Tag Archives: Scholarships

Uganda Christian University team at the Africa Regional Conference of the World Congress of Families, November 2019, in Accra, Ghana. Jack and Linda Klenk with Michael Clement (Africa Policy Centre), Richard Sebaggala (School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies), Rev. Jasper Tumuhimbise (UCU-Church of Uganda Relations), Betty Enyipu (Social Sciences), and Peter Ubomba-Jaswa (School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies).

‘Faith connects us with brothers and sisters worldwide’

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Uganda Christian University team at the Africa Regional Conference of the World Congress of Families, November 2019, in Accra, Ghana. Jack and Linda Klenk with Michael Clement (Africa Policy Centre), Richard Sebaggala (School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies), Rev. Jasper Tumuhimbise (UCU-Church of Uganda Relations), Betty Enyipu (Social Sciences), and Peter Ubomba-Jaswa (School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies).
Uganda Christian University team at the Africa Regional Conference of the World Congress of Families, November 2019, in Accra, Ghana. Jack and Linda Klenk with Michael Clement (Africa Policy Centre), Richard Sebaggala (School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies), Rev. Jasper Tumuhimbise (UCU-Church of Uganda Relations), Betty Enyipu (Social Sciences), and Peter Ubomba-Jaswa (School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies).

By Patty Huston-Holm

Waterfalls, forests, savannahs, gorillas, chimpanzees, lions and giraffes make Uganda amazing. Yet, as cliché as it sounds, for Jack and Linda Klenk, the best thing about the country known as the “pearl of Africa” is the people – the relationships they have there.

Jack and Linda Klenk, at home in Virginia, USA
Jack and Linda Klenk, at home in Virginia, USA

Jack (Read More) first went to Uganda over fifty years ago for three years, studying and teaching as part of an Anglo-American teaching organization, Teachers for East Africa.

For Linda, her first of many trips to Uganda was in 1998, when she and Jack led a short-term mission team to Uganda.  Some of the young children they met then have how grown up and are married with children.  From the beginning, “I was all in,” Linda said. “The people were so friendly.”

Something that is very special for Jack and Linda is how Christianity connects people across cultural lines. When he lived in Uganda in the 1960s, Jack noticed a sense of bonding with Ugandans who were Christians.  Over the years, he and Linda have experienced that again and again.  When sharing a faith in Christ, “you’re family…regardless of the language you speak or the pigmentation of your skin,” Jack said.

Indeed, Linda added, “Ugandans have opened my eyes to see how faith connects us with brothers and sisters worldwide.”

Jack, a member of the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Partners Board, built new Uganda relationships with Linda after their marriage in 1997, while his long-established ones became hers as well.  They were in a church that had a relationship with the Diocese of Kigezi in western Uganda, and later with UCU.  The church sent short-term mission teams to Uganda and other countries, sponsored Compassion International children, supported missionaries at UCU, helped start a hospital in Kigezi, and sent containers with supplies for UCU and other ministries in Uganda.

For most of their marriage, the couple lived near Washington, D.C., where Jack worked for the US Department of Education.  There, they gladly opened their home to Ugandans, including a number from UCU and the government, who were visiting the nation’s capital.  The Klenks would show them Washington. So many Ugandans visited their home that it became known as “Uganda house.”

Under their roof emerged the “American Hamburger University” – so designated because Ugandans gathered in their kitchen to learn the trade of making traditional American hamburgers. Still today, Ugandan “graduates” of the fictitious AHU hold dear their certificates declaring their “hunger for learning” and “excellent taste and high achievement.”   In 2019, when the Klenks were in Uganda, one graduate organized a dinner with certificate holders at a Kampala hotel.

“Our visitors from Uganda are so fun,” Linda said.  “They ask me questions that make me think.  Like, ‘why do Americans put stickers on fruit they buy at the grocery store’?’”

One of the first Ugandans Linda met was the Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba, when he was a student at Virginia Theological Seminary in 1997.  He made arrangements for the team they led to the Diocese of Kigezi in 1998, where they became involved with Bishop George Katwesigye and other Ugandans who are friends to this day.  Another was Julius Mucunguzi, now communications director for the Ugandan Prime Minister, who did a recent video call with them on Facebook Messenger. He continues to applaud the Klenks for their hospitality when he arrived for the first time in the United States with no luggage and few funds in 2000. In addition to a photo of the Klenks, Julius’ 2014 book, entitled “Once Upon A Time…” describes Jack and Linda as “a couple whose love for Uganda is unmatched.”

The stories are many. Seminarians.  Bishops. Students. Faculty. The UCU Vice Chancellor and his wife. A wedding reception.  Celebrations of Uganda Martyrs Day and Uganda Independence Day.

Sheltered in their home in the midst of COVID-19, the Klenks take precautions. On the occasions when they go out, as to visit their daughter and her family nearby, they wear masks and gloves, and social distance. But they see the difficulties they face as “just an inconvenience” compared with what others in Uganda and the US are facing. Linda said. “Others are really suffering, while we are comfortable, with food, running water, and electricity. . .”

Jack and Linda know that Ugandans are hurting because of the coronavirus, but also know that they don’t easily talk about their hardships. Thus, it is hard to know exactly how they are faring. Ugandans they have come to know are “so polite, they don’t complain, they see the glass half full, not half empty.”

Out loud, Jack wonders: “How can Ugandans survive this crisis? With 8-to-10 people living together in one room, how can they social distance? If they can’t travel or go to work, how can they afford to buy food? How can they pay school fees and university tuition?”

Many of the Klenks’ Ugandan friends are connected to Uganda Christian University.  They have come to know and respect UCU for the way it combines academics with character building and spiritual formation, setting it apart from other universities.

Jack and Linda admire UCU for its determination to be a thoroughly Christian university and not to lose its Christian identity the way many colleges in the US that were once Christian have done.  It provides “a complete education for a complete person” for its students, whether they are in traditional disciplines like science, law, journalism and business, or in the Bishop Tucker seminary that prepares clergy from all over Uganda and East Africa, and even from the U.S. They like how UCU is a leading institution for Christian orthodoxy in the “global south” and the whole world.

Jack has served on the UCU Partners board since 2010, and greatly enjoys his visits to UCU and the relationships he has there. In recent years, a special focus for him has been UCU’s Africa Policy Centre, the first Christian policy think tank in Uganda.

