(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.
(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)
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)
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.
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 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.
Ogwal in an interview with Uganda Partners at the Medical School premises
(NOTE: In September 2018, Uganda Christian University launched a School of Medicine with 60 students. To “put a face” on Uganda’s future doctors and dentists, some of these students, including this one, were interviewed at the completion of the first semester.)
By Alex Taremwa When he applied (one day before the deadline) to be enrolled in dentistry as part of the pioneer Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Medicine, Richard Ogwal, who turns 36 in February, did not know where the $1,900 (Shs7million) for tuition was going to come from.
He arrived from his rural district of Agago in Northern Uganda with just $270 (Shs1million) that was not even enough to cover his hostel fees. The father of two and the firstborn of an extended family of 17 children from four wives said that he counted on the Government Loans’ Scheme and the State House Scholarship to meet his tuition.
However, his bubble burst midway through the first semester when the list of successful candidates for the Government Loans’ Scheme was pinned on the notice board. Ogwal’s name was not in it.
When he inquired from the Medical School Head, Dr. Ned Kanyesigye, about the absence of his name, Ogwal was told that the government could not include UCU Medical School courses among those covered by the Scheme for 2018 because the School started in mid-year – not the full year. Around the same time, Ogwal received a warning letter that he would be thrown out of the hostel if he did not register fully. A few days later, another letter arrived – this time from the Academics Office warning him that he would not be allowed to take the forthcoming examinations if he wasn’t fully paid up.
“I almost ran mad,” Ogwal said. “Not only was I stuck, but I also was very frustrated. I kept calling Dr. Ned, David Mugawe (the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Development and External Relations) and literally everyone who cared to listen about my problems. They said they would pray for me.”
The fast A strong and prayerful Christian, Ogwal turned to God. At the same time, he phoned his parents back home and instructed them to sell off a piece of land he had acquired. But the plan hit a snag when the buyer pulled out at the last minute.
Ogwal’s hopes diminished.
With family members, he engaged in a three-day fast that lengthened to five days.
“Things were tough,” Ogwal, now a hostel captain, said. “The siblings that I pay for needed money, my family needed money, I needed money, and I was running out of time. My friends up to now tell me that I am the most courageous person because I remained firm.”
Two days after the family’s five-day fast, Ogwal got a breakthrough. He received a phone call inviting him to Uganda’s Parliament to sign off on the State House Scholarship. He recalled that day:
“This time, I actually ran mad! I could not believe it. I ran out of the gate and took a boda-boda (motorcycle) to Parliament, handed in my passport photo and academic papers and the money –and all the Shs7 million was processed to the university’s account.”
By the time he returned from Parliament, UCU’s Financial Aid Manager, Walter Washika, had already notified the School of Medicine to clear Ogwal for exams and fully register him – a pure work of God.
Ogwal during the interview with Uganda Partners at the Medical School premises.
The Bachelors in Dental Science student now speaks confidently about the future that awaits him. In the midst of his studies, he says that he wants to start a charity organisation that will help less-privileged children like him getter a better education and livelihood. Unlike at his home where he and his siblings only had one meal a day, he wants to give children the chance for more nutrition and a better life, especially in war-torn areas like his home district where the Lords’ Resistance Army (LRA) once forced his family to live in an Internally Displaced Camp (IDP).
Ogwal says in addition to his studies, he hopes to inspire fellow students about the Grace of God through prayer and fellowship.
“I am the first in my village to study Dentistry,” he said “My people expect a lot of me and I have to live up to that standard so that I can inspire the next generation.”
UCU dentistry student, Peter Kabuye (UCU Partners photo)
(NOTE: In September 2018, Uganda Christian University launched a School of Medicine with 60 students. To “put a face” on Uganda’s future doctors and dentists, some of these students, including this one, were interviewed after the completion of the first semester.)
By Brendah Ndagire Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Medicine student, 20-year-old Peter Kabuye from Kimbugu, Mpigi district, Uganda, hopes to fill the huge gap in his country’s dental needs. He hopes he can be an instrument of change through providing dental services, especially in rural areas where there is the greatest need. Even though he comes from a family where his parents are mostly interested in the arts and business careers, Kabuye is not shying away from his primary interest in sciences. Part of his story is shared here.
How did you get drawn to the dental surgery? In high school, I had a dental appointment with Dr. Timothy Mawano, at his dental clinic. And the way he talked about dental surgery and his experience in the dental field, it made an impression on me. I asked more questions about it and he encouraged me to study dentistry. He essentially inspired me to study this program. But, I also am continually inspired by the owner of Jubilee Dental Clinic; his name is Dr. James Magala, a father of my colleague here at UCU. Going forward, the main reasons for being part of this program are to address the need of dentists in my community, and contribute something good to our country.
In your community, where have you identified the need for dentists?The main need is lack of financial resources to construct dental clinics in Kimbugu Village, Mpigi district. Secondly, there are some dentists in my village but there are not qualified professionals. They do not have resources to conduct dental services. Most people in my rural village if they, for instance, have a cavity, the only option they have is to extract their tooth. If the same people were living in Kampala, they would be exposed to more options such as dental cleaning and refilling the cavity.
Peter at UCU’s School of Medicine in Mengo, Kampala.(UCU Partners photo)
Have you always wanted to be a dentist? It has always been a combination of medicine and dentistry because when you study medicine, you can also decide to end up in dental surgery. But I was more drawn to understanding/studying the parts of the head, mouth, teeth, etc., and that’s what dental surgery is all about.
