By Elton Mwidu
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” – Psalm 68:5
Uganda Christian University (UCU) alum Godfrey Mucunguzi pointed to this Bible verse and said: “I can truly testify that He provided throughout my academic journey.”
On November 20, 2000, Mucunguzi was born in central Uganda. When he was age six and in Primary One, he was asked to leave school to say goodbye to his father, who was being transferred to Mulago Hospital because he was very ill. That turned out to be the last time he saw his father alive.
Mucunguzi grew up mostly with his mother and four siblings in a community where he was free to move around the village. At that time, his mother was busy working to earn money as she single-handedly supported the family.
Mucunguzi’s mother was working at the Ankrah Foundation Resort, a wellness resort founded by Canon Kodwo Ankrah and his family to serve the community and preserve the local forest ecosystem. At Ankrah, she worked as a housekeeper.
Unfortunately, after the death of his father, Mucunguzi’s mother was laid off from her workplace. There were no parental funds, but they had God who, Mucunguzi recalled, “became our Provider and our Father.”
After a while, his mother set up a small restaurant in Mukono, where she sold food to help sustain the family. A few years later, she got an opportunity to work as a housekeeper for the USA-based Uganda Partners now executive director, Mark Bartels, and his family.
The Bartels were among many people who were not related to Mucunguzi but chose to support him.
“Someone could simply ask what I needed, pay my tuition in full, and even provide everything else I required without setting limits,” he said. “Those men and women inspired me. They gave me the passion to help others just as they helped me. I pray that when God blesses me, I will do for others what they did for me, and even more.”
Although Mucunguzi received financial support at critical moments, his academic journey was marked by repeated setbacks. He repeated Primary Two during his early schooling, and later, in secondary education, he also repeated Senior Five. These challenges spanned several years and required considerable resilience. By the time he joined university, these experiences had taught him perseverance in the face of adversity.
In May 2023, Mucunguzi got the opportunity to join UCU to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, receiving a partial scholarship from Uganda Partners.
“I chose computer science because of my love for mathematics, although I was not good at it,” he said.
While at UCU, Mucunguzi joined the Mukono Manifest, where he served in the school’s ministry and evangelized to secondary schools every Friday. He balanced this commitment with leadership roles in the UCU chapter for robotics and analytics.
After his second year, Mucunguzi was required to do an internship. He looked for places around Kampala for a placement, but most of them required him to pay, which he could not afford.
Through a cousin who was working at a tea estate in western Uganda, Mucunguzi was connected to McLeod Russell Uganda Limited, one of the largest tea producers and exporters in Uganda, where he worked under the department of Information Technology (IT) and supported the company, ensuring its computer systems were functioning well.
For many, graduation is one of the most celebrated parts of an academic journey. However, for Mucunguzi, his journey was different.
“Surprisingly, graduation day itself wasn’t the happiest moment for me,” he said. “The happiest moment came earlier. It was the day I completed my final-year project presentation.”
In the project, he developed an insulin dosage recommendation integrated in a meal plan using machine learning to help people living with diabetes.
“The idea was to create a system that could analyze a patient’s glucose levels and recommend the appropriate amount of insulin they should inject,” he explained.
As a computer scientist, Mucunguzi sees Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool that helps people address challenges, improve productivity and make better decisions. He emphasizes that the responsible use of AI requires thoughtful human judgment and ethical consideration.
When people hear about a scholarship, they often think it is only about tuition. Mucunguzi’s was beyond that.
“Uganda Partners was much more than paying my tuition,” he said. “They became family, offering not only financial support but also encouragement, care and guidance throughout my university journey. Their kindness, even beyond the scholarship, has shaped my life and inspired me to support others in the same way they supported me.”
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To support UCU programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
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