As Jack reflects on his Christian walk, he asserts: “God calls us to follow him and serve him in the community of the Church. Sometimes God directs us to specific things, but mostly we are to look for opportunities to live out our call to follow and serve him.  I am grateful for how this has led to involvement in Uganda starting over fifty years ago.  I am especially grateful for the blessings Linda and I have received through our engagement with UCU.  We pray that UCU will survive the current coronavirus lockdown and always be a bright beacon of light for Uganda, Africa, and the world.”

Jack and Linda hope to travel to Uganda in October 2020 for the graduation and the annual Public Lecture, this year with the noted cultural critic, Mary Eberstadt.  They hope the current shutdown will end and that those events will take place.  Graduation in the past two years was extra special for them because students they helped along the way wore caps and gowns.

Jack sees Ugandan Christians as strong even during this coronavirus crisis because of their faith in Christ. They hurt, but they “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (I Thess. 4:13).  He and Linda are challenged by how Ugandan Christians endure incredible difficulties and still smile and have inner joy.

“No matter how bad it gets, Ugandan Christians have hope,” Jack said. “It is by the grace of God.”

For Jack and Linda, this they know: They have been blessed beyond measure by Uganda and Ugandans, and they have received much more than they have given.

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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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Matende Wilson with his mother on his graduation day in October 2018. (UCU Partners Photo)

UCU Partners Scholarship support for single mothers

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Matende Wilson with his mother on his graduation day in October 2018. (UCU Partners Photo)
Matende Wilson with his mother on his graduation day in October 2018. (UCU Partners Photo)

By Brendah Ndagire

One of the challenges of being a single mother – worldwide and in Uganda – is meeting the responsibility of educating children. The 2016 World Bank report shows that 26.90% of households are ‘Female Headed’ in Uganda. The reality is that Ugandans estimate the percentage of both female-headed homes and/or single-parent homes to be higher.

And the challenge is that Uganda as a nation struggles with the problem of research deficiency, largely due to the fact that majority of the population lives in rural areas, where such data, if collected, can be easily skewed.

Organizations such as the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA- Uganda) and Single Parents Association of Uganda (SPU) that work primarily on women issues, report that Ugandan women are single mothers for different reasons. Causes include death of the father to a disease or accident and/or father accusation of a crime and/or incarceration; unemployment of both parents; and willful abandonment of pregnant women.

Nabiryo Annet, mother of Uganda Christian University (UCU) graduate Matende Wilson Paul and four other children in Mukono, is one such single mother.  And like most other single mothers, she has struggled since she first learned the news of her pregnancy. When she had her son at age 16, his father abandoned her. She had to raise Wilson with her father.

“My father played the role of the father and grandfather at the same time,” said Annet.

When Annet got pregnant, her friends advised her to get an abortion because she could not possibly support her son on her own. But she refused. Looking now at her grown son who has a UCU Diploma in Business Administration, and all his academic accomplishments, Annet often thinks about the damage she could have done if she had aborted him.

But God has accompanied Annet through the USA-based UCU Partners nonprofit organization. Wilson Paul is a recipient of a UCU Partners’ scholarship. She remembers a time when Wilson graduated from high school. She did not know where to get the money for him to proceed to the university. When her son told her that he was receiving tuition support from a UCU Partners benefactor, she was filled with joy and gratitude. She did not know how he had managed to apply, or how he got accepted by UCU’s Financial Aid Office, but she felt that God had answered her prayers.

“I am grateful to UCU Partners’ scholarship and his sponsor specifically,” Annet said. “What stands out to me is that UCU Partners does not only give financial support, but sometimes some sponsors also give  career guidance to their students. My son would go on to be a chemistry teacher and mentor to high-school students upon the guidance of his sponsor at UCU.”

Today, Wilson’s mother is very hopeful about his future. When UCU Partners interviewed him, he had plans of going back to UCU for further studies. In January this year, he enrolled in UCU’s bachelor program in Business Administration, while serving as a Finance Assistant to the school where he is teaching chemistry.

There are more than 50 higher education institutions in Uganda, but these single mothers choose UCU because they want their sons to be rooted in Christ, and identify with UCU’s values of stewardship, community, integrity, and servant leadership.

When UCU’s financial aid office, in collaboration with UCU Partners, looks at which student to grant tuition support, they usually listen and learn the story of the student who is applying for support. Very rarely does the financial aid office get to hear the story and experiences of their parents.

Annet is not the only single mother UCU Partners has supported.

Odongokola Joshua with his mother on his graduation day in October 2018. (UCU Partners Photo)
Odongokola Joshua with his mother on his graduation day in October 2018. (UCU Partners Photo)

Stella Amonyi, is another mother the organization has supported. Her son, Odongokola Joshua El Shadai, also graduated with a Diploma in Business Administration in October 2018. He and his mother live in Kampala, but they are originally from the Northern district of Uganda, Lira.

Stella has worked as a mother to 47 orphaned and street children at Agape Christian Children Home/Center, in Nsambya, Kampala, for the last 11 years. With the sudden death of her husband, she held a job and raised their four children. Her husband died when Joshua, the youngest of the four children, was just three months old.

“My son never got a chance to meet his father. I thank God for caring for my son through UCU Partners,” said Stella.

When she learned that Joshua was receiving a scholarship from UCU Partners, she was very thankful to God.

“I have always prayed that God uses my sons and daughters for expanding His Kingdom. If it wasn’t for God, they would be nothing,” said Stella. Today, with a UCU diploma in hand, Joshua is enrolled in UCU’s bachelor program in Business and Administration. He wants to be an accountant.

Most parents in Uganda are responsible for their children’s education from kindergarten to the university. When UCU Partners supports students at UCU, they indirectly support their parents. This is why parents, such as Annet and Stella, are very grateful to UCU Partners who have empowered their sons through access to university education.

