By Pauline Luba
Uganda Christian University (UCU) has added a new guesthouse to its collection of hospitality facilities. The Kingdom View Guest House, located on Besania Hill, Mukono, was acquired as a ministry donation from The Rock Kingdom LTD (UG), funded by The Rock Outreach (USA) late 2022. The guesthouse, completed in 2016, becomes the university’s fifth hospitality facility, but the first outside the precincts of UCU’s main campus. The other four guesthouses — Eunice, Garry, Missionary House and Tech Park Units — are within the university. 

Kingdom View Guest House, whose architecture was inspired by the shape of an African hut, offers catering services, high-speed internet, laundry services, free parking and airport transportation access for international travelers. The architectural design was done by American Mike Reid, who is also credited with drawing the plans of UCU’s gate, as well as other buildings within the university, including the Hamu Mukasa library.

A beautiful stone walkway leads to the storied house and a multipurpose pavilion used for catered events, fellowships and meetings. Strategically located, it is near popular restaurants, such as Café Bruni, Café Para and Dibbles Leisure Centre. 

The upper level, with a dramatic view of Mukono and Lake Victoria in the distance, has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Two of the bedrooms are queen rooms, while the third has a custom designed inbuilt bunk bed. The en suite bathroom consists of a shower and a bathtub. Pets are not allowed on the premises. The house also has a balcony, terrace, housekeeping and kitchen essentials, such as a refrigerator, toaster and kettle.

A Texas-based couple – Margaret and Mark Noblin – are integral to the Kingdom View story. Writing from Texas, during an email interview with Uganda Partners, Margaret described the facility, which the Rock Kingdom LTD donated to UCU, as not just a guesthouse. The compound is a “holistic ministry of discipleship and practical Christian leadership training.”

She said the guesthouse was designed for visiting lecturers, missionaries and pastoral care, to generate income to help Kingdom View be sustainable economically. 

“By doing this, the guesthouse would assist with funding resources and materials for spiritual development of UCU students,” Margaret explained.

How did The Rock Kingdom LTD come to donate such an investment to UCU? 

As founders of the ministry, “Our calling from the beginning was to empower practically Ugandans so we could transition Kingdom View over to a local organization. Three years ago, we began praying and inquiring of the Lord about it, with all board members. We considered other NGOs, churches and UCU,” Margaret explained. 

As part of the transition, in 2019, the Noblins hired a UCU graduate of Bachelor of Business Administration, who they had mentored. As they spent less time in Uganda he was trusted with the management of the facility and leadership of discipleship activities.

“As we prayed about a potential handover, we kept coming back to UCU due to the relationships, proximity to campus and hundreds of students we have mentored. My husband came home one day and said, ‘I truly believe God wants us to give Kingdom View to UCU under the management of the chaplaincy.’ That was in the spring of 2022,” Margaret wrote.

According to her, by donating the facility to UCU, they intended to “honor” the Lord and the former owner of the property, Bishop Kamanyire. “Kingdom View belongs to God and we wanted to pass the stewardship on to serious people, so it would continue to honor God and be a bright light on the hill.”

The Noblins have been married for 52 years. They have a daughter, a son-in-law and eight grandchildren who all live in Texas.

UCU’s guesthouses are run by the university hospitality services. Students, such as those pursuing courses in the field of tourism and hospitality, carry out their practical lessons at Eunice Guest House, aided by the facility’s staff. 

The staff of the hospitality services also cater for executive meetings within the university, such providing meals for participants during Senate and Board meetings. The guesthouse is perfect for small meetings while the Kingdom View Pavilion is ideal for larger functions.

Despite the excellent services at Kingdom View, and other guesthouses in the university, little is known about them by the students and residents of Mukono. Many students hardly have an idea where the guesthouses are located.  Even those who know are not aware that the services are open to students.

“We are working with the communications team of UCU to advertise the guesthouses in a more aggressive way to both students and other members of the public,” Vanessa Ngango, the head of hospitality services at UCU, said. 

There are plans to create short videos and fliers, detailing the services offered at the guesthouses, so that more awareness is created. The facilities are good relaxation centers for pastors and the students, especially as a place to relax and refresh their spirits.

Now that the Noblins have retreated back to Texas, when asked how they would want the UCU community to remember them, Margaret said as “people who always point students to Jesus.” She said for them, they choose to say “yes to God.” 

“Mark and I choose to submit to Jesus, which comes with biblical freedom and a Christian worldview,” she said. “Our desire is that Kingdom View will forever be a light on the hill for Jesus.”