What challenges have you observed so far that contribute to a shortage of dentists in Uganda? The main challenge is that it is expensive to study science programs in Uganda. For example, most Ugandans can only afford to study science programs at Makerere University, if they are sponsored by the government (since it is a public university). And there are only a few universities teaching dental surgery, namely, Kampala International University, Makerere University, and currently Uganda Christian University. The economic problem, coupled with limited universities teaching dentistry, contribute greatly to this shortage.
Why study at UCU? I wanted to study at a university that embraces God. The second reason was that compared to other universities, UCU has smaller classes and I wanted to study at a university where I can study in small groups and get the best out of your lecturer.
What has been so far the most positive aspect of studying at UCU?Small classes which contribute to team building, relationship building and a better learning environment are a plus. Secondly, community worship is conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It helps us to take time to get to know more about God. And lastly, professors are very engaging and love teaching us.
What classes do you find interesting so far? Anatomy. It is so new to me, and gives me a new language. I derive my current happiness in the process of discussing different and new concepts in that class. I also like Bio Chemistry but currently it is getting harder to engage with.
So far what challenges have you experienced as a student at UCU? My current and major challenge is commuting for a long time to get to school every day. I live far from Mengo Hospital where UCU School of Medicine is located. And I have observed that because I spend so much time commuting, I rarely get time to rest and concentrate on studying my books. That had a negative impact on my grades last semester. I hope to move soon to a closer neighborhood.
Davis Ampumuza at UCU’s new medical school (Uganda Christian University Partners Photo)
(NOTE: In September 2018, Uganda Christian University launched a School of Medicine with 60 students. To “put a face” on Uganda’s future doctors and dentists, some of these students were interviewed at the completion of the first semester. This is a story about one student.)
By Pauline Atwine For Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Medicine (SoM) student Davis Ampumuza, the cards seemed stacked against him.
He is one of 20 children by a father with multiple wives.
A mom who had no formal English-speaking skills raised him.
Nobody else in his family had completed a university education.
At age 27, he was older than nearly all the first-year SoM students.
But what he had going for him was a passion to improve health care and two friends – one who nudged him to apply to the university’s new medical school and another who loaned him the application fee.
“I was pushed into applying for the Bachelor of Medicine program by a friend who had finished his studies at UCU,” Davis, who grew up in the Rubimbwa Parish in Kabale District, said. “On a quest to fulfill my burning desires to make it among the shortlist, I hurried off to borrow the application fee from a village friend.”
The added appeal to study at UCU was the university’s infusion of moral Christian values in the curriculum. Speaking at the end of the first semester, he talked not only about the academic knowledge and skills but also how his spiritual life has been strengthened.
Davis Ampumuza with some of his class mates at UCU School of Medicine (Uganda Christian University Partners Photo)
In particular, Davis has promised himself to bring strong work ethic and enthusiasm in the medical field to save the rate at which pregnant mothers lose their lives and children due to negligence and unavailability of medical officers. This goal alone drives Davis to keep seeking his tuition fees.
“I was one of those kids from the poor school who saw how green the grass was on the other side of the world,” he said. “I couldn’t sit back and expect someone to pay for my education. I had to miss some classes – getting notes from other students – to do things like play the guitar and teach it in church to even afford basic needs like scholastic materials.”
Yet, Davis keeps his focus on what he feels are critical needs in his country’s health care system. Prior to the Christmas 2018 break, he writes, in part:
“The short answer to making health care better in Uganda is a well-developed infrastructure. The longer answer relates to the fact that women in particular stay in very hard to reach areas whereby the distance between their homes and health units is very long and the roads are very poor. This makes it very difficult for the expectant mothers to acquire services easily and some of them end up losing their lives and their babies. Furthermore, minor surgeries are performed by under qualified staff…”
Beatrice Birungi at UCU School of Medicine (UCU Partners photo)
(NOTE: In September 2018, Uganda Christian University launched a School of Medicine with 60 students. To “put a face” on Uganda’s future doctors and dentists, some of these students were interviewed at the completion of the first semester. This is a story about one of these students.)
By Frank Obonyo As I sat down to write her story, one thing became clear. Beatrice Birungi’s aspirations are comparable to those of Dr. Bernard Rieux in the novel, The Plague.
In his fictional account, Rieux was one of the first people to urge the public to take stringent measures to fight the deadly epidemic that struck the French Algerian City of Oran. When it is placed under quarantine, Dr. Rieux continues to battle the plague despite signs that his efforts make little or no difference. Although he is separated from his wife, he does not allow his personal distress to distract him from his battle to relieve the collective social suffering.
Just like Oran City, Beatrice’s village Bumate in Bundibugyo District Western Uganda was swept by an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in 2010 when she was just eight. Four of her relatives died because of the deadly virus, and the surviving ones were not allowed to take part in the burial ceremonies. In any African tradition, telling one that they cannot bury their loved ones can be tormenting.
As a little child, she saw her surviving relatives quarantined by the government to reduce any further spread of the virus. Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids—and the disease can cause people to excrete blood and other bodily fluids as they die. Thus, the precaution of the quarantine occurred.
Beatrice then made up her mind to study and become a medical doctor in order to raise awareness about Ebola prevention and treatment with the hope of saving her community. She is one of the pioneers of the Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Medicine.
