Tag Archives: #COVID

UCU students say International Desk relieves loneliness

February 11, 2021COVID-19, News, UCU School of Journalism, Media and Communication, UCU School of Law#COVID, #News, Journalism, LawPatty Huston-Holm

International students from the United States, Nigeria and Rwanda

By Gloria Katya

Joining Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2019, Garcia Bwale’s major challenge was the language barrier. Since she is from a French-speaking country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), she was not fluent in English. Contributing during class discussions was one of her major challenges.

International students pose for photo after a 2020 food gala at UCU

With the little English she knew, and spoken with a French accent, most of the Ugandan students found it funny whenever she raised her hand to contribute in class. This lowered her self-esteem.

“Whenever I was contributing in class, I noticed students laughing silently and the lecturers, too, found it hard to interpret what I was saying,” Bwale says.

However, from the UCU International students’ desk, Bwale discovered a solution. The desk provided her with a language mentor as she journeyed in her academics.

Once she solved the language issue, her fears were greatly diminished. She is now a confident journalist in the making who also has served as Minister on the International Students Association.

Another student, George Caleb from Nigeria and who is in his second year studying law, faced a similar obstacle. Interacting with locals especially when buying food and talking to transporters in case he had to move around had become a serious challenge for Caleb because he didn’t speak any of the Uganda local languages.

He, too, was helped by the International students’ desk to get Ugandan friends who gradually taught him survival skills.

“The desk linked me to some Ugandan students who helped me and life became easier,” he says.

The International students desk, headed by Mr. Edgar Kabahizi, was established in 2011 by the university management to help mainly with international students’ welfare. This desk serves students from the time they step in to the time they exit.

Usually a friendly and welcoming face, Kabahizi awaits to be of service to fresh international students from the time they arrive in Uganda for their studies at UCU.

“Studying away from one’s home country and family is always challenging and at times creates a lot of anxiety not knowing what to expect,” Kabahizi said. “Most times, it’s the local culture and language that is most perplexing for the foreigners so students need help.”

To simplify life for an international student, Kabahizi does a lot of things for them.

“I follow up on the students from the time they are admitted by the University until they are settled and begin to progress academically,” he says. “Students that face linguistic problems are incorporated in mentorship classes under the Uganda Studies Program where they learn English.”

Kabahizi’s office also makes sure that international students have the necessary paperwork that enables them access to living in the country.

“We are there, when the students are sick, struggling academically and when facing any challenge,” he said, “This office is their first reporting point.”

With 7% of the UCU student population from outside Uganda, the Director of Students Affairs Bridget Mugume K. Mugasira says the university created the desk to better serve those students. International students at UCU come from such countries as Nigeria, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and the USA.

When an international student arrives at UCU, he/she is led to their place of accommodation that is already organised for them by the International Students’ Desk. The students are then oriented the next day by introducing them to other international students. They are also given class timetables and briefed about the Ugandan currency and its exchange rate.

The students also are informed about the dos and don’ts in Uganda, Ugandan culture, and UCU norms.

“The International Students Desk is a serious relief to foreign students as it brings them together such that they don’t feel lonely on campus,” Kabahizi said.

International students are not left out in the different co-curricular activities on campus such as the cultural galas, food galas and politics. International students are engaged in many fun activities on campus including dinners, picnics, trips, food galas, celebrating their country’s days of Independence, among others. The students also are represented with the guild government.

“Our last trip last year with the International students was in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese and Bundibugyo before the Coronavirus pandemic struck,” Kabahizi said.

Covid-19 that has affected education across the globe has interfered with the desk, but UCU is not ready to compromise any of its services. Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown in Uganda, the University took full care of the international students without asking them for additional financial contributions.

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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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UCU enters inter-university collaboration to boost research culture

January 25, 2021COVID-19, Faculty, News#COVID, #Research, Health, NEMRA, Uganda Christian University, vaccinePatty Huston-Holm

By Douglas Olum

In the wake of the global invasion by the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of research, especially in the health sector, has without doubt been fully uncovered. Health experts across the globe are working tirelessly to understand the nature of the virus and derive appropriate vaccines and treatment for it. In Uganda, researchers at the Uganda Virus Institute are equally trying to develop a home-based remedy for COVID-19.