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

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By Vanessa Kyalimpa
A Uganda-based thinktank, the Economic Policy Research Center, estimates that 41% of the jobs in the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises were lost in Uganda as a result of the Covid pandemic. The job of Judith Nabwire, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) alumna and a social worker, was part of that statistic.

Nabwire squeezed her way through education in Uganda with limited finances. She completed Mbarara Secondary School and, with a sponsored scholarship from a church in Pennsylvania, USA, got a diploma and degree in social work and social administration as well as a certificate in gender training from UCU. She completed an internship with a German-based Off-Tu-Mission nonprofit and  breathed  a sigh of relief when she got employed with a Christian Non-Governmental Organization, Children Alive Ministry, which works with Mukono-area children, their families, and the church to bring about transformation and holistic wellbeing. 

For three years, all was well with Nabwire’s job. However, due to health challenges, in 2020, she got an extended leave of absence. At nearly the same time, Covid and the Uganda government lockdown happened.

“Some people got laid off at Children Alive Ministry, and I was one of them,” Nabwire said. At 34, with a family to look after, losing her job was a hardship.

It was at this point that Nabwire looked back at some of the friendships and connections she had made. Among the people she reached out to was an Ohio USA resident, Patricia Huston-Holm, a friend for about 10 years and the UCU Partners Communications Director. She says Patricia advised her to take up a volunteer opportunity at any organization. She took that advice, and it  made the difference.

“I searched around Mukono in central Uganda, until a friend who happened to know someone at Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital referred me there,” she said. “They have a Community Based Organization, with a program called DREAMS, where I worked as a volunteer for the first six months.” 

With Dr. Nsingo Simon Peter and others observing Nabwire’s efforts with the DREAMS HIV/AIDS prevention program, she proved her value in half a year. Now, Nabwire, who is married to Kavuma Douglas and has a three-year-old daughter, is officially an employee with the organization as a field officer. She has been paid since November 1, 2022. 

Nabwire is among leaders with the DREAMS (determined, resilient, empowered, AIDS-free, mentored, and safe) program, a community-based project with strategies to give age 9-24 girls skills to help them acquire employability and avoid pre-marital sex and HIV/AIDS. She works with girls considered vulnerable because of economic, education and/or early parenting challenges – out of school and at risk of having babies out of wedlock or already teen mothers. 

Nabwire’s determination and work ethic are influenced by hard-working, Christian parents who reinforced these values for all five of their children.  Her father, John Wabwire, is a pastor for a church in Mbarara. He struggled to pay school fees on his salary.

After completing high school, Nabwire had no hope of continuing her formal learning because she knew her family did not have the means to fund a university education. It was at a Mukono church called Mount Olives that she met visitors from Pennsylvania and Ohio, namely Shirleen Nixon Johnson and Patricia in 2009. After first hearing Judith’s solo voice in the choir and then meeting her, the two women saw value enough to help the young woman further her education and a career. When they couldn’t personally assist, they found others in the United States to provide support. 

“I always put my faith in God,” Nabwire said. “I am grateful to so many people for how He put them in my path as I appreciate that God uses me to help others.”

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

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By Irene Best Nyapendi
When Uganda Christian University (UCU) recently announced a homecoming event, the institution promised its alumni an opportunity to interact among themselves, as well as with their vice chancellors. And, true to their word, all three vice chancellors – the current, Aaron Mushengyezi, and the past, the Rev. Prof. Stephen Noll and his successor, the Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi – were present to interact with the people they helped to nurture while administrators.

Noll, the first vice chancellor of UCU who led from 2000 to 2010, flew into Uganda with his wife, Peggy, from Pennsylvania where they live, to attend activities in the week of October 23-28, to celebrate 25 years of the institution.

At the alumni homecoming event on October 25, former students and the vice chancellors shared testimonies of how God had enabled the former to successfully complete education at UCU and for the latter, how God helped them make decisions for the betterment of UCU. The event began with a community worship in Nkoyoyo Hall and led by Mukono Bishop James William Ssebaggala, himself an alumnus. Ssebaggala thanked the university for educating children of the clergy.

Gilbert Olanya, a legislator who is serving his third term in the Ugandan Parliament, narrated how Uganda Partners came to his rescue when he had lost hope of continuing with education.