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For more of these stories and experiences, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org.  If you would like to support a current student or otherwise support the university, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

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Mark Bartels, UCU Partners Executive Director, left, with Bwambale Bernard Mulcho with his parents at his October 2018 graduation day. (UCU Partners Photo)

A Parent Voice: UCU Partners scholarship makes difference in lives of disadvantaged students

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Mark Bartels, UCU Partners Executive Director, left, with Bwambale Bernard Mulcho with his parents at his October 2018 graduation day. (UCU Partners Photo)
Mark Bartels, UCU Partners Executive Director, left, with Bwambale Bernard Mulcho with his parents at his October 2018 graduation day. (UCU Partners Photo)

By Brendah Ndagire

Note: In October 2018, UCU Partners spoke with some parents of students who are beneficiaries of its student scholarship program. Pastor Baluku Moses is the father of Bwambale Bernard Mulcho, now a UCU alumnus of its Bachelor in Education program. Bwambale graduated with 4.3 of 5.0 grade-point-average (GPA), and at the time of his graduation he shared that he wanted to teach high school students and eventually pursue a masters program in theology. He and his parents are from Kasese District in southwestern Uganda, neighboring the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kasese district is known for its tourism. It is where Queen Elizabeth National Park is located, and it is home of the Rwenzori Mountain ranges. While popular for tourists, when to comes to learning, the region struggles to educate its children beyond high school level. Bwambale is one of the few young people who are able to make it out of the district and have access to higher learning institutions in the urban and central regions of Uganda. With the support of UCU Partners, his parents were able to send their son to Uganda Christian University. In this edited interview, Pastor Baluku provides insights into how he feels about his son’s university education.

Bwambale Bernard at Uganda Christian University. (UCU Partners Photo)
Bwambale Bernard at Uganda Christian University. (UCU Partners Photo)

How long did it take you to get to the graduation in Mukono?
From Kasese, it takes a total of nine hours with seven hours from Kasese to Kampala, and about two hours from Kampala to Mukono.

What does it mean for you to see that your son has graduated?
I have great joy because it was one way of elevating our family, community, and serving God. I am truly happy about it because I know my son has realized his dream.

How meaningful was the UCU Partners scholarship to you as a parent?
It is a great contribution towards my son’s education, and without it, we would not have made it. We have had some financial constraints in the past years. For example, we also were paying school fees for his siblings, and I also was studying at Uganda Baptist Seminary, so the whole household needed money to study, and it was hard for me to raise all the finances needed. We are thankful to God for UCU Partners’ support towards his tuition.

Why is having an education in this country important for you and your family?
It is important because when you are not educated you have a lot of challenges. And when you are educated, you understand the world differently. I believe education opens up doors for us to move anywhere in the world.

Why did you choose UCU for your son’s education?
Because of the good Christian morals it passes on its students. UCU is a more expensive education institution than others.  But regardless of that fact, people want to send their children here. Its values and quality education make the university special. It also is why we are very grateful for the UCU Partners’ scholarship program.

How have you contributed to Bwambale’s education?
I work with the Baptist Church as a pastor on volunteer basis, so I earn a small stipend. And my wife sells second-hand clothes. That is how we have earned our living, which in turn we have used to contribute in small amounts to our son’s education. It is common in Uganda for many priests/pastors to volunteer to work full without any financial remuneration. Most of us depend on farming. Our land is very productive, but the main challenge is inadequate rainfall for farmers who reside in the low land regions of Kasese. In the rainfall season, we grow maize, grounds nuts, beans, and keeping animals such as goats and cows. And that is how we are able to meet our financial responsibilities in most cases.

What challenges do young people experience in Kasese district?
The main challenge is poor and limited education access. Most children are only able to go to universal primary and secondary school. Very few can afford to go a private school or to higher learning institutions/universities.

What do you want other parents to learn from your experience?
To keep on trusting God, and not be discouraged by challenges as they support their children through university education.

Bwambale, what stood out from your UCU experience?
I have found UCU as a unique place for me to have the opportunity to access its educational services. I take great pride in the core values the institution has passed on to me, of leaderships, integrity, servanthood and Christ-centeredness. These values will continue to influence my work life and especially the way I will interact with people I encounter in future.

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For more of these stories and experiences, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org.  If you would like to support a current student or otherwise support the university, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

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Servant hood: Hand-washing students’ clothes yields money and Good Samaritan attention

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Justine Nanyanzi washes clothes at her residence
Justine Nanyanzi washes clothes at her residence

By Olum Douglas

It was lunchtime when I first met Justine Nanyanzi. Her colleagues had scattered to various eateries. But to her, this was not a time for food, but for meeting or private reading.

As I reached out for her hand with a smile on my face, I noticed she was struggling to forge a smile back. Wearing a light dress with black-and-white flowery tint, and a pair of sandals with several traces of sewing on the strings’ base, Nanyanzi’s lips were dry and coarse, with white, scaly peals that clearly revealed dehydration and hunger. The weaves on her head were half-finished, leaving a large portion of her jumbled hair bare.

At that moment, it became clear to me that the story I had read online was true. In early February, an online paper in Uganda that reports events at universities, Campus Bee, broke the account of Nanyanzi under the headline, “The story of the UCU girl who is washing fellow students’ clothes for tuition.”

The story went viral and a few days later, a local television, NTV-Uganda, interviewed Nanyanzi and broadcasted her story. The focus was on her washing business, which was unusual because the Ugandan perception is that university students are middle-class and above such odd jobs.

A few minutes into our chat, I asked Nanyanzi what inspired her to begin washing fellow students’ clothes. She smiled and said the answer was long.

Justine Nanyanzi at the university
Justine Nanyanzi at the university

Born in Mukono District to a peasant-turned-evangelist and his wife, Justine Nanyanzi is the first-born in the broken family of three children. When she finished her Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) in 2014, Nanyanzi who excelled highly in mathematics, economics and geography, had to stay home for at least a year because she did not have any source of funding to take her to the next academic level.

During that time, she got employed as a cleaner at a local hotel. In 2016, the hotel owner rewarded the hard-working employee with a place to sleep and sponsorship at Uganda Christian University (UCU), where she pursued the Bachelor of Procurement and Logistics Management.

She completed her first-year without much challenge. Trouble started in her second year. The facility housing the hotel where she worked was sold to a new owner who pushed Nanyanzi’s boss and university sponsor out with no funds to continue supporting Nanyanzi.

Nanyanzi dropped out of school and got a job as maid to save for her university tuition and help pay rent at her new residence that she shared with a friend and single mother of three. But the money she earned was barely enough for food and rent. That’s when she turned to classmates.

“I told my classmates that I am tired of life and suffering. And if they ever heard that I was dead, it should not surprise them,” Nanyanzi said, “At that time, I was feeling alone, worthless and full of hate for everyone. I wanted to die because I knew that would save me from suffering and would not hurt anybody.”

To her amazement, UCU students collected over 1.7 million shillings ($460 American) for her tuition. Some gave her food. With the student assistance and another job cleaning university offices, she still fell short of needed finances by about 500,000 shillings ($135).

That’s where washing clothes came in. In Uganda, washing of clothes is predominantly done by hand. Individuals either wash their own or hire people of lower economic status and education to wash for them. Nanyanzi humbled herself for that job among her fellow students.