The Uganda Christian University (UCU) dean of the School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies, Associate Prof. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, said in an interview that research and innovation are necessary for such developments to occur, and universities have a great role to play in developing the researchers.

“Having people that are teaching at the university and are not helped in developing their research career means that you are having people that are teaching and using information that is not of their own making,” Bacwayo said. “But also, it means that they are not contributing to knowledge out there and innovation that is needed for the country.”

Relating her point to the COVID-19 vaccine development, Bacwayo said there was need for Ugandans to develop their own solution to the pandemic.

“If we are to rely on what other people are doing, I think you have heard [that] people have developed the [COVID-19] vaccine, but how many people will get it?” Bacwayo asked. “People will always first think of themselves and so we too as a country need to develop home-based solutions. We can only do that if we have a number of researchers who have been mentored and trained to do research.”

To that end, UCU recently entered into a collaborative research project with Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, and Muteesa I Royal University.

The first year of the five-year project is funded with sh157 million ($42,450) by the Government of Uganda under the Research and Innovation Fund. Its aim is to create an inter-university research and innovation community for early career researchers in Uganda. The project was launched on November 13, 2020, at the UCU Main Campus in Mukono.

Under the project, the partners seek to: strengthen the capacity of early career researchers in teaching, research, and innovations; establish an inter-university large-scale soft research data infrastructure; promote joint research and organize agenda-setting activities for cutting-edge research; and enhance research outcome dissemination by digital approaches to support policy and the national research and innovation agenda.

Assoc. Prof. Bacwayo said this research project is designed to address key challenges facing research in Uganda including inadequate capacity and perspectives of early career researchers, narrow inter-university research networks, limited and uncoordinated research and innovation-based solutions, and limited advances in modern research and innovation dissemination.

She also said that while most Ugandans still do research only as part of the requirement for their degree studies, the collaborative project is targeting to get as many Ugandans as possible to embrace research as continuous processes and as part of their lives and work.

“We want to get people who are still developing as researchers to get into the habit of looking at research as not just something you do once but something that you do and it produces information, it produces knowledge and it produces solutions to a country’s problems,” Bacwayo said.

To achieve that target, the project is holding virtual seminars to equip their academic staff with necessary research knowledge. They are also preparing them to write at least five joint review papers that will be published.

Uganda Christian University has continuously been ranked as the second-best university in the country. But according to former Vice Chancellor, Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, the university has not made it to the top because of limited research output.

With this project in place, Bacwayo believes that the full participation of UCU staff in those seminars and review papers writing will help to unveil the university as one that also produces research.

“We have many staff but there are very few research products coming out,” Bacwayo said. “I am really hoping that many of UCU staff will get involved in these capacity development seminars that we are running so that they can gain that confidence and start thinking of research as an essential part of their lives so that we as UCU can start seeing many research products coming out of us.”

Speaking at the launch, UCU Vice Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, commended the project team for the “comprehensive move to raise research standards.” Mushengyezi urged them to create networks with the external world so that their works are published and their relevance and impact on society is felt.

The project launch was organized by Network for Education and Multidisciplinary Research Africa (NEMRA). But the collaboration is a product of a four-institution, joint application for a grant.

“I am passionate about research because I love to read, I love new knowledge and I know that now we are living in a world driven by knowledge where if you are not knowledgeable, you are left behind,” Bacwayo said. “I don’t want to be left behind. But I also want to be able to contribute to the knowledge creation.”

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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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Don’t joke with COVID. It’s real

November 26, 2020COVID-19, News#COVID, #Pandemic, #Uganda Christian Universty, UgandaPatty Huston-Holm

(NOTE: On November 25, 2020, the Ugandan Ministry of Health confirmed 11,767 cases of COVID-19 and 106 deaths. This is the story of one of the infected persons who survived.)

By Robby Muhumuza

UCU Senior Teaching Fellow Robby Muhumuza

“Do you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who has Corona?”

The above refrain trending on social media a few months ago sounded funny. My family members and I laughed at it. That laugh now has dried off my lips.

In November 2020, I know scores of people who have been infected by COVID-19. I have a list of those who recently died of COVID-19. Others are on ventilators in critical condition. My wife and I recently became part of the COVID-19 statistics when both of us tested positive for the corona virus.