Olanya, who joined Parliament in 2011, said just after his first semester at UCU, he stared at a possibility of not continuing with education. His father, a farmer in Pader, northern Uganda, was forced into a settlement camp for internally displaced people due to the insecurity caused by the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) terrorist group. LRA caused insecurity in northern Uganda from 1987 to 2006, with violence peaking in some years during that period. One such period was in the early 2000s, when Olanya’s family joined the camps, from where the government forces would offer them security.

The legislator said his father would use the proceeds from agriculture to pay tuition for him, but that when they were sent into camps, agriculture, too, stopped. However, a ray of hope came when the vice chancellor at the time, Stephen Noll, asked students who were not financially stable to fill out forms for scholarships. As Olanya headed for the holidays, he knew he had no other source of money for his tuition, and, therefore, he was seeing the last of his time in a university. However, just before the holidays ended, Olanya says he received a message from the university, announcing that he had been among the successful applicants for the scholarship, courtesy of the USA-based nonprofit called Uganda Partners.

“I must tell you, I was extremely happy. I studied for two-and-a-half years with the help of UCU Partners,” Olanya, who graduated in 2002, told The Standard website.

For the entire time he studied under the scholarship, Olanya says he kept receiving letters from his sponsor. “He (the sponsor) told me ‘Gilbert Olanya, we are supporting you, but we want nothing from you. What we need is for you to help others if you succeed in life’.”

Olanya told The Standard that he has so far sponsored 48 students who have completed university and is still supporting another 282 students in secondary schools, a perfect representation of the theme of the homecoming, Witnessing Through Kindness, picked off Luke 10:25-37.

Noll noted that being an alum of UCU is not just a one day event, urging former students to always concern themselves with matters of UCU. “For as long as we are alive, Peggy and I will hold you dear in our hearts,” Noll said, before explaining the relationship between a university and its former students.

““When you graduate, you become part of a larger family of the alumni. (During my time) As vice chancellor, I had to teach the students some of the Latin words, like alma mater, which means dear mother. UCU is the dear mother and the alum is the adopted son or daughter.”

Senyonyi, who was vice chancellor from 2010 to 2020, urged the former students to mobilize themselves and form UCU alumni chapters in their professions and careers, both in Uganda and beyond, to be able to help take the university to greater heights.

In response to the appeal made by Vice Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi, the President of the UCU Alumni Association, Emmanuel Wabwire, asked the alumni to think of something which they can offer in support of the university. Wabwire was UCU Guild President in 2012.

Ten alumni were recognized for their contribution in making the society a better place. Among them were the Rev. Rebecca Nyegenye, the Provost of All Saints Cathedral Kampala and the chairperson of the board of Directors of Church Missionary Society Africa, as well as Bernard Oundo, the President of Uganda Law Society. The others were Dr. Elizabeth Nakawombe, Frank Walusimbi, Steven Asiimwe, Jimmy Enabi Ndyabahika and Arnaud Gahimbare.

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

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By Kefa Senoga
In the South African Zulu gospel song, Siyabonga Jesu (Wahamba Nathi), singer Solly Mahlangu sings praises for Jesus, whom he refers to as the Lion of Heaven. Mahlangu’s praises for the son of God are on the basis that Jesus has never abandoned him, even during the time when he “walked through the valley of death.”

That is the song that the members of senior management of Uganda Christian University (UCU) sang as they took to the stage on October 23, 2022, in the Nkoyoyo Hall at the main campus in Mukono, to give thanks to God in praise and worship. The managers, led by Vice Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi, were thanking God for keeping UCU alive and blossoming for 25 years, in line with the celebration slogan of Ebenezer, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12).

UCU, which transitioned from a theological college, started in 1997. Today, with five campuses and nearly 13,000 students, it has become an education brand and a household name in higher education in the region.  

Members of UCU’s senior management chose to pray from the same place with an identical start time of 9:30 a.m. on October 23, 2022. The members, and, indeed, most of the congregants, chose this service because it was intended for a special thanksgiving as the community drew closer to the apex celebrations of UCU’s silver jubilee. The anniversary week, which kicked off on October 23 with the thanksgiving service, climaxed with a ceremony on October 28, where 1,570 students graduated.

Among those in the congregation during the service was a guest couple, whose names many students could recognise, but not their faces. The Rev. Prof. Stephen Noll, the university’s first vice chancellor, and his wife, Peggy, had flown into Uganda from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, where they currently reside, for the silver jubilee activities. 

At the start of the service, the MC, Assoc. Prof. John Kitayimbwa, who is the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), introduced the Nolls whose presence took many congregants by surprise. When Stephen Noll, who was sitting next to Peggy in the second row in the hall, was invited to “greet the people” at the end of the service, the opportunity gave the congregants a better view of his immaculate dressing – a black trouser, a black clerical shirt and a blue jacket, complete with a UCU lapel pin. 