“I want to become a doctor so that I can help my people should that kind of epidemic strike again,” Beatrice said. “I felt that there was much more that would have been done such as educating health workers on better understanding of the disease and strengthening clinical care.”
Time and time again, it has been necessary for Beatrice to have a strong will and determination. She has never been the type of student who looked down on herself. She has a heart to help the community and believes that an African girl deserves to achieve much even amidst all odds.
Medical Laboratory head, the Rev. Bernard Simeon Bakunda, demonstrates the Estimation of Haemoglobin by Sahli’s Technique to student Beatrice Birungi. (UCU Partners photo)
“Girls should not be put in this little picture of a small person who is only supposed to be beautiful and speak nicely,” she said. “They also can become doctors.”
She chose UCU’s School of Medicine because she was told by her dad and three other siblings who studied at UCU that she would receive a holistic education – one that addresses the hands, head and heart.
“We have a tight schedule at the School of Medicine but it is all about setting priorities right,” she said. “Our school is new, but there is a bright future for it. I love the small class because it enables us to interact with lecturers so freely, and we hope to get more and better equipment which will be used to train us into better medics.”
Beatrice also is a writer. She started working on a fictional story in 2017 and believes she will be a published author within the next two years.
Against equal opportunity challenges common to most African girls, Beatrice decided she would not allow negative people to keep her from achieving her goals. She has hope and a “no-give-up” spirit.
“I am proud to say that I have always been determined to pass and graduate as a medical doctor even though my society often believes that the girl child is only good for marriage,” she said.
Ronnie Mwesigwa, UCU School of Medicine Student (UgandaPartners Photo)
(In 2017, the World Health Organization reported Uganda’s doctor-to-patient ratio to be one doctor per every 25,725 patients. This story represents one Uganda Christian University School of Medicine student example of how that gap might be filled.)
By Douglas Olum In 2015, Ronnie Mwesigwa lost his grandmother – a death he believes was caused by negligent doctors. Her final note urged her grandson to “study medicine and become a doctor.” He is.
“The doctor who was serving her postponed her treatment many times even when she needed immediate attention,” said Mwesigwa, who is among 50 students pursuing Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees at the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine (UCUSoM). The 20-year-old Ugandan born to a statistician dad, John Bosco Asiimwe, and a civil engineer mom, Priscilla Kobusinge, believes if he had been a doctor, he could have saved his grandmother’s life.
Inspiration He is the first born to both parents and the only child in their broken marriage. He is the only boy among his mother’s three children and one of the four boys among his father’s eight children. A step-father was a doctor. He urges his siblings to pursue sciences and come to the rescue of Uganda, especially in the ailing health sector.
“My first inspiration to study medicine was when I traveled to visit my step-dad in Botswana where he worked in 2012 during my senior one vacation,” Mwesigwa said. “He was called around 1 O’clock in the night to attend to an emergency. I saw him pace up and down, trying to figure out a solution for the patient, a child that unfortunately passed on. I saw him sit down, hold his head at his palm and weep.”
Loss of Mwesigwa’s maternal grandmother to cancer occurred while he sat for his final Ordinary Level examinations (Uganda Certificate of Education).
After those two losses, Mwesigwa was determined to change that story for others. He said that he cares about people and wants to help them live happy lives by keeping them healthy.
Before his admission to the UCU School of Medicine, Mwesigwa was looking at studies in bio-medical Science at Makerere University, the oldest and most popular university in the country. But he knew that would not bring him to his career goal.
Challenge Unlike many students facing financial challenges as they pursue their dream course, Mwesigwa says his only challenge this semester has been keeping pace with the course work that accumulates every day. A lover of challenges because of their push to make him a better person, he is up to it.
Motivation Even amidst the demanding course requirements and lectures, Mwesigwa says he finds his solace in listening to inspirational music, watching football and studying the UCU Christian-related foundation courses. These include: Old Testament, New Testament, Ethics, Christian World Views, among others.
Before joining the school, his greatest motivation has been his mother who believed in his dream and continuously encouraged him to chase it. He said she was the one who brought home to him a copy of the newspaper that contained the UCUSoM call for applications.
Desire to serve After finishing his five-year course, Mwesigwa wants to work in Uganda and contribute towards healing the ailing health sector. He says while money is a big factor when it comes to health care, he also is concerned about the huge patient-to-doctor ratio in Uganda, a thing that he thinks partially contributes to the poor health service delivery in the country.
Ayikoru Hilda, UCU School of Medicine Denistry Student (UgandaPartners Photo)
(In 2014, the Uganda Ministry of Health reported only 200 dentists in the entire country. In the same year (the latest available data), more than 51% of Ugandans had dental diseases, and 76% of children under age 5 and 93% of adults reportedly suffered tooth decay. If dentists were distributed geographically equitable throughout Uganda, there would be 1 dentist serving about 175,000 people – a deficit in itself but an even greater problem because Ugandan dentists tend to be located in urban and not rural areas despite the fact that Uganda’s national health policy requires that every district has at least one dentist. The rural community challenge especially hits home for Ayikoru Hilda Diana, a “freshman” student in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery program within the recently opened Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Medicine. She’s from the sparsely served area of Arua in Uganda’s northern region. In this interview, Ayikoru Hilda shares her hopes and dreams for the field of dentistry in Uganda.)