We didn’t have any of the classic symptoms. Our body temperatures were normal. No coughs, no headaches but slight sore throats. We were prompted to test because we had been in close contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19. There are many places for testing in Kampala with charges ranging from UGX 200,000 to 350,000 UGX ($54 to $94). We opted for Makerere University Hospital, where we were charged UGX 200,000 and got our results the following day.

As soon as the medical officer at Makerere University Hospital saw “Positive “ on our results slips, she adjusted her mask more firmly on her face and told us to keep a minimum of 2 meters (6 feet) from her.

“Mulago Hospital is full. Entebbe Grade B also is full,” she said. “The only place we can have you admitted for 14 days is at the temporary medical facility recently set up at Namboole Stadium.”

“What are the facilities available at Namboole?” I asked.

“Not much really,” she confessed. “We mostly have medical staff who will monitor you regularly and give you treatment if you need it. You will not be allowed any visitors. Your family can bring you stuff but they will have to leave it at the gate. But if you have a place where you can self-isolate, here is a prescription. Go buy the drugs from a pharmacy and take another test after 10 days.”

The prescription consisted of: Azithromycin (antibiotic mostly to treat chest infections), 500 mg (1 tablet per day for 6 days); Zinc 20 mg (1 tablet per day for 5 days); Vitamin C 500 mg (1 tablet twice a day for 5 days).

When I checked with a senior doctor friend of mine, he gave a similar prescription and then added the following: “Don’t be scared. Take a balanced diet. Have enough sleep. Do exercises every day. Drink plenty of water. Sit in the morning sun 15-20 minutes per day.”

After buying the prescriptions, my wife and I went into isolation for the next 10 days.

As we shared our condition with friends via WhatsApp and phone calls, we received more advice on how to reinforce our immunity. We were encouraged to take lots of green tea boiled with fresh-pounded garlic, ginger, lemon or lime and some honey added. We shared with our pastor and some friends for prayers.

Concerned that we could have infected some of our closest contacts, we sent our children, grandchildren, driver and workers at our home for COVID-19 tests. Thanks be to God, they all tested negative.

Full-fledged COVID-19 usually attacks and weakens the lungs. That’s why critically ill COVID-19 patients with breathing difficulties need ventilators (now in short supply in Ugandan hospitals). It’s therefore necessary to monitor the oxygen intake in the blood of COVID-19 patients so that medical personnel can provide the necessary intervention in time. We were advised to buy a battery-operated, hand-held oximeter for measuring the pulse and the amount of oxygen in the blood. We sent for one from First Pharmacy at 95,000 UGX (about $25). My wife and I followed the recommended regimen religiously to the dot. Thanks be to God that we had not developed any serious symptoms of COVID-19.

We eagerly counted each day looking forward to the 10th day to carry out another COVID-19 test. Day 10 came and the swab was taken from our nostrils. I have taken many tests and exams in my life. Waiting for results of a COVID-19 test is nerve-wrecking.

The following day, the email from the Ministry of Health Uganda Virus Research Institute Lab Manager came on my phone. My fingers were shaking and sweating as I opened the email. “ NEGATIVE” was stamped in green on the result slip for both my wife and me. We shouted in excitement and hugged each other. It was as if a death sentence had been lifted from our necks.

We wondered if the first test was accurate. We wondered about the treatment as we had no symptoms. We wondered if the expense was worth it. At that, we are grateful as we pray for the families and friends around us who are not so fortunate.

The list of names of people dying of COVID19 in Uganda is increasingly being shared in hushed tones on phones and in-boxes of WhatsApp messages. A number of friends are in-boxing me, telling me that they tested positive for COVID-19, and they are quietly taking medication. Others are telling me about relatives and neighbors who recently died of COVID-19, but nobody wants to talk about it openly because of the fear of stigma.

CONCLUSION: COVID19 is real. We are at the stage where there are many infected people in the community busy transmitting it. Be careful. Avoid mingling in crowds. Go out only if you must. When you are with others who are not your family members, wear a mask, keep a social distance of around 2 meters apart, and wash your hands frequently with water and soap. If you feel symptoms of COVID-19 or one of the people you have been in close contact tests positive, go for a COVID-19 test. If you test positive, that’s not a death sentence. Follow the treatment regimen. You will thank me later.

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Robby Muhumuza is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Uganda Christian University Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication.