Her servanthood yielded publicity, including the call from a stranger to help further. That Good Samaritan took her to a bank. The man, who asked to be anonymous, paid her tuition and other fees for all the remaining semesters.

Nanyanzi said she asked the man if he was an angel and not human. He laughed before explaining that he and his siblings also grew up with much hardship. After pulling out of poverty, they resolved to help whoever they could help.

“It took me time to accept that, indeed, that was not a dream,” Nanyanzi said. “And because of that, whenever I pray these days, even when something is really bothering me, I have that confidence that the God that catered for my tuition is able to do everything.”

With a Cumulative General Point Average (CGPA) of 4.44 of 5.0 for her previous three semesters, there is little doubt that Nanyanzi is headed for a first-class undergraduate degree.

After that she desires to obtain a master’s degree in Statistical Economics.

“I may not have food or rent today but I believe my God is always with me. Like Jesus said, ‘man does not only live by bread alone.’ When I lack food, I pray to God and I believe he is preparing my happy days ahead,” Nanyanzi concludes.

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If you are interested in supporting Uganda Christian University students in need, contact Mark Bartels, Uganda Christian University Partners’ Executive Director, at  mtbartels@gmail.com.

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New video conveys shift in mission goal

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Diane Babirye, right, UCU student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies, produced the video. BrendahNdagire, UCU graduate and UCU Partners communications assistant, was an editor. (UCU Partners photo)
Diane Babirye, right, UCU student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies, produced the video. Brendah Ndagire, UCU graduate and UCU Partners communications assistant, was an editor. (UCU Partners photo)

How can you best pull a country out of poverty?  Education support.

And what does that education support look like?  Books, supplies, technology, buildings, faculty and student scholarships.

Such is the message of a new video from Uganda Christian University (UCU) Partners, a Pennsylvania-based non-profit focused for the past 15 years on providing funds for these necessities at UCU.

The video contains part of this interview conducted on graduation day at the UCU-Mukono campus in October 2018 with UCU Partners Executive Director Mark Bartels. (UCU Partners photo)
The video contains part of this interview conducted on graduation day at the UCU-Mukono campus in October 2018 with UCU Partners Executive Director Mark Bartels. (UCU Partners photo)

“There is a shift in the idea of missions and ministry overseas,” said UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels. “Rather than bring as many Americans as we can to help, we know the best people to address Uganda’s challenges and problems are Ugandans.”

Bartels, who lived in Uganda with his wife, Abby, and children for 10 years until 2014, asserts that UCU is best equipped to deliver quality, university education for East Africans. UCU’s strength is not just because of its strong academic programs in eight faculty areas, but because Christian character building takes place alongside the high-level knowledge and skills.

The five-minute video contains remarks from Bartels and UCU’s Financial Aid Officer Walter Washika as well as testimonials and appreciation from seven scholarship recipients.It was produced by Diane Babirye, UCU student studying journalism and media studies; and edited by Brendah Ndagire, UCU graduate and UCU Partners communications assistant; and Patty Huston-Holm, UCU Partners Communications Director.

The video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlie4AmRJCk

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For more stories and experiences, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org.   To assist a UCU student or otherwise support the university, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/.

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Matende Wilson (UCU Partners Photo)

UCU Partners business program scholarship recipients

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(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners’ Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients. For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org  or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

 

Matende Wilson (UCU Partners Photo)
Matende Wilson (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Matende Wilson Paul

Program: Diploma in Business Administration (graduated)

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has given me a chance and opportunity to learn, and participate in forums such as, leadership and para-counselling forums which I enjoy.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
Among the many options I am exploring, I want to become an accountant. My program focuses mostly on accounting and I want to become that. I used to have a bias in mathematics in high school but when I joined the university, I chose to focus my career in accountant and be a tremendous accountant internationally. Depending on whether I receive funding for further studies, I would want to do a certified public accounting so that i can be a professional accountant.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you for the work you have done in helping me attain education.

 

Odogola Joshua Eli (UCU Partners Photo)
Odogola Joshua Eli (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Odogola Joshua Elishadai

Program: Diploma in Business Administration (graduated)

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
I wouldn’t have accessed this higher education without the blessings of this scholarship. God through this scholarship has been the centre of my studies here.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to be a lecturer and a job creator. I think unemployment is one of the biggest hindrances to accessing education in Uganda. When parents lost their jobs, things become worse in our lives, and I give thanks for my scholarship to attain higher education at Uganda Christian University. Now that I have finished studying business administration, I want want to be a job creator and employ especially single mothers in my community to be able to earn income to educate their children. To God be the Glory!

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Your support and donation through Uganda Partners is like resurrection of the dead to life! Thank you so very much, God used to restore my hope. I never thought I would join a university. May God bless you!

Kalule Toney (UCU Partners Photo)

UCU Partners social work, art program scholarship recipients

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(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners’ Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients. For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org  or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

Kalule Toney (UCU Partners Photo)
Kalule Toney (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Kalule Toney

Program: Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has exposed me to the world here. It has helped me to acquire knowledge, made friends and have been able to redefine myself.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to be an advocate and an activist for girl education, employment opportunities and human rights. I want to get a platform for sensitizing fellow youths about the value of education. I hope someday to start an organization for training vulnerable groups of people in my community.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you so much!

 

Bwambale Bernand (UCU Partners Photo)
Bwambale Bernand (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Bwambale Bernard Molcho

Program: Bachelor of Arts with Education (graduated)

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has helped me to focus on my studies and I am proud to graduate with a great GPA! The scholarship helped to restore hope of completing my degree. If I had got this opportunity earlier, I would have got a first class degree.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to become an artist, to make art pieces to fundraise for the well-being of other unprivileged people particularly in acquiring skills through formal education. I want to be an art teacher and inspire young people in high school to view a bright future beyond the life of lack of enough resources.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you even though I think it is not enough other than praying for blessings to them, their family, and their work.

Gaborya Charles (UCU Partners Photo)

UCU Partners communications, journalism program scholarship recipients

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(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners’ Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients. For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org  or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

Gaborya Charles (UCU Partners Photo)
Gaborya Charles (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Gaborya Charles

Program: Master of Journalism and Media Studies

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has been a great and fundamental push towards my study and without It I do not think I would have been able to take up a master’s degree.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to have a deeper understanding of development, communication and gender. And I want to use the degree in the field of development, specifically gender-based development.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I want them her/him to know that I am very appreciative of her/his support.

