the fact that a university education produces thinkers who can derive solutions for the mantra of prevailing problems in our communities. Individuals with university degrees are best positioned to creatively engage in rigorous research and innovation.

Scholars will play a key role in unleashing the United Nations sustainable development goals for 2030, the vision 2063 of the African Union, the vision 2040 of the republic of Uganda, and/or the vision of their own communities, or their own vision. At that, this is only possible if we permit Jesus Christ to reign in our lives, thoughts, words and actions.

+++++

The Rev. Ocen Walter Onen is a UCU Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity alum who is pursuing a Master in Transformational Development from Eastern College Australia.

++++

I slept in the office for four days preparing for my first business pitch

October 21, 2020News, UCU Alumni#AlexTaremwa, #Futureof Media, #matookerepublic, #NationMediaGroup, #TheInnovationVillage, #TheWorkshopUgandaPatty Huston-Holm

The most important seven minutes during the pitch. PHOTO BY The Innovation Village/Twitter

By Alex Taremwa

The Workshop Uganda is a media start up I conceived in 2017. As a journalist who had written large-firm profiles for some of Uganda’s top newspapers, I noticed that voices from the small business sector where more than 50% of Uganda’s GDP came from were prominently missing in the mainstream.

A selfie of the author, Alex Taremwa, right, with some of his team members at The Innovation Village after the pitch rehearsal.

My idea? Create an online platform that voiced their “hustle” and make it easy for customers to see and buy their products – a noble cause. I interested a few friends to help with the concept. Alas, we were not making much headway despite publishing several profiles, some of which got our clients visibility that yielded multiple deals. With no clear vision, no commitment, no capital, no team, I did what every other unserious entrepreneur would do – give up.

What I didn’t know, however, is that people – very powerful people – had been watching what we and other idea people were doing. When the Nation Media Group (NMG) – the biggest media brand in East and Central Africa launched their inaugural Future of Media competition searching for the “next big idea” that proposes a new business model to save the industry from the pangs of disruption (see my previous article on this topic), I submitted an entry.

According to the Daily Monitor, a subsidiary of NMG, 150 entries were received by the Innovation Village – a local business incubator and The Workshop Uganda (renamed The Digital Workshop) – was among the top 10. In fact, according to exclusive sources, we were number one.

Giving a voice to small- and medium-sized businesses is ever critical in Uganda’s COVID-19 lockdown as, according to an April 2020 survey by the Uganda Economic Policy Research Center, they are less likely than large businesses to survive. When asked about the likelihood of survival during a three-to-six month business suspension, macro/large companies were mostly not phased while roughly 25% of micro, small and medium business owners said they wouldn’t subsist.

Putting in the work
Between 2019 when I shelved the idea until when I submitted it as an entry into this competition in 2020, I had subjected it to a lot of scrutiny. Under Prof. Rhonda Breit, a seasoned Australian lawyer and journalism scholar, I worked on The Digital Workshop (changed from The Workshop Uganda) as an Advanced Digital Journalism project at the Graduate School of Media and Communications (GSMC) of Aga Khan University (AKU), where I am student. During this process, we made the project niche, figured out a business model that suited it and even pitched it to a mock panel from the new Deutsche Welle Akademie-sponsored Innovation Center at AKU in Nairobi, Kenya. I worked on a Lean Canvas, the problem-solution model and put it on a pitch deck.

Long days at the office with the project’s Creative Director, Edward Nimusiima, right.

While at it, I confirmed two things: not only could we scale our project across East Africa, we could also add a third product to it – a Reality TV show. In a Think with Google Podcast last week, I learned that videos dubbed #WithMe (Cook with Me, Workout with Me, Study with Me) had over 4 billion views on YouTube. Not only does such content offer a more personal experience, it is highly inspirational, offers audience value by giving them “news they can use” – a key component of monetization but relatively inexpensive to produce.

Our innovation is three-in-one: an e-Commerce platform, a reality TV show, and a second-hand furniture recycler. We recycle second-hand furniture, record a TV episode while at it and then sell that recycled furniture through an e-commerce App. We are also proposing a $5 weekly subscription for our content.

This model will be interoperable built within a mobile application that also has Web support. We believe this is a solutions journalism project that saves the environment and gives the audience value – the future of media.

Pitching for dummies
Standing before a mock panel for marks in Nairobi was much different from standing before a panel of judges with a request of $20,000. This being my first time, I watched a lot of YouTube videos of my favourite human marketer – Steve Jobs – the fallen Apple Inc. CEO.

Before the main pitch, we were invited for a rehearsal at the Innovation Village Hub in Ntinda – a Kampala suburb. At this point, I didn’t even have $20 to get around and yet I need to transport myself and my team to attend both events. I had to think fast. In 2017, I had asked an American friend visiting Uganda Christian University (UCU) where I worked then to be on our Board. Would she loan me $150?

“I’ll give you $200,” the woman (who asked not to be identified) typed. “But it’s not a loan. When you have money, remember this and help somebody else.”

The rehearsal went well. We had been told to fix our pitches in under seven minutes. I hit 7:24 seconds. Not bad for a first timer but if you have watched Shark Tank, not good either. People have squeezed million dollar ideas in under three minutes.

Sleeping at Matooke Republic
After that rehearsal, I decided that until I get the pitch in record time, I would not leave my office. I edit an online publication and while everyone was working from due to the COVID-19 guidelines, I slept in the office for four days rehearsing and fine-tuning my pitch. I would call in my team members; Edward Nimusiima, Patience Ndinawe, Nicholas Opolot, Ziyal Amanya, Agatha Muhaise, and Arthur Matsiko to go over details. The cost structures, profit projections, the numbers mostly to make sure the judges don’t catch me flatfooted. I am not a numbers person but I learned more in those four days that I had in all my 18 years in school.

Did we win? No. We didn’t. But when I walked out of the pitch room, someone I later found was very important walked to me and said, “If NMG doesn’t take you on, come to me. I’ll invest in you. But first, get some sleep!”

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.

+++

Also, follow us on Facebook.

UCU alumnus lifts up students, teachers during pandemic

October 5, 2020COVID-19, News, UCU Alumni#coronavirus, #COVID19, #girlchild, #Kyungwe, #Lockdown #Uganda, #teacher, #UgandaChristianUniversity, UCU, UCUPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Nsubuga (at left) with workers at the school farm

By Maxy Magella Abenaitwe

Teachers worldwide are often underpaid, frequently disrespected, sometimes suppressed and occasionally ignored. This is despite the fact that educating children is one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals with the acknowledgement that 69 million primary and secondary teachers will be needed globally to reach that 2030 target. To date, and according to the latest (2016) school census, Uganda has 261,000 teachers.

Deogratious Nsubuga, a 2018 first class graduate with a bachelor of science degree in education from Uganda Christian University (UCU) is among these. He is an author, writer, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and a headmaster at Agape Christian School, Kyungu. Having started teaching right after his Senior Six exams in 2014, he has grown a passion for improving teacher reputation. He wants to help administrators understand a teacher’s role and struggles.

“These are people who often have no clue what teaching is like, people who have had their education in developed countries and cannot relate with the problems on the ground here,” Nsubuga elaborates.

The appointment as head teacher at Agape Christian School in 2019 brought him closer to forging those relationships and understanding that would, in turn, improve the quality and quantity of students at the school. As of March 2020, the number of students in the school had increased from 135 to 400 in a year’s time. Starting 2020 in high gear and eagerly prepared to mold his students to attain the best grades possible, the COVID-19 lockdown blocked all the school programs and fractured hopes.

Filled with grief and short of words, Nsubuga struggles to describe how demeaning the COVID-19 lockdown since March has been to teachers in Uganda. To have the basics of living, including food in cupboards, teachers have taken hard labor jobs such as digging and washing neighbor’s clothing.

“Some teachers have sold off their clothes and shoes,” Nsubuga said. “You will be surprised to see teachers walk to class ragged and barefooted after the lockdown.”

To curb poverty-related problems related to his school, Nsubuga has exchanged his head teacher role for that of garden and small business employer.

Nsubuga supervises one of his staff members at the school farm

Two teacher assistance examples
Cornelius Arkker, for example, is one of the teachers working as a produce manager with a food store business started by Nsubuga. Arkker feels honored to have met and worked with an innovative and developmental person like Nsubuga.

Arkker says Nsubuga has inspired him to improve his character, in terms of being patient, honest, principled and hopeful.