He held the microphone with his left hand and freed the right to gesture, as he spoke with the confidence of a father speaking to his children. In the under five minutes that Noll spoke, he asked the congregants and, indeed, the UCU alumni, to turn up for the alumni homecoming on October 25 and a public lecture on October 26. 

Peggy Noll was asked to pray for the children who were present, whom Kitayimbwa referred to as the future staff of UCU. Peggy is remembered for having a special attachment with children as she established a children’s library at the main campus, which was equipped with children and Christian literature. 

The preacher at the thanksgiving service, retired bishop of Madi and West Nile Diocese Dr Joel Obetia, commended UCU for keeping a Christian outlook both in name and character. The Christian character of UCU is not by accident as this was one of the conditions Noll gave former archbishop of Church of Uganda Livingstone Nkoyoyo as the former pursued the latter to relocate to Uganda to head the newly founded UCU as its first vice chancellor. 

UCU Vice Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi noted that the institution has continued to maintain a positive image and a good representation of its graduates on the job market. He said the university continues to reap from the sports complex that Noll built at the main campus in 2007. The UCU sports complex has a running track, and basketball, volleyball and tennis courts.

He also mentioned the prominence of UCU in the national sports, which has been maintained since the time of Noll as vice chancellor. 

“We continue to win sports accolades and, as a matter of fact, our women’s basketball team, the Lady Canons, recently won the national women’s basketball competitions,” Mushengyezi noted.

Because of its modern sports facilities, the institution has hosted the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation in 2017, the Inter–University Games Uganda in 2013, and in 2007, as well as the East African University Games in 2014. 

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

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By Vanessa Kyalimpa
The waning threat of Covid-19 in Uganda is returning many pre-pandemic activities to the calendar. One such event is the Uganda Christian University (UCU) cultural gala that returned to the UCU Nkoyoyo Hall after a two-year hiatus. 

Held on October 22 under the theme Culture, Character and Patriotism, the students used

the event to display a blend of different cultures in Uganda and beyond. Ugandan tribes, such as the Acholi, Lango, The Iteso, Karimojong, Banyankole, Batooro, Bagisu, Basoga and Baganda, as well as Nigerians, presented traditional crafts, dress code, cultural anthem, storytelling, dance and a history on their origin. However, it was the dances that attracted the loudest applause from the crowd. 

The performances for the cultural gala that was organised by the UCU student leaders were graded based on presentation and time management. By the end of the day, the cultural food, wear, dance and crafts of the Teso team had won the hearts of the adjudicators and they were declared the Best Cultural Exhibitors of the event.

Vice Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi joins students in one cultural dance

For the feat, the Teso team received sh1million (about $270) from the UCU Vice-Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, in addition to the sh1.5million (about $400) which was their reward from the organisers. The Lango cultural group that emerged the runners-up, walked home with sh500,000 (about $130). The rest of the participants were given certificates.

Bridget Mugume, the Director of Student Affairs at UCU, said an awards ceremony will be organised for the winning team.

The leader of the Teso cultural team said unlike other teams that concentrated on a single task in particular, they worked as a team by balancing the effort put into all the tasks they were asked to perform.  

Asiimwe Zipporah, a third year student of Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Communication, said such exhibitions help students to understand and appreciate their culture, as well as of other people. She added that because of the influence of foreign culture, many people have forgotten about their roots.

Pontius Kayeru, a government official who attended the function, expressed his gratitude for what he called “the students’ displays of patriotism” throughout the event. Kayeru, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner of Mukono, said that what he saw on stage was a “reflection of identity, growth and learning how to get along with other people.” He encouraged the students to keep up with the tradition every year.

Racheal Sserwadda, the Guild President of UCU, congratulated the students upon a successful cultural gala and urged other tribes that did not take part to do so next year. 

“It was an entertaining, educative and eye-catching event,” Sserwadda said, noting that the dances and the dressing were an attraction. 

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

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By Vanessa Kyalimpa
Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mbale University College in eastern Uganda has launched a drive to raise funds for the expansion of the institution’s infrastructure. With the sh1.5billion (about $400,000) that the university college is seeking, the institution hopes to set up a sports complex, buy computers and servers for its information and communications technology laboratory, as well as to purchase a bus to help in transporting its athletes. 