 

Odongkara Emmanuel (UCU Partners Photo)
Odongkara Emmanuel (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Odongkara Emmanuel

Program: Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has created a good environment for me to learn, and share ideas with other fellow students, and lectures It has transformed the way I think.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to become an investigative journalist and a writer. I have a passion for writing and serving others. I am influenced by great writers such as Ben Carson who inspires and leaves you challenged.

What do you want to say to your sponsor
Thank you for your support, and thank you for believing in UCU!

 

Byron Otto (UCU Partners Photo)
Byron Otto (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Byron Otto Andrew

Program: Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has helped me in every way of my life and my education’s journey in general.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to be the best in journalism, reporting specifically on children’s and women’s issues affecting their humanity. I also want to be what God wants be to be in His Kingdom. I had a hard childhood that makes me cry often times. From surviving death, life on the streets, to living without parents, my life has been a very challenging journey to where I am at the university. I have learned to respect humanity,God, and appreciation to what is happening in the humanitarian sector, and I want to use my communication degree to report on what is happening in the humanitarian community. That is why I am studying journalism at UCU. I remember when I was a child I wanted to be President of Uganda. Now, and if God allows it, I want to represent the children on streets and tell my testimony.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you and may God Bless you! You are my parents now and would love to meet you someday!

Kucel Newton (UCU Partners Photo)

UCU Partners agricultural science, engineering program scholarship recipients

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(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners’ Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients. For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org  or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

Byakatonda Gerald (UCU Partners Photo)
Byakatonda Gerald (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Byakatonda Gerald

Program:
Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Entrepreneurship

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has provided funds for my tuition, accommodation and other fees at the university.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to do many things. First,I want to be a crop scientist. I have worked with farmers and found out that they have challenges such as crop diseases, poor yields, among others. Becoming a crop scientist will give me the opportunity to offer solutions to such problems. Secondly, I want to start FARMHELP-AFRICA, an organization that would seek partnership with farmers and other stakeholders.I will also become a professional farmer of coffee and oil palm in Uganda. Lastly, I want to be agricultural-entrepreneur and christian-principled leader for young people who lack a professional example to direct them into farming business.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I want to thank them for their genuine support towards my academic journey.

 

Kucel Newton (UCU Partners Photo)
Kucel Newton (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Kucel Newton

Program: Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Entrepreneurship

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has been of great help to me since I am always guaranteed to do my examinations.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to become a professional farmer with a holistic background in caring for consumers of what I will produce.  I see the rising population in Uganda and the World at large; hence, there is a need to improve food supply for this rising population. I have also seen farmers selling products contaminated with chemicals not minding about the consumers and with this; I am looking at producing good and safe food for my consumers.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
May God bless her in everything.

 

Mutesasira Ivan (UCU Partners Photo)
Mutesasira Ivan (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Mutesasira Ivan

Program: Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
I have attained knowledge and skills in the engineering field, and how to appreciate and live with others.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to become a good engineer who will work with people in society. I also want to help other people/children who have problems with studying when I become a practising engineer. Further in the future, I want to be a professor of Civil Engineering.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I appreciate the support, love, and efforts they have put in to see that I become an important and great engineer who will benefit the society I live in. May God bless her!

UCU Partners procurement program scholarship recipients

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(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients.  For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

Ochora Walter (UCU Partners Photo)
Ochora Walter (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Ochora Walter

Program: Diploma in Procurement and Logistic Management

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has helped me to study at a Christian University and getting knowledge which I can apply after my studies.It has also helped me to meet different people not only in Uganda but other parts of the world.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to help other needy people in our society by offering and giving back to them what God has done for me. Of course, I want to acquire a job to do after my studies. I also am looking forward to continuing with education if God wants me to continue; I will be appreciative of that as well.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I appreciate them for what they have done in my life and other children/students to be part of UCU. 

Nakungu Patricia (UCU Partners Photo)
Nakungu Patricia (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Nakungu Patricia

Program: Bachelor of Procurement and Logistics Management

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
I am able to concentrate on my studies because I don’t have to worry about incomplete tuition.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to become a very successful business woman that’s what I have always wanted. And I want to put my degree to use by becoming a procurement officer with a difference.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I want to thank them so much for the opportunity they have given me to be part of a great institution and attain a quality education.

 

Oweta Paul (UCU Partners Photo)
Oweta Paul (UCU Partners Photo)

Name: Oweta Paul

Program: Diploma in Procurement and Logistics Management

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has brought a bright future which seemed darker a few years ago. The scholarship has brought hope in my life.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to work as a procurement officer in the military. I am inspired by my uncle who studied a similar program, and when he graduated he joined the military and went on to live his other dream of opening a powerful church and charity home which helps needy children in his community.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you maximumly!

UCU Partners health program scholarship recipients

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(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients.  For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

 

Name: Nansereko Idah

Program: Bachelor of Community Health(Renamed Bachelor of Public Health)

 

 

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has enabled me to timely pay my tuition and utilize university facilities and services.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I am already a clinician, when I finish my degree in community health, I would like to build a health facility in my village to bring health services to people there and offer job opportunities to people in different departments

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you for your efforts to keep in school.

UCU Partners nursing program scholarship recipients 

Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Scholarship, , , ,

(NOTE: In the fall of 2018, Brendah Ndagire, UCU Partners’ Communications Associate, came on the Uganda Christian University Mukono campus to interview some UCU Partners scholarship recipients.  For a 10-day period, UCU Partners features a summary of their feedback. To support students like these, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org  or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/)

Name: Uwimbabazi Sarah

Program: Bachelor of Nursing Science

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
The scholarship covers my fees, and I attend classes with no worries. This has helped me to perform better in classes.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I will go back to my hospital  and deliver holistic nursing care to the people within and outside the hospital with interest in maternal and child health for the betterment of our community and nation.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I want to express to her how much I am grateful. Thank you for making me who I am today.

Name: Murezi Mereth

Program: Master of Nursing Science

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
I have had timely access to university services including lecture rooms and library. And I have been able to focus on my academic work without interruptions.

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to engage in teaching activities so as to strengthen the nursing profession further. Secondly, I want to become an education specialist and largely engage in policy formulation.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
I am very thankful for his/her support and devotion in seeing  progress in the academic arena in Uganda.

Name: Monday Edson

Program: Master of Nursing Science

How has the scholarship helped you in your course of study?
It has relieved me a lot. I have been able to attend all my classes without worries, and this has improved my concentration in class. I love my program and I have been able to take of my family alongside studying.