By Brendah Ndagire How did you get drawn to Dental Surgery? During high school I loved sciences. With my interest and academic proficiency in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, I wanted to go medical school. When I was presented with the opportunity to go to Uganda Christian University’s School of Medicine, I knew that I wanted to study Dental Surgery because I have always found dentists interesting people. Besides, there are few dentists in Uganda. I have always wanted to make an impact in my community, and I thought since there are few dentists in my country and especially in the area where I was born, I would make a better impact in that field.
Apart from the shortage of dentists in Uganda, what challenges have you observed? The current challenge with dentistry field is that in most cases when some people with a toothache go to a dental clinic in Uganda, a dentist just extracts the tooth. Yet, there is more to being a dentist than just pulling out a tooth. It seems like most dentists here are only taught how to remove a tooth instead of examining different ways they can engage with patients about dental and oral hygiene and treatment.
Hilda, center, with other Dental Surgery students at the UCU Kampala Campus.(UgandaPartners Photo)
Why study at UCU School of Medicine? There are only two Ugandan universities that have a bachelor’s degree program in Dental Surgery, namely, Makerere University and Uganda Christian University. I chose UCU because I come from a Christian family, and two of my siblings have studied/are still studying at UCU. Beyond that, it is really the integration of a Christian perspective with different classes. For example, this semester, I had three science classes, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology, and humanity classes such as Understanding the New Testament and Old Testament. I love having a christian perspective on issues affecting our daily lives.
In Arua District, where do you see a need for dentists? There is a lot of need for dentists in the Arua District. I remember every school term, whenever I used to go for a dental check up as a requirement for school entry, I had never seen an actual dentist. For more than 7 years, I had never seen an actual dentist! I also have lived in Fort Portal, Kabarole District, and I never saw a dentist there either. I am saying “actual” because the only thing they knew how to do was a check up and pulling out a tooth. But dentistry goes beyond tooth extraction. And the only time I have seen an actual dentist is in Kampala and neighboring urban areas, where dentist examine the oral conditions of a patient, recommend measures to take to prevent dental diseases and so forth.
Recognizing the challenges and reality of dentists in your community, what do you hope to do differently as a dental surgeon? I want to primarily teach people about the importance of teeth and oral hygiene. My mother was a midwife, and I used to go with her at the hospital. One day, a woman came and without telling the doctors what problem she had with her tooth, she asked them to remove the tooth. And I thought to myself, “you can’t just remove teeth. Learn about the problem causing the toothache, and find out whether it can be prevented or treated without removing the entire tooth.” As a dentist, the first approach is to teach people about everything regarding teeth and oral hygiene.
(UgandaPartners Photo)
Where do you hope to practice as a dentist? I would like to work in my home district of Arua because I see the greatest need for dentists there. I hope to work as a dentist, but I also hope to teach dentistry to the people there. I believe working as a dentist in Arua would help people in my community but I also think teaching them would make a greater impact. If I can do both, the better.
What has so far been the most positive aspect of studying at UCU School of Medicine?Professors/lecturers teach to make sure that we excel in our classes. Not many professors/lecturers love to teach. Some teach to fail students but I think our professors really love teaching us. I can see that they really care about us, and about the university’s good reputation.
Who do you look up to as you pursue this journey? My mother and father have been my inspiration in this field of medicine. My mother was a midwife; she passed away in 2014. And my father used to be a veterinary doctor. At UCU, I am inspired by Dr. Albert Kasangaki, the head of dentistry who also studied dental surgery and everything related to oral surgery.
Elizabeth Ekong and Faith Sebuliba at Uganda Christian University (UgandaPartners Photo)
By Brendah Ndagire
In 2006, Elizabeth Ekong and Faith Sebuliba were part of the pioneer group of students enrolled in the Nursing Program at Uganda Christian University (UCU). A dozen years later, they are close to leading it.
When they began, they did not think about the prospect of being considered the future leaders of UCU’s Nursing Program. Once they graduated with bachelor degrees in 2008, they got employed and started working as tutorial assistants for new students. As teaching assistants, they were intentionally mentored by the current founders and heads of UCU’s Nursing Department, Mrs. Jemimah Mutabaazi; and Dr. Karen Drake of Bethel University in Minnesota, USA. The mentorship process is geared towards sustaining the program leadership by putting it in the hands of Ugandans.
UCU nursing program growth UCU nursing has deepened from certificates, diplomas and bachelor degrees to offerings at the post-graduate (PG) level. The first PG program leads to a Master of Nursing Science. Other graduate degree programs are planned in midwifery, women’s health, and psychiatry as these relate to nursing.
As trailblazers, Faith and Elizabeth graduated with their Master’s in Nursing Science in 2011. They were appointed lecturers, teaching undergraduate students in nursing classes such as foundations of nursing, medical surgical, anatomy, physiology, research, and midwifery. With Mrs. Mutabaazi, they were among only four full-time lecturers in all nursing classes for a long time. In their full-time lecturer roles, “we were expected to be an all-round teachers,” Elizabeth said. Today, they still work as lecturers as well as being online PhD students of nursing through Texila American University.
Faith with some of her students, Magdalene Kokor (right) and Kemigisha Misk (left) – (Uganda Partners Photo)
What makes UCU’s Nursing Program different from other programs in other universities in Uganda is that the Bachelor of Nursing curricula at UCU includes foundation courses like world views, Christian living (New and Old Testament), Christian ethics and others that ground students in reflecting and managing their future clients as individuals that deserve the best of care.
“To me, as a nurse, it is really important to strengthen my professional as well as my Christian ethics,” Elizabeth said. “As a Christian it is important to know what kind of professional ethics I am going to portray as I practice nursing.”