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UCU admissions perspective: From in-person hustle and bustle to on-line service

September 23, 2020COVID-19, News#COVID, #elearning, #Lockdown, #onlineLearning, #schoolregistration, God, Uganda Christian University, Uganda PartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Members of the UCU student admissions team, including the author of this story (third from left, front row), pose for a photo taken before the COVID-19 restrictions.

By Eleanor Ithungu

According to the United Nations, the COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries and all continents. These data, which are part of an August 2020 policy brief, include that 94 percent of the world’s student population has been effected because of institution shutdowns. In low-income countries like Uganda, the impact is 99 percent.

As a Uganda Christian University (UCU) worker in the admissions office over the past five years, I am among those who have had a front-row seat to the enrollment impact. The Mukono campus’ normally noisy reception area near a small office I share with one other staff is silent.

It’s been this way since March 20 when Yoweri Museveni, the president of the republic Uganda, ordered the closure of schools as one step to contain the coronavirus outbreak. At the time, we presumed that the closure would take only 32 days, and we would return to our normal schedules. Such was not the case as roughly one month turned into six.

The majority of universities in Uganda, including UCU, rely on aggressive outreach activities, sending institutional representatives out into communities, secondary schools and literally “scavenging” for students to join institutions. This year, that couldn’t happen because of the country’s lockdown with social distancing measures in place.

Around February, the peak season for the admissions section starts following the release of Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results. In normal years, this is a season of many inquiries by phone and in person with applicants – mostly soon-to-be secondary school graduates – walking in and out of the academics building where admissions is housed.

UCU’s e-learning platform plays a major role in getting the university back on it’s feet.

While the majority of Uganda’s universities have had online platforms that prospective students would utilize to submit applications for admission, most of the institutions would still get the bulk of their students through manual processes whereby students pick up application forms, fill them out, and return them.

This year, our intake season never had a chance to peak. We barely started the 2020-21 year application and admission processes when the government closed institutions, including UCU. The excitement of prospective students walking the campus to see the library, classrooms, housing and exercise track didn’t exist. There were no academic counselors around to help students make decisions based on their scores and career aspirations.

For the past six months, not only were students not permitted on the campus, but they also could not travel to the university. When our travel restrictions were eased, transportation costs accelerated to further negatively impact the pockets of already financially strapped people, and curfews remained in place.

The closure of the schools disrupted UCU’s planned schedules, required staff reductions and caused us to think differently about how to serve current and future students. The admissions section where I work needed to work harder to find a way of reaching out and serving potential applicants. Luckily, the University Management Information System was ready to be used for online applications. Phone calls involved directing interested youth to the website to look at program offerings and download forms.

Another shift from face-to-face to the virtual world has been with pre-entry interviews for admission into the Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and Bachelor of Dental Surgery programs. This time round, we held the interviews virtually instead of in person. We held Zoom interviews and written assessments on our e-learning platform for over 800 applicants for the Bachelor of Laws program. This was successful. We also relied on technology to admit students in different programs like Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration.

With adjustments to online learning, our education system has been able to focus on what is working well rather than what is not working at all. Those of us left on campus work diligently with appreciation for reduced pay as we are loyal to the unique education of a Christian-based higher education institution like UCU.

Together, we pray for our students who didn’t finish exams before the government’s education suspension order in March, and that the on-line examinations go well. We pray for our colleagues who are not working and are in need of food in their cupboards. While missing the embrace and community of believers and learners in person, we give thanks to God that our on-line learning was in place to save students travel time and money that might have been spent for campus housing and enables students to learn and obtain job skills.

UCU may look different when it bounces back, which it will. But what won’t change is the faith-based focus. To God be the glory.

(Eleanor Ithungu is a 2015 graduate of UCU with a bachelor’s degree in Business Computing. While working at UCU, she is pursuing post-graduate studies in Information Technology.)

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

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UCU set to reopen for online eLearning on Sept 15

September 10, 2020COVID-19, Faculty, News, Students#AaronMushengyezi, #COVID, #elearning, #Lockdown, #medicalschools, #onlineLearning, John Senyonyi, Uganda Christian University, Uganda PartnersPatty Huston-Holm

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

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

By John Semakula

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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‘Just as the Lord was with the exiles in Babylon, He is with us also’

April 23, 2020COVID-19, Faculty#CoronaOutbreak, #COVID, #Divinity, #JessicaHughes #BishopTucker, #Lockdown, #UgandaExperience, Mukono, Theology, UCU, UCUPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Rev. Jessica Hughes, from the state of Virginia in the USA, decided to remain on the University campus. These are some of her “neighbors” outside her apartment in Mukono, Uganda.