 

How would do you want to use your degree and why?
I want to be a university lecturer and a researcher in the nursing field.

What do you want to say to your sponsor?
Thank you so much!

Robert Kamugisha, center, with two staff members at the Uganda Nursing School (UCU Partners photo)

Alum Success: Fulfilling medical needs in tourist gorilla trekking area

Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Scholarship, UCU Alumni, , , , , ,
Robert Kamugisha, center, with two staff members at the Uganda Nursing School (UCU Partners photo)
Robert Kamugisha, center, with two staff members at the Uganda Nursing School (UCU Partners photo)

By Patty Huston-Holm

“This will hurt,” the nurse said, preparing to inject a vaccination into the arm of the six-year-old boy. “But it will help you be protected for the rest of your life.”

That boy was Robert Kamugisha, now age 37 and one of the leaders of a nursing school located 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the western Uganda area where he grew up and received that immunization. He has a small injection scar with a memory of how that experience propelled him to his career in medicine.

 “Her words made me feel like a part of this at that very young age,” he recalled.

Signage of nursing school in the western Uganda area of Bwindi (UCU Partners Photo)
Signage of nursing school in the western Uganda area of Bwindi (UCU Partners Photo)

 Robert is the academic registrar at the Uganda Nursing School (Bwindi), where students can get a certificate after about 2.5 years and a diploma in about 3 years. Uganda Christian University (UCU) provides the accreditation for the school. UCU’s School of Nursing relationship with the new school in Bwindi is one example of how the university reaches under-served areas.

While westerners know Bwindi best for gorilla trekking in the Impenetrable Forest, East Africans recognize the area’s rural poverty. Behind what most tourists see is the economically and educationally poor Batwa (pigmy) tribe. The Kellerman Foundation, based in Texas, has been instrumental in serving needs of this population.

“Infant mortality is a problem here,” Robert said. That’s the topic of his soon-to-be finished master’s dissertation with UCU, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2013. He got that degree with the assistance of a scholarship from the Uganda Christian University Partners organization.

From practicing nurse to oversight for nurses at Bwindi Community Hospital, Robert’s career climb accelerated to a leadership position for a new school when two gorilla trekkers from the United States agreed to fund the building construction in 2013. Rotary International, through the Rotary Club of Reno, Nevada (USA), and the Rotary Club of Kihihi, Uganda, furnished the school.

The first class of 36 graduated in March of 2017. Today, there are nearly 300 Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda students studying at the Bwindi facility. 

Taking care of people, including nursing students, is second nature to Robert. As the first born of five children, he grew up with the family responsibility for his younger brother and three younger sisters with little financial support for himself.

 Robert and his wife, Uwimbabazi Sarah, have two children.  A woman from Israel sponsors Sarah’s studies at UCU through UCU Partners.

 “At some point, I want to be in a position where I can support someone other than my own family,” Robert said. “Ugandans can and should give back that way.” 

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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in Uganda such as UCU Partners Scholarship Recipient Robert Kamugisha is, contact Uganda Partners’ Executive Director Mark Bartels at mtbartels@gmail.com. 

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Some of many UCU graduates working in Bwindi, Uganda (UCU Partners photo)

UCU Alum Stories in Bwindi, Uganda

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Some of many UCU graduates working in Bwindi, Uganda (UCU Partners photo)
Some of many UCU graduates working in Bwindi, Uganda (UCU Partners photo)

(NOTE: In September 2018, UCU Partners Communications Director, Patty Huston-Holm, visited Bwindi, Uganda to interview a handful of UCU alumni, including UCU Partners scholarship recipients. The list coming out of this remote, Western Uganda area was larger than expected. At that, it is believed there are even more UCU success stories than these 15 compiled and shared here. The story of one UCU graduate – Robert Kamugisha, academic registrar at the Uganda Nursing School – is not captured below; it will be published in expanded form this Thursday, February 7.)

UCU graduates and UCU Partners scholarship/financial aid recipients

Sylvia Kokunda
Education officer, Batwa Development Program

  • 2014 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Public Administration and Management

“The best part of UCU was what I learned about spiritual morals. UCU is the best university in educating a complete person.”

Sarah Tumuramye
Cashier, Batwa Development Program

  • 2018 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Business and Administration

“At UCU, I not only got knowledge but I learned to know Jesus Christ better.”

Rev. Elizabeth Abanelinela
Director of finance and administration, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2015 UCU Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology graduate with Master of Divinity

“At UCU, faith is integrated into all aspects of the profession and social life.”

Nahabwe Haven
Public health worker, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2011 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Public Health

“At UCU, I learned to respect people regardless of their backgrounds and values.”

Orikiriza Patricia
Volunteer, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2017 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Development Studies

“The best part of getting an education at UCU is the Christian values.”

Ritah Katumba
Kinkizi Diocese health coordinator

  • 2009 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration

“At UCU, I learned to work with commitment, compassion and respect for all. I recommend parents send their children to UCU because of the education focused on wholeness in all aspects of life.”

Praise Joyce Mugisha
Accountant, Bwindi Development Program

  • 2014 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Business Administration

“I am passionate about accountability. If I am faithful to God and do the right thing, I will be with the Father.”

Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba and his wife, Penny (UCU Partners photo)
Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba and his wife, Penny (UCU Partners photo)

Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba
Executive Director, Batwa Development Program

  • 1990 UCU/Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology graduate with Bachelor of Divinity
  • 1999 Virginia (USA) Theological Seminary graduate with Master of Theology

“At UCU/Bishop Tucker Theological College, I was trained to be a servant leader who is called to serve and not to be served.”

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UCU graduates but not UCU Partners scholarship recipients

Constance Koshaba
Manager/instructor, Women’s Craft Center, Batwa Development Program

  • 2009 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Industrial and Fine Art

“I feel I am giving back by helping women learn skills like sewing, weaving and jewelry making.”

Samuel Okello
Clinical instructor (nursing), Uganda Nursing School, Bwindi

  • 2015 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Nursing

“At UCU, I not only got knowledge and skills but had moral values reinforced and instilled.”

Geneva Masika
Warden, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2006 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration

“UCU improved my chances of having a career by exposing me to opportunities. I’m happy to be part of the UCU family.”

 Barnabas Oyesiga
Communications team leader, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2011 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Public Health

“It was a friendly environment with holistic teaching that reinforced Christian values in academic and social life.”

Niwaha Bright
Communications officer, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2016 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communications

“Being able to work on the student newspaper better equipped me with skills and expanded opportunities for my career.”