The college hopes to use sh300million (about $80,000) for setting up the sports complex, sh500million (about $133,000) for the purchase of computers and sh100million (about $26,000) for the computer servers. Also in the plan is a 67-seater bus that is estimated to cost sh600million (about $160,000).

If acquired, the computers are intended to support the university’s policy of enhancing virtual learning by making the delivery of most of the courses blended in nature – both physical and virtual. 

The Rev. Assoc. Prof. John Mulindwa Kitayimbwa gives an address during the fundraising drive at UCU Mbale University College.

At the launch of the fundraising drive in September, an event that was preceded by a march   with a brass band in Mbale town, more than sh240million (over $64,000) was collected in cash and pledges. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who was represented at the function by Mbale Resident District Commissioner, Ahamada Washaki, pledged sh200million (about $53,000).

According to Mrs. Innocent Manana, the Principal of the College, the sports facilities will enable the college to champion innovation, entrepreneurship, and the general well-being among the young people who will use the complex. 

The Rt. Rev. John Wilson Nandaah, the Bishop of the Diocese of Mbale, who spoke on behalf of the Rt. Rev. Samuel Bogere Egesa, the chairperson of the college’s governing council, said there are many young people in the area who were eager to use the sports complex to nurture their talents.

“Our university students engage in several sports disciplines and have won several trophies, which prompted us to think of constructing a complex (to facilitate) developing their talents,” Nandaah said. 

The Rev. Assoc. Prof. John Mulindwa Kitayimbwa, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UCU, who represented Vice Chancellor Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, said the construction of the sports complex will not only enhance the physical needs of the students, but also equip those who are talented in sports. In support of the cause, the UCU main campus contributed sh5million (about $1,300).

The university college became a Constituent College of Uganda Christian University in 2016. Although largely undeveloped with a few lecture rooms, a nearly empty library and without hostel facility, the study centre took advantage of its location in the heart of Mbale town to grow in academic stature by introducing evening programs to cater for the working-class, as well as expanding the academic programs. 

To enhance research excellence, the college now has over eight staff with PhD degrees and more have enrolled in different universities to pursue their doctorates.

To support the cause, one can send a contribution to Uganda Partners or deposit into the college’s bank account:

Bank name: Stanbic Bank, Mbale branch
Account name: Uganda Christian University Mbale
Account number: 9030005907666 

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

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By Kefa Senoga
The Uganda Christian University (UCU) silver jubilee public lecture was delivered by two eminent men who surprised the audience by saying they initially did not want to work for the institution. 

However, one of the men, the Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, said that the Lord is full of surprises. Quoting a Zambian proverb “when God cooks, you don’t see smoke,” Senyonyi, the discussant at the public lecture on October 26, 2022, in UCU’s Nkoyoyo Hall, narrated how events turned to cause him make a U-turn to work at the university.

Senyonyi’s lecture preceded the keynote address by the Rev. Prof. Stephen Noll, with whom he shared the platform. On the sunny afternoon in Mukono, and as speaker at the event, Noll talked  under the topic UCU: The beginnings of Private Higher Education in Uganda. Noll, UCU’s first vice chancellor, was installed in October 2000 and served two five-year terms, handing the post  over to Senyonyi in October 2010.

The call for both Noll and Senyonyi to serve at UCU came from people who saw potential in them, but the two separately declined, since they had not envisioned the dream. For Noll, he received a phone call in March 1997 to meet the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Uganda, Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo, at Pittsburgh, Pa., Airport in the USA. He did. And when he met Nkoyoyo, the prelate informed him that the Anglican church in Uganda had decided to start a university, which was scheduled to open in September of the same year. 

“Stephen, would you come to be the first vice chancellor of UCU?” Noll quoted Nkoyoyo to have asked him. “No,” was Noll’s answer. “I had children in high school and university and an ailing mother-in-law,” Noll said at the public lecture, justifying his negative response.

After many considerations, he eventually gave in and shared his vision with Nkoyoyo: “I am convinced that I can only be of help if I am working to build a thoroughly Christian university…one that seeks to incorporate fully the Christian gospel in all its programs,” the father of five and grandfather of seven, quoted himself telling Nkoyoyo as he accepted the offer.

Noll’s acceptance came after he and Peggy, his wife for 55 years, had visited UCU in 1999. Peggy was present at the 2022 public lecture as Noll delivered his 60-minute keynote address. 

Throughout his presentation, Noll showed no signs of the trappings that academics of his caliber usually find themselves in, oftentimes going technical in their deliberations. There were no terms to define, but stories to tell and memories to share. There was evidence Senyonyi and his predecessor had shared notes because he, too, did not veer off the style Noll had earlier taken.