By Rev. Jessica Hughes

Jeremiah 29:7: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

While I am neither an Israelite nor am I in exile, Jeremiah’s exhortation to pray for the place where you live is sound counsel that I think still applies today. As a missionary who has worked at Uganda Christian University (UCU) for almost eight years, I have long prayed for the peace and prosperity of Kampala and Mukono.

And then COVID-19 happened, and the US State Department issued a Global Level 4 Advisory – Do Not Travel (and come home if you are abroad unless you are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period). This immediately raises one challenge for any missionary or expatriate: Do you stay where you are, or do you go home?

I quickly decided that it was much easier for me to stay here, especially since I had no idea when I would be able to re-enter Uganda when the crisis had passed (without the mandatory 14-day quarantine expanded later to another three weeks). I have friends who have stayed, and I have friends who have returned home. Regardless of their choice, I am grateful that they were able to reach wherever they wanted to be safely.

One of the things for which I am grateful is that Uganda is a model for how to handle epidemics. The government reacted quickly, even though many of these decisions have caused a bit of havoc.

On March 18, Uganda announced that schools and churches would close on March 20 for 32 days. This meant that the students had to hurry and get home, and we had to hurry and try to finish the semester. I am so proud of my students; they finished their assignments as quickly as they could while packing and leaving early.

The airport and other borders were closed on March 22 for a minimum of 32 days to people, but cargo still transits, thankfully. Pharmacies, banks and all stores except for those that sell food were closed. All public transportation was shut down, and initially, private vehicles could carry three people, but then all driving was banned except for health transportation. People in Kampala were jogging in hordes on major roads, so then exercising outdoors in public was banned, though exercise in one’s yard is allowed. There is a curfew from 7 p.m.-6:30 a.m., and you will be arrested if you are caught even walking home from work.

In the midst of all this, I am grateful for so much:

The Ministry of Health. They are handling the pandemic as well as can be expected. Uganda has long been a standard for how to manage epidemics, and COVID-19 is no exception. They have worked well with various communication outlets to be sure that the message of staying home and preventing the spread of the virus is prominent; one cannot make a phone call without a few seconds of a message being played before the call is actually placed. There are many challenges, of course, but I am grateful for how they have taken the lead.
Uganda Christian University’s leadership. I often note that I live in an idyllic bubble on campus, with Internet, water, and security, and that is true. But I am most grateful that the University was very quick to make plans to allow lecturers to end the semester online and for exams to be converted to take-home exams. Though the latter was ultimately halted by the government, I am grateful that the University has been making use of online tools for education, was prepared to shift to take-home exams that would be submitted online (with allowances being made for students without easy internet access), but also that the students were so invested in their education that the overwhelming majority of them were very disappointed in the government’s decision disallowing take-home exams.
The church’s response. Much like in the US and the rest of the world, churches immediately went online. The Archbishop of the Province of the Church of Uganda has been publishing daily devotions, as well as leading two services on Sundays from home. The UCU Chaplaincy also immediately went online, as did many of my Theology students, so much so that scrolling through Facebook on a Sunday was very likely to cause the web page to hang with all the Facebook Lives that were playing.
For my mission society’s leadership. They have been proactive in checking on us, seeing what we need and where we need to be, and ensuring that we are well.

Most of all, I am grateful that my people, on both my continents, are safe. I’ve been able to talk with a number of my students, as well as friends and family, and all are well.

Yes, this pandemic is trying, difficult, and challenging. But just as the Lord was with the exiles in Babylon, He is with us also.

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Rev. Jessica Hughes is a lecturer in the UCU Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity. She hails from the state of Virginia.

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My experience with the COVID-19 outbreak in Uganda

April 16, 2020COVID-19, Students#CoronaOutbreak, #COVID, #Lockdown, #UgandaExperience, Gulu, Kampala, Mukono, Norway, UCU, UCUPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Olum Douglas playing a horse puzzle game at home

By Douglas Olum

I wish COVID-19 had consulted me before breaking out in Uganda. At the time it came, I was at a near zero financial balance. As the virus label moved from an epidemic to, by late January 2020, a pandemic, I knew this meant worldwide and my country was likely not to be untouched. With a wife and two children to provide for, I worried about how I would save my family from starvation should our Government order a lockdown to keep us from working and traveling to the store.