Kabasomi Harriet
Personal assistant to executive director, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2012 UCU graduate with Bachelor of Public Health

“The Christian environment at UCU helped me spiritually and emotionally. It’s the best university that I would recommend someone to join.”

Rev. Caleb Turyabagyeni
Chaplain, Bwindi Community Hospital

  • 2011 UCU Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology graduate with Bachelor of Divinity

“The most positive aspect of UCU is the Christian environment.  I’m proud to say I’m a UCU alum.”

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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in Uganda, contact Uganda Partners’ Executive Director Mark Bartels at mtbartels@gmail.com.

Also, follow our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

UCU Partners scholarship awardee straddles aspirations in science and business

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By Patty Huston-Holm

On paper, Matende Wilson Paul is a Uganda Christian University (UCU) business student. He has a diploma and is working on a bachelor’s degree.

In his head, “I’m a scientist,” he said. In between studies, Wilson Paul, as he prefers to be called, teaches chemistry at his alma mater, Vision High School, Nakifuma (Mukono District).

It’s a strange combination – one that he admits with uncertainty about where it will take him. For now, however, he has written a chemistry book (the science part) and is selling it (the business part). It’s called “D1-I Must Pass Chemistry.” (The D1 is a protein with many functions and interactions.) His book has been reviewed and verified as accurate and valuable by academic teachers of science and chemistry. As of autumn 2018, he sold 70 copies at 15,000 shillings ($4) each.

“I don’t care about making money,” Wilson Paul, age 22, said. “I just want to help students get through chemistry easier than I did.”

In truth, chemistry came easy for Wilson Paul despite no chemistry teacher or class when he was at Vision High School. He and eight classmates formed a class. They studied without books and lab equipment. Despite their passion and learning, they knew the lack of a formally approved curriculum and deficient experimentation tools would cripple them when applying for entrance into related university programs.

“I have no paper to say what I know,” he said.

And like many students, funding to continue education was a barrier. Born to teenage parents who eventually separated, Wilson Paul was raised by his grandmother, going to primary school behind Mukono’s Colline Hotel.

He “felt like a failure” until he met Mary Chowenhill, a Florida resident living and teaching entrepreneurship at UCU. Together, they started teaching Sunday School in 2013, including one trip to western Uganda’s Masindi village to guide 400 children. They lost touch. Then, two years ago, they reunited with Mary’s proposal that Wilson Paul study business at her sponsorship. It happened through UCU Partners.

“It was like bringing me back from the dead,” Wilson Paul said. “I can’t tell her how much that meant to me or how much she means to me now.”

While Wilson Paul is uncertain about his future after finishing at UCU, he knows he will have one foot in science and one in business.

“I want to do both,” he said. “Mary reminds me that God has a purpose for everything and everybody, including me. I’ll keep searching.”

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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as UCU Partners Scholarship Recipient Wilson Paul is, contact Uganda Partners’ Director @mtbartels@gmail.com or click on the “Donate” button in the upper right corner of this page.

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From Grass to Grace: ‘Good Samaritan’ acts help UCU Partners’ recipient give back

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Sarah Tumuramye, left, with Ivan Atuyambe, a UCU alum who paid for Sarah’s university education (UCU Partners photo)

By Patty Huston-Holm

Ivan Atuyambe has been spat upon, abandoned, beaten and starved. Conversely, the 31-year-old Uganda Christian University (UCU) graduate who works out of Tanzania is saved, loved, educated, and determined to give back.

His dream job is Secretary General of the United Nations, or something akin to a high-ranking international civil servant. His goal is to drive transformational leadership and good governance in Africa. Ivan is on his way now as he leads a regional leadership development initiative called the East Africa Youth Leadership Summit (www.youleadsummit.org), which aims to raise a new breed of leaders in East Africa. He also founded the Africa Centre for Integrity and Anti-Corruption. (www.acacia-africa.org)

During a 12-hour drive from Uganda’s central Kampala to western Bwindi, Ivan, who obtained his first of three academic degrees at UCU through a UCU Partners scholarship, told his story of desperation, redemption and inspiration.

Desperation
“I felt worthless, hated, miserable, with tears as the only thing coming from me,” he recalled of his early childhood.

To the best of his recollection, he was age 5 when he watched his mother walk out the door, abandoning marriage and motherhood in frustration from her drunk and abusive husband. Subsequently, the four children – Ivan, a brother and two sisters – became more frequent victims of their father’s anger. Nobody, including their father or his other two wives, wanted Ivan or his siblings.

One of Ivan’s designated caregivers was a woman he called “auntie.” She beat him with a broom and threatened to kill him. Another was a stepmother who resented raising another woman’s child, threatening divorce if the boy was in the house.

“I hatched a plan to kill myself by drowning in a huge river,” Ivan recalled. “I went to the river and went down three times, but came back up in fear.”

The early morning suicide attempt came when Ivan was about age 7. Confused and directionless, he walked away from the riverbanks, thinking that others might see some use in him as a cattle caretaker. He knew if he did that successfully for a year, he could get a heifer or bull of his own. Without food and water and wearing an oversized sweater and no trousers, he walked over the hills of Kabale into Rukungiri. As the day darkened, he was spotted by an Anglican pastor, who took him to his home.

“Nobody wanted to touch me or get near me,” Ivan recalled of that first experience walking into the pastor’s house. “I was dirty, miserable looking, half dressed. They gave me a long coat and mat for sleeping. I laid on it at night and picked it up each morning before everybody woke.”

To stay in the house, he was required to dig potatoes and do other family chores, including cooking and delivering food to children at their schools. Things improved when his abandoned child status got him a primary school scholarship through the African Evangelistic Enterprise. But they got worse as the pastor’s wife grew to believe he was the biological son of the pastor and another woman. The wife and her daughters exhibited anger by withholding food and spitting in his footsteps.

The pastor told Ivan not to despair and to “be patient.”

He was. He continued to carry water, clean and cook for the family while thriving at school. He completed Primary 7 at age 14 before the funding stopped.

Redemption
At age 12, while still in Primary 4, Ivan was saved.

“I didn’t know much about God,” Ivan said. “There was a woman evangelist speaking at a mission from John 15: 4-7 and about doing work in His name, and God being the only reliable father.”

With a less-than-stellar biological father, Ivan found peace in the message that he had a heavenly Father who loved him. He turned his life over to Christ, and joined an older person’s evening fellowship, which fulfilled his new hunger for the Word and for feeling valued amidst ill treatment at home. He also began to lead Bible fellowship at school.

At age 13, Ivan learned his father had died. In 2001, he searched and found his mother. Inflicted with HIV/AIDs from a lifestyle of prostitution, she apologized for abandoning her son and asked for forgiveness. Weeks later, she died.

Shortly thereafter, a United Kingdom couple that met Ivan at a Christian conference, agreed to pay his school fees through much of his secondary education. It was during his first days as a secondary school student that Ivan recalls “the most amazing aspect of his life.” The Rev. Dr. Edward Muhima, then National Team Leader of the African Evangelistic Enterprise, came to the school as a guest preacher. A short time later, Ivan was welcomed into the loving, welcoming family of Muhima, who was then bishop of the North Kigesi Diocese in the Western Uganda District of Rukungiri.

“I shared a room with the son,” Ivan said. “Almost immediately, I was treated equally as one of the children and by the children. Even today, these are my only and closest relatives – parents and brothers and sisters. I love them; they love me. This is my God-given family.”

Through life as a Bishop’s son, he met a couple from Washington, D.C., and a woman from Dallas, Texas. Together, they paid his higher education through Uganda Christian University Partners.

Inspiration
Being angry about mistreatment was never an option for Ivan.

Looking back on his life, he focuses on the caring pastor who picked him up from the street on that day of his suicide attempt; the scholarship sponsors, including UCU Partners that supported Ivan’s bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Management at UCU; and the retired Bishop and his family that Ivan calls his own. He also has been blessed to receive scholarships for two post-graduate degrees from universities in Germany and Austria.

Today, the people and organizations that gave to him have inspired Ivan to give to others. One of his first giving back to UCU and UCU Partners was to sponsor the sister of a friend to get her degree from UCU.

“I thought he was joking at first,” said Sarah Tumuramye, the recipient of Ivan’s scholarship for her UCU Business Administration degree she attained in 2018. In a break from her job as cashier at the Batwa Development Program (Bwindi, Uganda), she said she is “so grateful.”

Ivan has sponsored four girls total – two university graduates (including Sarah), one currently in an undergraduate program and one in primary school. He also supports people living on some land he purchased.

Ivan’s full-time job is as the Regional Training and Development Advisor at the Danish government’s MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation, in Arusha, Tanzania. His work of engaging governments, development NGOs and youth leaders takes him across Africa and to Asia, Europe and Arab regions.

“So many people believed in me and supported me,” Ivan said. “I’m investing in others the way they invested in me. And I know the honor and glory for any blessings go to the Lord.”

Chris Nsanze, left, a dentist, poses with Ivan, who says Chris was one of his role models growing up (UCU Partners Photo)

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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as UCU Partners Scholarship Recipient Ivan Atuyambe is, contact Uganda Partners’ Director @mtbartels@gmail.com.
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UCU “Save a Buddy” campaign gives hope to needy students

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By Billy Bayo

The African culture is one of the most generous societies in the world. It attaches a lot of meaning to generosity because it is a product of a social consciousness with which Africans proudly identify, guarded by the principle of communalism.

At Uganda Christian University (UCU), an example of how this generosity is the student-driven initiative called Save a Buddy. The program is aimed at helping needy students who are unable to clear tuition and successfully sit for their semester examinations. Students contribute to help their less-fortunate peers through collections of money at the campus entrance gates, serving food in the dining hall to students, and car wash fundraising.

These activities are carried out in each of the three (January, May, and September) semesters at UCU. The current September (advent) semester Save a Buddy program runs from 15th – 26th October 2018.

Recipient Expectations and Appreciation
Through the Financial Aid office, those chosen to receive Save a Buddy funds have their accounts credited with money in exchange for work two hours a day for the semester.

One such recipient is Trinity Ochen, who will graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration from UCU this Friday, October 26. Ochen was meeting his financial obligations until his supporter, an older brother named Daniel Odinga, was critically injured in a bomb blast from a building in Myanmar.

“Tuition was more challenging,” Ochen said.  “Whenever the tuition deadline was due, I would beg from friends. Because of Save a Buddy, I didn’t have to do that during my last semester.”

Another student, Justine Nanyanzi, echoed appreciation for tuition assistance.

“I was working for my sponsor, but instead of paying me, she was paying my tuition,” said Justine, a year two student pursuing a Bachelor of Procurement and Logistics Management. “However, things changed when her hotel building was taken, and I lost my job. She sold beds and mattresses and paid my tuition for the first year second semester. Then, my sponsor lost her father, and things became more difficult.”

Justine was considering suicide before the financial aid arrived.  She is grateful.

A third student, Ivan Muteesasira, was “saved” from worry about where he would find food to eat. With financial assistance, he is able to better concentrate on his studies related to Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Student loan option under exploration
According to Mr. Walter Washika, a financial aid officer at UCU, the fundamental objective of the financial office is to coordinate different scholarship programs that benefit students.

“Besides giving hope to the students, there is mentorship,” Washika said. “I am happy people worldwide are contributing towards this noble cause.”

With the growing need for financial support in the university, the financial aid office is undertaking steps to launch a student loan scheme to ease the hardship and help more students attain their education.

“We should have a student loan option soon so that our needy students can borrow and repay the money later,” Washika disclosed.

Other Scholarships at UCU
Apart from Save a buddy, UCU has a number of scholarships.  These include:

Biological scholarships.  These benefit children of full-time staff at UCU. This is given to the students until they complete their program of study.

Sports scholarships. This is mainly awarded to exceptionally good sports students. Most of these students take part in playing games for the university.

Theological Scholarship. The university gets two students from each diocese across the country under this scholarship.

Needs-based scholarships. Needy students work throughout the semester to get money accredited to their account commensurate to the amount of work done.

Merit-based awards. This award is based on academic performance of students. It targets best performing students who are unable to pay tuition at the university.

Designated scholarships. This scholarship occurs from the outside community through partnerships, including from UCU Partners.

“I am now performing very well because I do not have sleepless nights any more,” said Muteesasira.  “There is food for me at the university as opposed to the past.”

Nanyanzi’s disappointment was turned around by the UCU financial aid office that “have helped me carry on. UCU is the best place and has moulded me spiritually. I thank God I joined UCU.”

“There is a lot of commitment from the lecturers towards teaching the students, giving students the best platform and knowledge,” Ochen said. “I am happy for the opportunity to study at UCU.”

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If you are interested in supporting Uganda scholarships, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

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