Within two years of his leadership, Noll was able to pull off the construction of the magnificent Nkoyoyo Hall, a multipurpose facility, built at a cost of $180,000, and, within four years, UCU was in possession of their charter, making history as the first private university in Uganda to get one. 

The funding for the construction of the Nkoyoyo Hall was mobilized by UCU Partners, a non-profit charitable organization committed to raising public awareness about Uganda Christian University by seeking material and spiritual support for students through sponsorships; and by procuring funds for buildings and other needed projects. The structure was officially opened by the late Mrs. Diane Stanton, who was then the Executive Director of UCU Partners.

When Noll informed Nkoyoyo that the structure was to be named after him, starting a tradition of naming buildings after Ugandan greats who had made a mark in the establishment and survival of the university, the archbishop quipped: “I thought buildings were named after dead people.” He, however, said he loved the idea. At the public lecture, Nkoyoyo’s family was represented by Ruth, the wife of the former archbishop. Nkoyoyo died on January 5, 2018.

During the lecture, Noll, a Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania, showed evidence that he had made use of the 10 years he was in Uganda, with many Ugandan names easily rolling off his tongue, as he paid tribute to people who made his tenure at UCU as comfortable as it was. Some of the people he acknowledged were current National Council for Higher Education executive director Alex Kagume, Justice Lillian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza, Nkoyoyo, Ssekiboobo Hamu Mukasa, Peter Nyombi, Henry Luke Orombi and Bishop Eliphaz Maari. He also paid special tribute to Jimmy Kolker, who was the American ambassador to Uganda at the time, Prof. Steven Riley who developed the waste water system at UCU and architect Michael Reid who drew plans for the UCU gate and many other buildings at the university, including the Hamu Mukasa library, at no fee.

When Senyonyi stepped forward to continue with the story of UCU after Noll’s reign in 2010, he took advantage of his combined expertise as an academic and the disposition of a clergyman to drive many of his points home, oftentimes using scripture to illustrate why and how certain decisions had to be made. 

When Noll was returning to the USA in January 2000 to prepare to assume office in Uganda, he gave Senyonyi a one-page document detailing his vision for the university’s chaplaincy and asked the latter if he could join him at UCU as the university chaplain.

“I was not about to place my life and that of my family in an abstract university with untested stability,” Senyonyi said during his 45-minute presentation. At the time, he was working with the African Evangelistic Enterprise, an evangelical Christian, interdenominational, non-governmental, humanitarian organization.

However, seven months later, when he needed to find a response for Noll who was soon returning to assume his duties as vice chancellor at UCU, Senyonyi said he read the letter and shared the contents with his wife, Ruth, who, to his disbelief, gave him the greenlight. He said he soon found solace in the fact that his father, Eriakimu Kajja, trained at the Bishop Tucker Theological College and so was his father-in-law, Bishop Misaeri Kauma, who even later headed the institution. BTTC transitioned into UCU. 

Senyonyi said what he considers the most impactful innovation he came up with was the one-hour community worship that takes place every Tuesday and Thursday.

 “It became the largest gathering of the UCU community and, soon, the administration used it to pass communication to the community,” Senyonyi said as he drove the audience down memory lane of his two decades of service at UCU. In 2003, he became the deputy vice chancellor for finance and administration, switching to the docket of deputy vice chancellor in charge of development and external relations in 2006.

“When I became VC in 2010, my prayer was for God’s presence, so I could be assured of the wisdom that Solomon prayed for, without losing God’s favor as Solomon did,” Senyonyi, who holds a PhD in mathematical statistics, said, confirming that, indeed, as VC, he witnessed God’s favor at and on UCU.

The father of four adult children and six grandchildren is married to Ruth, who holds a PhD in counseling psychology.

Ticking off some of the successes he registered during his tenure as VC, the 66-year-old mentioned developing a strong internet backbone to digitize and integrate all services in the university that would result in paperless meetings to save the university costs. Senyonyi also mentioned how his administration equipped the e-lab and slowly began implementing online learning for some post-graduate courses. This infrastructure was later to turn into a blessing in disguise when Covid struck and there was need for virtual operations.

As Noll said in his opening remarks, anyone who sat through the three-hour long event on October 26 discovered the reason why UCU chose to tap into the wisdom of the two retired people he called “historicals” to share the history and legacy of the institution.

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

Also, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook