malnutrition Archives - Uganda Christian University Partners

Eve Namugera, left, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) alumna and a development facilitator with Act International Mission (AIM), with some students at ACT High School, Kyotera, Uganda. At right, second row, is Stephen Bisatu, AIM sponsorship coordinator.

By Patty Huston-Holm
Eve Namugera uses the word “hope” a lot.

In one story she shared during a rainy morning within Kyotera, Uganda – the place where she was born, where she got much of her education and now is employed – Eve recounted a forlorn mother with her 10-month-old, 4 kilogram (8 pounds), expressionless child.

“The boy was nearly dying,” Eve recalled. “He was panting hard, his ribs and spinal cord were out, with little hair on his head. In tears, the mother was hopeless, explaining how the father removed the boy from her, robbing the infant of her breastmilk for months.”

The boy was suffering from Marasmus, a disease marked by severe malnutrition resulting from lack of calories and often seen in severe cases of starvation and poverty.

Eve noted that the knowledge she has, including from her studies a decade ago at Uganda Christian University and “the gifts I have from God,” enabled her to provide nutritional advice and support, giving hope to that mother and child. The boy who arrived more than a dozen pounds underweight, gained weight within six weeks and, said Eve, “Perhaps for the first time, he smiled.”

Eve Namugera, UCU School of Health Sciences graduate

Today, the almost-six-year-old is a healthy student in a school with the Act International Mission (AIM) Uganda, a community-based organization where Eve works. The boy’s mom has employability skills possible for her and 100 women because of a “Hope Again Women” program through AIM.

“We provided them with healthy living advice, of course, but we also gave both some hope,” Eve said as she concluded this one of many stories on a sunless October 2024 day. “Proving that hope is the joy I feel. What I do is not just work. It’s a ministry.”

For that mother and son, like many, the mission involved teaching the woman how to make sellable baskets and placemats from dried banana leaf stalks, fiber and raffia and about good nutrition beyond the nutrient-rich foods through MannaPack Rice that she was initially provided.

While Eve carries the AIM title of development facilitator, her role is multifaceted, often crossing all six of the non-profit’s programs – two designed to help women and youth have a sustainable income, two targeting good health and diet and two connected to Child education and funding for a school and its students. Of the 1,112 students (626 junior school and 486 high school) ranging from ages 4 to 20, at AIM schools, half have sponsors with most of those supporters in the United States.

Eve knows the economic challenges of the 13,000 residents in her village, that the Kyotera area still carries the 1980s label of “ground zero of AIDS,” that alcoholism is an issue, especially among men, and that many children are raised by elderly relatives who want them to work as laborers rather than attend school. She also knows that most of the current secondary students – even ones with sponsors – may fail to join university because of the cost. She knows she is fortunate to have parents who nudged her to higher education.

“Neither of my parents had a full-time job,” Eve, the oldest of 10 children, said. “They sold fish maws and agricultural products such as beans and maize. They wanted me to have a good education.”

She attended Christ the King Secondary School locally before finishing high school roughly nine miles away in Kalisizo. With a love of science, her initial goal to become a doctor was switched to social work because of the medical school cost. She quickly realized her place in social work as she completed her UCU bachelor’s degree in community health in 2015.

AIM, formerly called Rakai Orphans Development Initiative (RODI), first honed Eve’s talents as a volunteer, then as an administrative assistant and then to a development facilitator. She has worked for AIM for seven years.

Eve, age 30, married and expecting her second child, sees her time at UCU as critical to her Christ-centeredness. Now identifying as a “Pentecostal Christian,” she in particular points to her undergraduate studies in the Old Testament and New Testament as cementing her understanding of the Bible. She continues to be driven by 1 John 4:7.

“We are designed to love one another,” she said. “Everything we do should be about love.”

According to Richard R. Mutaawe, AIM Director of Programs, the CBO’s mission is “to raise action-oriented God-fearing leaders; well nurtured and equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to serve beyond self.” For that to happen, he added, “You need committed people, beyond just being employees, and that is what Eve brings to this organization. She is a mother to our adolescents.”

According to Eve, the most fulfilling part of her job is making a positive impact in the lives of others and helping them reach their full potential. These growth areas, she says, involve compassion, patience, integrity “but most of all hope.”

+++

Uganda Christian University has many alumni stories like this one. To support 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 X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

Jovan Kyambadde, teaching assistant, UCU Department of Agricultural and Biological Science, with nakati from the Mukono campus planting area (Photo by UCU Student Samuel Tatambuka)

NOTE: Uganda Christian University (UCU) captured first place among 48 higher education institutions in the 11^thAnnual Exhibition of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Uganda in March. Among displays representing UCU and contributing to this honor was the nakati experiment described in this article.

By Patty Huston-Holm

What’s liquid, full of vitamins, green and with a name common to most East Africans?

Nakati juice.

Ummm. Yes, but perhaps it needs another title. While some Ugandans have fond childhood memories of chewing onnakati as their parents wove a tale of how it would increase their intelligence, most turn up their noses at the green, leafy vegetable’s bitter taste and the remembrance of times when the family could afford little else.

Nakati, which also is known as African eggplant, needs to rise above its bad reputation, according to two Uganda Christian University (UCU) Food Science and Technology students and their teaching assistant. They aim to do just that by using it as the main ingredient in beverage and food recipes that reinforce nutritional value and good taste.

Jovan Kyambadde, teaching assistant, UCU Department of Agricultural and Biological Science, and students Athieno Sheilla and Alexis Ossiya, explain that the nutrition part is that nakati is full of iron and vitamins. Adding sweet-tasting ingredients masks the unpleasant flavor. After dodging raindrops to pluck nakati leaves from their Mukono campus garden and purchasing fruit outside the campus gate on the afternoon of March 6, they chopped, cut and blended the juice, sharing a not-so-secret recipe.

Four medium size mangos and one-fourth of a pineapple for flavor, one lemon for increased vitamin C and preservative, one freshly picked bunch of nakati (main ingredient) and honey for sweetener.

Nakati juice ingredients(Photo by UCU Student Samuel Tatambuka)

Nakati is the main ingredient because it has certain special health benefits such as cancer-fighting compounds, and anti-aging properties, and aids proper bone and brain development. Mangoes and pineapples likewise are rich in vitamins and antioxidants that help to prevent cancer, improve skin complexion and greatly boost immunity.

The taste-testers on this day were five nearby students, who gave mixed reactions about thickness, sweetness and whether they would prefer this no-added-sugar, vegetable and fruit juice over the more common, sugar-added, fruit-only beverages.

“We plan to do more testing with students in the large cafeteria,” Sheilla said. “We think we could make money and help others do it.”

While one end result is making money for the inventors and healthier lifestyles for their customers, this project also is about helping Uganda’s local farmers with their profits, Jovan explained, adding, “Everywhere you look in Uganda, there’s nakati.”

The students prepared the drink using an electric blender. But for locals without electricity and a mechanical mixer, the juice still can be made with added shredding, pounding and hand pressure, using a sieve to filter out the juice.

Under the title “Better Vegetables, Better Lives,” the UCU Department of Agricultural and Biological Science works with a dozen other partners to improve production and use of African indigenous vegetables for greater nutrition and income. The plan is to not only share nakati products on the university campus, but also to teach local farmers how to do the same.

According to UCU Professor Elizabeth Balyejusa Kizito, changing dietary and lifestyle preference is one main reason that vegetables like nakati and another green leafy vegetable called doodo are being cast aside for less indigenous and less healthy fried chips and samosas. Sub-Saharan children have the highest rates of anemia and malnutrition in the world. UCU is on an action research mission to change that.

Each Wednesday morning, the students and staff of the Department of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at UCU board a bus, and after a 45-minute drive, are dropped off to work with local farmers.

“The farmers have come to regard themselves as university teachers, which they are in that they put our students’ learning in real context,” Jovan said. “At the same time, our students are teaching the farmers what they know about crop rotation, germination, higher yield and marketing.”

Nakati, for example, is going to waste when it could be used for juice, biscuits and other products. In addition to experimentation with nakati beverages, the students are exploring use of the vegetable with g-nuts and other ingredients for snacks.

“When I was a little girl, I was told that eating nakati would make me more intelligent,” Sheilla said. “I know now that’s not true, but using nakati in recipes is pretty smart.”

+++++

To support this program or others at UCU, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button or contact Uganda Christian University Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com

Tag Archives: malnutrition

Sub-Saharan Africa vegetable makeover part of what makes UCU best at exhibition