By Christine Mirembe
While in Primary Seven at Homing Dove International Primary School in Arua, northwestern Uganda, Simon Pamela Kiden had been touted as a star performer. But then there was a humiliating incident over poor grades.
It happened at the end-of-second-term examinations, when Kiden scored aggregate 14 out of four subjects, relegating her performance to second grade. The best score for each subject is a Distinction 1. First grade is from aggregate 4 to 12.
Pamela Simon Kiden and her mother, Martha Dure, on her graduation day
Because of that performance, learners who may have silently been envious of Kiden’s status, mocked her during a school assembly.
“I looked on as students mocked and poked fun at me in front of the whole school,” she said, adding: “I really got embarrassed.”
Despite that incident, she picked up the pieces and demonstrated that nobody, including her, should be defined by a single bad turn. In the final national examinations for the end of her primary cycle in 2014, Kiden scored aggregate 8 out of 4 subjects.
Her upward climb continued.
On Nov. 13, 2025, at the commissioning ceremony before the graduation at the Uganda Christian University (UCU) constituent college in Kabale, Bishop Barham University College (BBUC), Kiden was presented with the award of the best female student. With a Grade Point Average of 4.67 out of 5.0, she was the only female student among the top achievers.
“I felt proud because I knew I had achieved a first class,” she said. “Little did I know that I was among the best.”.
Her mother, Martha Dure, and aunt, Sadia James, attended the graduation and could not have asked for any other moment to show pride in the top-performing Kiden. Due to work commitments, Kiden’s father, Simon Lokonga, could not attend her graduation.
Kiden and her family arrived in Uganda in 2008, in search of better academic prospects, as well as to seek refuge from political instability in southern Sudan at the time. The region eventually got independence from its mother country, the Sudan, in 2011, becoming South Sudan. However, the guns did not fall silent for long, as, in 2013, ethnic clashes resumed in the world’s youngest country. Permanent peace has eluded the country since then.
Upon arrival in Uganda, Kiden and her family settled in Arua. When she turned 10 years in 2008, she was enrolled in Primary Three at Arua Primary School. Shortly after, her father joined the family in Uganda. However, he observed that her level of knowledge was for a lower class than Primary Three. Kiden was thus enrolled in Primary Two and relocated to Homing Dove International Primary School, where she mostly excelled but was the target of some classmate taunts because of her big size.
“Everyone called me Aboloto, a nickname for fat people, which really made me uncomfortable,” she said.
In 2015, she enrolled at St. Peter’s SS Naalya, near Kampala, for O’level. At Naalya, Kiden says the atmosphere was warm and that both teachers and students liked her. That acceptance gave her the impetus to work harder. However, the following year, she was registered as a refugee at Rhino Camp in northern Uganda and transferred to Ushindi Secondary School in Arua district.
“I was demoralized, but I made friends, like Ezekiel and Isaac, who pushed me academically during that time,” Kiden recalls.
She later joined Uganda Martyrs High School Lubaga in 2019 for A’level, studying physics, entrepreneurship, mathematics and computer science.
At the end of A’level, she managed a score of 6 points out of a total of 20. She found it difficult to get admitted to a bachelor’s degree course with that score. Instead, she opted to pursue a Diploma in Information Technology at BBUC before enrolling for a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology in 2023.
While at BBUC, Kiden faced other challenges, such as colder weather. The average weather in Kabale, where BBUC is located, is daytime highs of 64°F, with cooler nights dropping to about 50°F. In Arua, where she spent her early life, the average weather is highs of 82°F and lows of 64°F.
She said her good performance at UCU helps her, as the firstborn, to set a good example for the rest of her siblings to follow.
Although her eyes were initially fixed on marriage after graduation, Kiden’s father has already pointed her towards pursuing a master’s degree.
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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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