When? I didn’t know.

I had spent the whole of February attending lectures for my MA program at Uganda Christian University. Within that time, I had not contributed any stories for the Uganda Partners organization, which is my main source of finances. My car selling business also had gone down since December 2019, when I made a commission on the last sale. I had spent weeks since the beginning of March, trekking between Kampala and Mukono, trying to revive the business. I had a few cars at hand for sale, with a few promises from prospective customers but none was materializing.

On Saturday, March 21, Uganda announced in her first case of the coronavirus infection. The victim was a 36-year-old businessman who had returned from a three-day trip to Dubai in the United Arabs Emirates.

I anticipated very tough times ahead if the numbers of identified cases increased. I thought that if I could just sell one car for a dealer, I would use the money to transport my wife and children from our apartment in Mukono to my village of Gulu in the far north. Personally, I couldn’t go because I had periodical course assignments to do and submit until late June. I knew that going to the village – far away from electricity and Internet access – would hinder my studies. Besides, I still felt we might avoid being swept deeper into the pandemic.

My confidence was rooted as far back as the year 2000 when Ebola first hit northern Uganda. Christ the King Demonstration Primary School, where I studied back then, was among the first institutions to be affected. One of our teachers contracted the virus disease and succumbed to it within the first four days. The Government moved to close schools only after his death. But none of us was ever infected.

My home 20 years ago was located near Lacor Hospital, a private hospital in Gulu that handled most of the Ebola cases. Many of our neighbors worked there to take care of the victims. Our market and public transports remained functional. We interacted without being distanced and without negative consequences. Thinking of that earlier survival time that was not as life changing as the COVID-19 restrictions, I was not discouraged.

Even when I had heard of death cases in China, Italy and Spain, I had the impression that the COVID-19 infection was not as dangerous as the Ebola that took a life in less than 72 hours.

Olum Douglas in his mask, walking in Mukono Town during the lockdown

When a Norwegian newspaper/magazine journalism friend asked me to accompany her in collecting data for a story she wanted to do about the COVID-19 situation in Uganda, I didn’t hesitate even though we planned to work in the business hubs in Kampala. We were supposed to carry out the survey on a Monday. But a cough and cold hit her, necessitating postponement. While I was a bit anxious, she assured me that her condition was not the coronavirus because she had largely been at home, with very minimal trips to buy groceries and no contact with any person who had just entered or returned to the country. We re-scheduled our work for the next day, Tuesday, March 24^th.

As I travelled to Kampala that hot, sunny day, I learned of eight new cases of confirmed infections. March 24 was my last trip to the city – at least for a while. That night, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni announced a ban on all public transport means, with private means limited to carrying not more than two passengers. The ban eventually was extended for everything except for trucks transporting food.

At this point, the virus threat became a reality. Most people were wearing facemasks. Hand-washing containers were at all entries and exits of markets, large buildings, taxi parks and supermarkets. Shop owners and operators were sanitizing the hands of their customers. Unlike the usually welcoming market environment, the traders themselves were barring those who resisted hand washing.

Money to feed my family was uppermost in my mind. With a slight headache and enough shillings for a few days of family meals, I headed back to Mukono. But fear grew with the headache pain as I understood this to be one symptom of the COVID-19 infection. The anxiety lessened when my temperature taken at the UCU gate registered a normal 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

Douglas and his children, Daphine and Victor, feeding their chicken during the lockdown

While financially crippling, the government curfew since March 24 has meant more family time – singing, playing, teaching and learning with my children. And while I didn’t have access to computers on the locked-down campus, I was able to complete some long-overdue writing assignments on a phone donated to me by an American last year. Many times, I did the work just outside the UCU gate where the university wifi was weak but reaching.

At 53 infections and zero deaths as I write this on Easter Sunday, I remain optimistic that Uganda may escape the huge numbers experienced by much of the rest of the world.

How deep, when and where else will COVID-19 strike? I don’t know. But surrounded by my wife and children, I’m watching.

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