“There is a time I delayed for an appointment with Nsubuga by four hours,” Arkker said. “Being the principled person he is, I thought he would get mad at me, he instead calmly listened to me and everything went on as planned.”

Nsubuga also has mentored teacher, Isaac Kawanda, who is currently managing the Musomesa Education Consultants project. The firm handles all records and sales of academic books published by Nsubuga. Both Nsubuga and Kawanda met as young untrained teachers in 2014/2015.

“Nsubuga always told me that I am a young, energetic man who can do wonders,” Kawanda discloses. “His company has helped me unveil my academic and business potentials. He has made me realize how capable I am.”

Student assistance examples
In addition to helping teachers re-tool their skills to survive during the coronavirus lockdown, Nsubuga initiated the use of social media to maintain student interest in education, monitoring streets to guard youth safety and making public address announcements to get communities engaged in nurturing young people.

To reinforce learning, he formed WhatsApp groups to better ensure student access to academic work. However, due to limited technical resources and poor network, some students have been left out. For these students, he plans remedial assistance after the lockdown.

Andrew Baluku, a Senior Two student, commends his teachers for the academic support rendered to him, especially during the COVID restricted environment. According to Baluku, online studying is efficient because he pays maximum attention to his studies. However, he yearns to have more subjects like agriculture and commerce.

“Studying alone gives me more time to learn at my pace and understand some concepts,” Bakulu explains. “I think online studying would be the best, if not for the limited resources to maintain it. Plus, some of my colleagues cannot afford it all.”

Nsubuga also has engaged the community about the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown and how they can adapt and offer their assistance. Through a community radio characterized by a highly raised wooden platform and a speaker with sound covering at least a hundred meters (328 feet) of Kyungu village, Nsubuga encourages local parents to prepare their children for the lockdown experience, particularly the girl child. He has spread a similar gospel via Dunamis radio Uganda.

Nsubuga narrates an incident when he bumped into one of his teenage female students being intimately held by a boy in the evening. Much as Nsubuga was able to rescue her and drop her to her home safely, Nsubuga still wonders about the safety and well-being of girls.

Giving a hand to someone’s growth and development is Nsubuga’s happiness. This is a spirit he developed from the UCU community, where sharing and kindness are virtues.

Previously, Nsubuga possessed a self-centered mindset towards the process of achieving success.

“Before I came to UCU, my principle was, ‘hustle, get in my way, I kick you out and proceed,” Nsubuga said. “However, the UCU Christian environment put in me a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood.”

He is thankful to God that he was able to meet a Christian family (UCU) that groomed him spiritually.

++++

Also, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

Time to laugh: UCU student-turned-comedian tells you why

September 29, 2020COVID-19, News, UCU Alumni# EhmahNapoleone, #Comedian, #COVID19, #EastAfrica, #EmmanuelOtim, #Laughter, #Lockdown #Uganda, #UgandaChristianUniversity, UCU, UCUPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Emmanuel Otim poses for a photo after his interview with UCU Partners.

By Maxy Magella Abenaitwe

Most Ugandan children have been told that holding on to sciences – that is, the traditional, formal curriculum – is the only key to success. Little or no value is attached to talents outside that box or personal passions. Those who create their own chances and platforms to ensure talent growth beyond what is customary are few.

Emmanuel Otim, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) bachelor of arts in education graduate, is among those few. Since 2007, he has identified himself as a comedian – a career path sparked by his love for stage performance.

This, then, is how Otim (known as Ehmah Napoleone and preferring to be known as simply “Ehmah”) made it unfold. Having lived a childhood with various stage opportunities, he fit himself in the already-established university entertainment sessions. Under the brand name, The Filosofaz, he and a bunch of friends broke the mold of the University praise and worship system of entertainment and introduced comedy.

Otim with colleagues after a presentation. https://youtu.be/FuRnSmosnKw — Otim with colleagues after a presentation.
https://youtu.be/FuRnSmosnKw

The comedy group grew so popular that students referred to the Saturday evening walks to watch Ehmah and his partner, Catro Johnson, as, “The great trek to Nkoyoyo hall.” The paved route from the Dining hall to Nkoyoyo hall became known informally as Prince Ehmah Road.

For someone who had grown up with no access to television and the Internet, his first comic sessions were presentations solely intended to cheer up students and satisfy his own creative talents. Little did he know this would become a career that would pay his bills.

Several times, friends tapped him saying, “Man! You’re going to be big, you will be a millionaire.” Their encouraging words started to sink in. He began to realize there could be something special about what he had been doing.

Ehmah still remembers Peace Lona, a girl he had met in his S5 class at Makerere high school in 2004. She told him about the successes of Kato Lubwama (comedian turned politician) and Philip Luswata (actor/director best known for “Queen of Katwe”). To further educate himself, Ehmah started attending comedy shows, including those of East African comedians like Philip Luswata and Ebonies.

“Going for these shows shaped my idea that I could actually earn from this,” he reckoned.

In 2009, DSTV held competitions called “Stand Up, Uganda.” He didn’t compete but found family in a union formed by the top 10 winners of the contest. A Ugandan named Omara, who took second place in the competition, called on Ehmah to assist in forming the Crackers’ show that later premiered on National Television (NTV) as Mic Check. Omara and Ehmah had met at UCU.

To Ehmah, his “fully rewarding” world of comedy is the job he “never sought.” It simply evolved.

As of September 2020, Ehmah’s highly ranked comic gigs have taken him to Zambia, Namibia, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan as well as within his native Uganda. In spite of curfew, economic and travel restrictions of the COVID-19 lockdown, Ehmah has maintained his relevance with some earnings through social media fan base management, replacing a desired stage performance schedule.

To access one of the UCU alum’s comedy videos, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuRnSmosnKw&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1qdbgjlnxaXzIfq8nwq9yKa9ukNsmTo5QXs8ZoWW6ZUYWR2659YUBmu9o

In August 2020, Ehmah Napoleone’s You Tube channel and social media platforms were trending with more than 2,000 views of “Afande Piano,” an imaginary police spokesperson of the Wakanda Republic. Afande Piano is an exaggerated sarcastic character who mimics the Ugandan police spokesperson who at many occasions has been cited defending police and government for their deeds. In addition to bringing smiles to people’s faces, Ehmah’s aim was to show the public how hard it is to be a spokesperson in a country with a political environment like that of Uganda.

While the Afande Piano character is partially political, Ehmah usually refrains from politics as well as tribal, vulgar and religious content that may negatively impact on society.

At that, for the sake of solidarity, advocacy for the rights of Comedians, growth of the comedian industry and as the spokesperson of The Uganda Comedian Association (TUCA), Ehmah has taken part in political performances with comedians like the Bizonto group that were once arrested over allegations of promoting sectarianism through their comic church-like hymns. For some performers, like Allan (alias Optional Allan) and Joshua Okello (alias Okello Okello), he has both learned and mentored.

Kibuka describes the five-year relationship as a kind, generous, helpful and friendly mentorship. He applauds Ehmah for paving for him the way from the ghetto setting to the urban stage.

“I will never forget the day he recommended me for my first Jazz comedy Uganda performance,” Kibuka recalls. “It was unbelievable, I mingled with big names in the Ugandan comedy industry. That day, I realized my potential.”

Okello, Ehmah’s other mentee credits him for being professional, principled, honest and flexible.

“Ehmah keeps time and will always show up if you have a booking, appointment or performance with him,” Okello said. “This is a rare trait among Ugandan entertainers.”

Okello recalls of a time he invited his mentor to perform on a show he had organized in Soroti. That day it rained, and the show flopped. As the dismayed organiser, worried about how to pay, Ehmah agreed to forego his payment.

Ehmah credits UCU for his humility as this was reinforced there for students and staff. He points his success to the 2006-2009 UCU community that embraced him and offered him his first platform as an amateur comedian.

“By the time I left UCU, I was already a brand,” he noted.

Ehmah is saddened by what he perceives as a decline in creative stage talent emphasis and opportunities at UCU. His cry is for the university to embrace drama and entertainment because it holds a great future in Uganda.

His passion for comedy has helped him overlook some challenges like the negative perception some people have towards entertainers. Most parents dislike comedians around their children because they think artists are not good role models.

“Sometimes it’s hard for people to accept you,” Ehmah said. “Africans have not yet embraced comedy as a profession.”

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 her country’s lockdown, she was an intern for the UCU Standard newspaper.

++++