“All we are and what we do is the result of our faith. It is not all about being like any other nurse or teacher, but being a Christian nurse and teacher begins with serving the Author and Giver of this life we have, and inviting others to be part of that service in our communities.” Faith Sebuliba
Passion to serve Reflecting on lessons learned as lecturers, Elizabeth and Faith both remember how they started their passion and inspiration for teaching and becoming nurses.
Faith remembers the time when she was a 6-year-old child and damaged her eardrum. She had accidentally put a stick in her ear. While she was at the hospital, she loved the nurses who took care of her in the entire healing process.
In earlier years, teaching wasn’t Elizabeth’s passion. “I had been a student and saw how teachers treated students, and I remembered that when I finished my first diploma in midwifery, I never wanted to be a teacher. Over time, I learned that I can be a teacher with a difference. This means valuing students and the work we are doing. And that’s what I wanted to do as a nursing teacher.”
Speaking about the challenges facing UCU’s Nursing Program, they have seen the main obstacles of being under-staffed due to limited funding and lower student enrolment. The program currently has some part-time staff and “the challenge with that is we are unable to stretch part-time staff. They only give you the time they have available. Our hope is that we are able to hire and have full-time lecturers in the future,” Faith said.
Regarding low student enrolment, since the program is full-time, many prospective candidates are not able to apply for full-time classes. “Many of them are already working and cannot afford to hold their work and study full-time. The enrolment numbers have been going down over the years, so our responsibility is to make sure that these number start increasing,” added Faith.
Elizabeth in class with her student Esther Gidongo. (UgandaPartners Photo)
The main question they ask themselves is how they can keep providing good quality education and also attract a good number of students in the nursing program. In future, they are looking at revising the nursing curriculum, modifying their teaching methods to include more dialogue, and the possibility of having both online and classes on campus for undergraduate students.
“We (also) intend to increase work-based learning so as to create an impact on the employability of our graduates, and strengthen employability skills for professional nurses,” Elizabeth said.
Partnerships are key Partnerships are one way of increasing the number of students coming through the bachelor and master degree pipeline. Two years ago, partnerships were forged with Bwindi and Kagando Schools of Nursing, which both offer Diplomas in Nursing. The two women intend to maintain this partnership, with the hope that if diploma graduates are interested in getting their BA in nursing, they would come to UCU.
They also hope to continue the tradition of grooming other students. And part of doing this is having an inclusive education. According to Faith, “students have different learning needs. Our responsibility is to come down to the level of students, and make sure that every student is included in the conversation we are having on a particular subject.” Being humble as a teacher also is important. Teachers can learn from students.
Success viewpoints What does success look from the two mentored nurse perspectives?
For Elizabeth, success is “when students graduate and excel in every sphere of their lives. I understand that teaching is not about me, but about what kind of graduates we put out in our communities. What makes me happy is when I see a nursing graduate having a job… [and] when our graduates are confident in what they are doing in the field.”
For Faith: “We want to see as many people come to the program and when they go out there, they are relevant to the communities they are serving.”
They are excited about the future of nursing in Uganda. According to Faith, nursing in Uganda was previously the career for someone who couldn’t qualify for university learning.
“People have looked at nursing as some kind of diversion in career,” Elizabeth said. “If you failed in this field, you can be a nurse. This led to so many people in Uganda to disrespect the field and the nurses themselves.”
Having PhD graduates within Uganda’s nursing field would enhance the profession’s credibility. “The more qualified nursing graduates are, the more chances there are that Uganda’s healthcare system is going to improve,” Faith said.
This is pertinent to their responsibility as nurses and lecturers themselves, to change the perception of nursing and nurses at UCU and in Uganda.
“We want to let people know that the nursing field is for academicians and professionals who want to give quality nursing services to the communities in Uganda,” said Elizabeth.
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The Nursing Department at UCU is grateful for the special partnership they have with Bethel University. And these two women are specifically thankful to God, Uganda Partners’ support, and UCU leadership for investing in their growth as lecturers. If you are interested in supporting UCU’s Nursing Department or its students, contact the Uganda Partners’ Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.
Outside rural Rugarama Hospital in Kabale, Uganda (UCU Partners Photo)
It’s not unusual for a doctor to be from the Kabale village of Uganda. The rural, southwestern community that is about a 30-minute drive from the border of Rwanda has been a breeding ground for many who dreamed and realized a career in medicine. Yet, with degree in hand, they don’t come back.
“Most of them are practicing in the UK or the United States – or at least in an urban location,” said Dr. Gilbert Mateeka, superintendent of Kabale’s Rugarama Hospital since 2008. “It’s not easy to get doctors wanting to work in a rural area.”
70% of Uganda’s doctors serving 12% of country’s patients According to a 2016 report of Parliament Watch, an initiative of the Uganda Centre for Policy Analysis, 70% of Ugandan doctors work in cities serving 12% of Uganda’s population.
“There was never any question that I would come back,” Dr. Gilbert said. “Most people see being a doctor as something prestigious. I see what we do as that of a servant.”
Rural or urban, the Uganda health problems are the same. Non-communicable conditions of hypertension and diabetes are on the rise. While tuberculosis is nearly wiped out in developed countries, the infectious disease exists and is on the rise among the Ugandan 15-49 age group, largely because of HIV-weakened immune systems. Malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia are commonplace.
Rural challenges – lower literacy, less technology While doctors are needed everywhere, rural areas tend to be more challenged by illiteracy among the population and substandard technology in facilities. Residents outside of cities aren’t as open to lessons about nutrition and malnutrition and cautions about traditional healers and witch doctors.
“The healers are unregulated,” Dr. Gilbert said. “While they aren’t all bad, the spectrum of who they are and what they practice is so broad that people can’t know what they are getting.”
“Bonesetters,” for example, may be able to attend to some medical problems with success. On the other hand, more complicated fractures if attended to by a bonesetter can result in a deformed limb, chronic bone infection and other complications. The risk is much less with a licensed medical doctor.
In the midst of a September work day, Dr. Gilbert, age 45, reflected on what brought him to a career in medicine. There was no dramatic event but simply his childhood exposure to the problems that members of the congregation brought to his father as a pastor and watching a UK nurse, Jenny Tustian, who lived nearby. As a 10-year-old, he was most impressed with how the British nurse embraced not only her job but also the understanding of the Rukiga language.
“I knew early on that I wanted to do something to help people,” he said.
In a toss up between careers in medicine and in the clergy, medicine won, largely due to a scholarship from China Medical University in Shenyang, China. When finished, he knew he was coming home to practice.
“It was a bit of a shock at first,” Dr. Gilbert recalled. “The medical technology, hospital systems and the organized reliable supplies I learned with were no longer at my disposal. In the first month while on internship at Mulago National Referral Hospital, for any procedure on the patient, I kept looking for a standard procedure room and appropriate ready-to-use sterile procedure set but in vain.”
Creative with God attending He laughed at the remembrance of seeing another doctor being “the procedure room” by making rounds at Mulago Hospital with gauze swabs and syringes falling from his pockets.
On completion of an internship at Mulago in Kampala, he came back to Kabale to work with Rugarama Hospital, a Church founded Hospital. For a number of years he was the only medical doctor at the facility.
With some adjustments, much is the same today for the five Rugarama doctors weaving in and out of triage, emergency, abandoned baby, eye care, dental care and maternity sections to see an average of 120 patients a day. While the scope of services has widened significantly at the Rugarama Health facility to include surgery and health training, the daily care routine and cost to patients has remained much the same for 10 years. The cost to deliver a baby, for example, is 90,000 shillings, or just over $25.
Hospital grounds, viewed from top of maternity building (UCUPartners Photo)
“In a sense, it’s more creative this way,” he said. “You must think outside the box to do everything with nothing.”
For Gilbert A. Mateeka, there has never been a look back to a career where he might be making more money and be better known. He is pleased to be in rural Kabale – living with his wife (an English lecturer at Bishop Barham University College/UCU Regional Campus) and four children, including one who was once an abandoned baby at the hospital.
“This profession is a ministry,” he said. “We respect our patients as God’s children. God is watching by the patient’s side as an attendant to both the patients and us the health workers. Our mission is to show the love of Christ in whatever service we offer our patients.”
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For more information about how you can support Uganda Christian University School of Medicine so that future doctors can make a difference as Dr. Gilbert is, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners executive director, at mtbartels@gmail.com.
Unless you speak the Runyankore tribal language, you might be intimidated by a book entitled “Ndyamuhaki!” The author, Ugandan Edward (Ned) Kanyesigye, explains that what appears to be a single word on the front of his memoir “is actually a sentence.”
“It’s hard to explain in English,” he admits while pointing to the chapter 13 epilogue on pages 150 and 151. These final two pages illuminate the author’s fondness for a southwestern Uganda Rukiga hymn based on the Psalm 116:12 question of “What shall I return to the Lord for His goodness to me?” Specifically, the song’s chorus is sung as “Ndyamuhaki Yesu” with the rhetorical question: How can I ever thank Jesus?
Like many individuals coming to the end of life on earth, Kanyesigye – known more affectionately as “Dr. Ned” – sat down in his early 60s and started to document his life. His version of that life was published in 2016 but has more recently come to the attention of readers because of Dr. Ned’s role in the start of Uganda Christian University’s new School of Medicine. As a medical doctor who has seen and studied first-hand the need for such a school, he was instrumental in the four years of discussion and planning and in the September 2018 launch of the first class of future doctors and dentists.
In the first few chapters, he describes his “rags to riches” story. The beginning is typical of a child growing up in a Third World country. His father was an alcoholic and absent, including when he spent time in prison for “careless loss of money at work.” Ned got his first ride in a car at age 11. He entered secondary school with no shoes. Paying education tuition was an ongoing struggle.
Among the most memorable childhood stories was the author’s first recollection of death, including seeing iron nails for the first time as carpenters pounded them into his grandfather’s coffin. His late-teens’ entry into medical school includes a description of seeing cadavers – a memory that no doubt resonates with watching his medical school students’ experience with that today. His candor is refreshing throughout, including when he describes how he graduated from medical school a year late because of grades on the surgery portion of the examination and explains why his belief in God was so strong.
“Many of us who came from poor backgrounds tended to be more religious,” Ned, now age 66, penned on page 47. “When you were poor you…look up to the Creator for a happier, richer and more progressive life.”
The author is equally as honest about when he was doing well financially, namely when he was hired as a behavioral scientist doing work in Uganda for a medical research council based in the UK, and during his 26 years with Uganda Health (Civil) Services. In addition to travels around the west, southwest and central parts of Uganda, his work and scholarship opportunities took him to every continent except South America, including the countries of China, England, Australia and the United States.
In addition to his growing up years, the most turbulent times were when working and studying in the midst of government transition turmoil. As Ned discusses his study and work, he weaves in his connection – lack of food, water and supplies and the presence of gunshots – to the historical transition of power in Uganda. He tells us what he was doing during Milton Obote’s leadership related to independence from the British in 1962 to Idi Amin’s rein of terror in the 1970s to the National Resistance Army led by current president Yoweri Museveni.
For non-African readers, the text may be slowed by unfamiliar-sounding names of people and Ugandan geographical locations and understanding of certain cultural references (i.e. matooke is a type of banana). Chapters 11 and 12 that list main achievements and appreciation to family and friends, respectively, can be ignored except by those listed there. And the formula of starting most chapters with a time frame would have been better served by using one of Ned’s many rich stories at the onset.
That said, “Ndyamuhaki!” is a good read. This book is worth the time for those desiring a better understanding of Ugandan history with a first-person twist and to learn the life story of a leader for the new UCU School of Medicine.
Medical school director, left, with UCU Partners Board Member, Jack Klenk, in October. (UCU Partners photo)
Lovincer Katana, Uganda Christian University Partners scholarship recipient at 2018 graduation (UgandaPartners Photo)
UPDATE: Since this story was written in October, the subject of the interview has been ordained and currently volunteering with the Uganda Christian University’s Chaplaincy (December 2, 2018).
By Brendah Ndagire
Her family said “no.” But God said “yes.” It wasn’t quite that simple as Lovincer Katana, the oldest of seven children, straddled her dream of being a pastor with the acknowledgement that she wouldn’t make much money to support herself and her family.
Lovincer, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) M.Div’18 graduate, found a role model in her home priest, the now retired Rev. Kisitu Frederick. As a teenager and young woman in her 20s, she remembered how he talked at great lengths about his positive experiences as a student at Bishop Tucker College, which was renamed Uganda Christian University 21 years ago. Now age 28, Lovincer recalled being particularly inspired by the way Rev. Kisitu used to teach and engage the scripture for his congregation at St. Nicholas Church Kalerwe. She wanted those skills and that gift.
With a passion for theology, she knew the obstacles. Being a priest in Uganda does not usually come with financial gains. Most priests have to have another source of income as a teacher or a professor to economically sustain their families. As such and with the cultural expectation for children to support parents and younger siblings, most Ugandan mothers and fathers don’t encourage their children to study theology and take on priestly roles.
Such was especially true for Lovincer. Not only was she the first-born daughter of seven children, but she grew up in one of the harshest environments of Kampala, in the Kalerwe slums. Her parents wanted her to study something that would deliver not just herself but the rest of the family from the economic poverty of their neighborhood. To adhere to the pressure and accept her responsibility, she obtained her first degree in education from one of Uganda’s public universities, Kyambogo University in 2012, with the hope of gaining full-time employment as a secondary school teacher.
Lovincer graduated and got that job, but it was short lived. She worked for a few months as a teacher on the pay-roll at Gayaza High School, a Uganda girls school before being laid off. At the same time, she served at her home church in Kalerwe and was not discouraged as she continued to see God leading her to deeper service.
Lovincer with her fellow M.Div graduates at the graduation ceremony in July 2018 (UgandaPartners Photo)
In May 2015, after a rigorous application process for a three-year Master Program in Divinity, she was thrilled to find out that she was one of the 20 theology students in her class who would be receiving Uganda Christian University Partners financial support towards tuition. In 2018, Lovincer got that degree. Uganda Christian University Partners recently caught up with her to learn about her experiences at the university and where God is leading her. (This interview is edited for clarity.)
Briefly, share with us what has stood out for you as a theology student at UCU?
UCU is a unique university all around. What has stood out for me in the past three years were two days of the week – Tuesday and Thursday. At 12 Noon, students and faculty members would take time to pause whatever they were doing, and come to gather at Nkoyoyo Hall for community worship. I felt a unique sense of belonging in Christ and identity with God that transcended classes, ages, expertise, and our distinct backgrounds. It is our way of paying attention to what God is doing in our lives. And beyond theological classes I took, I really appreciated the foundational class on Worldviews. It exposed me to different perspectives and understanding about how other people perceive the world. It was important for me because often times as people we want to make sure our own worldview is dominant. We make sure we push it onto others without creating room for us to understand why other people think the way they do or why and how they were raised differently. And from there, we are able to understand to share what we believe or how we view the world around us. It is important to primarily understand where the other (person) is coming from so that we can share our perspective of God and the world from an understanding position. Finally I appreciated the practical aspect of our divinity classes, where we were equipped to exercise church ceremonies such as baptism, officiating weddings and so forth.
Lovincer’s Ordination Ceremony at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero. (UgandaPartners Photo)
Reflecting on your life before and during UCU to your graduation, where do you see God’s role in making this graduation happen?
God has been there for me really from the start. Every time I tell people that it is God who can liberate a girl like me from the slums of Kalerwe…come here at UCU and sit in a class with students with significantly different life experiences. Through Uganda Partners God has paid for my tuition, food, and accommodation at UCU. It was God who made it possible for me to afford to live a comfortable life and have access to all the resources I needed to study at UCU. It is not a day-to-day opportunity that God touches someone’s heart over the oceans to care for the education of an economically poor woman from Kalerwe. Today I celebrate this graduation joy because God in His mercy gave me the opportunity to live out my dream. And that I do not take for granted.
The Uganda Partners scholarship was very meaningful to me in ways I cannot exhaust saying. There were very many people struggling with tuition for an entire semester. We could raise some money for a few of them, and as we thought about our own blessing, we set aside a time on our Monday morning devotion to pray for people in the United States who make it possible for us to have access to tuition and other scholarly needs.
How have you gotten closer to God throughout your studies?
The UCU setting itself makes anyone get closer to God if only they pay attention to their surroundings. Apart from the time set aside for community worship on Tuesdays and Thursdays, UCU has a talking compound. If you are walking around, you notice these scriptures embroidered on almost every building speaking to you. I remember there was a time I felt really discouraged after our Hebrew exam. I was trying so hard to understand Hebrew and when we finished I felt like I did not do enough to get my desired grade. Then, I was walking by the Nursing Building and I don’t remember the scripture entirely but I do remember how meaningful and encouraging it was on that day. It (the scripture) remained my source of encouragement throughout my life at UCU, and it was one of the ways I stayed and/or have gotten closer to God.
Where do you see God taking you now as a Priest?
I know for certain that God is calling me to serve His people in the Church. Right now I do not know where He is leading me as far as a physical location is concerned, but the ministry skills I have acquired from UCU makes me believe that God wants me to share my story and His work in me with others. Every time I share my story with people, they take time to truly understand that someone who grew up in the slum, a place of lack, where I constantly struggled to find food and other basic needs would study at a great university such as UCU and excel in her studies and graduate on time. For many people it is hard to connect the two (i.e., abject poverty with academic excellence). But God in His own way is able to raise all of us in our own slums, and for that I intend to use my story, experiences and skills I have gotten from UCU to encourage lives, be part of someone’s life, and give fully back to the community in any way I can.
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If you are interested in supporting Divinity Students who are struggling with tuition at Uganda Christian University, contact Uganda Partners’ Executive Director Mark Bartels @mtbartels@gmail.com.
Mugero in his office at the Refugee Law Project (UgandaPartners photo)
By Brendah Ndagire
As of November 2018, precisely 1,181,322 refugees are within the borders of Uganda. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, most of these are from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also come from Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries. Uganda Christian University Law alumnus, Jesse Mugero, works as a legal officer with the Refugee Law Project (RLP), located in the Old Kampala area. He provides legal aid to refugees, asylum seekers and deportees and field training with the State Government’s Office of the Prime Minister. He also engages with non-governmental affiliates such as those associated with international criminal law who fight against sexual violence. Uganda Christian University Partners recently caught up with Mugero to learn more about his work with RLP. This interview follows a series of blogs on UCU graduates who are accompanying refugees in Uganda. The interview is edited for clarity.
Briefly, describe what you do
I work as legal officer with the Refugee Law Project, a Makerere University project started in the 1999 as an outreach project of the School of Law, to examine issues related to justice, conflict, migration and human rights. The Refugee Law Project is not a non-government organization nor a purely a government agency. Even though are we are part of the university, we do most of our work independently. In my role, I provide legal assistance to refugees, asylum seekers from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and few coming from Pakistan and Syria. I also work with people facing deportation and conduct capacity building. I mainly train state employees, such as the Uganda Police Force and the Military, basically sharing with them about international criminal law, because our (armed) forces are the people who for the most part have the first interaction with the refugees in places where they are assigned to keep peace, or at the border. It helps to train and support them to understand who a refugee, or an asylum seeker is, such that they know what to do, and how to protect them once they encounter them.
Explain more what capacity building looks like with RLP.
Depending on the training, it is meant to improve the knowledge of participants in a certain area. For example, we can have a conversation on sexual violence. The common understanding is that sexual violence only affects women, but from our Uganda experience especially in Northern Uganda, which suffered a two-decade war led by the Lord’s Resistance Army, we learned that sexual violence also affects men. Capacity building is then geared towards helping participants to understand the different ways in which this crime (sexual violence) occurs. This would then help them in documentation and collection of sufficient evidence of what has happened for possibly future trials. Capacity building broadens the knowledge base, and improves the ability to counter certain aspects of crimes committed against vulnerable groups. For example, this year, we have trained over 500 soldiers of the UGABAG (Uganda Battle group who go to Somalia), and over 300 members of the police force in the districts of Kitgum, Adjumani, Gulu, Arua, Kiryandongo, Hoima, and Mbarara. We train them about refugee rights, including their freedom from torture, freedom of movement, and right to life as well as how they own property, obtain legal representation, and apply for employment. We also help them understand sexual violence in international law, and torture, and abuse of human rights, which unfortunately is on the rise but people need to understand that it is wrong to commit torture. When people (policemen and army personnel) understand that, hopefully they will be part of the solution.
Article about Jesses’ father who inspired him to work with refugees
Apart from the Office of the Prime Minister, and its refugee department, who else do you partner with?
We partner with other refugee agencies such as the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and other partners in Adjumani District. We basically compliment each other. For example, DRC may refer clients to us for legal assistance, and we do the same in situations where they have more experience supporting refugees. We also partner with Inter-Aid in Kampala, which works with urban refugees, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for protection and resettlement in other countries especially for refugees from Rwanda and Congo who are usually hunted for political reasons here.
How does the legal process of representation look like in your experience?
There are two kinds of legal representation. One of them is helping an asylum seeker, someone who has just come into the country, and wants assistance in obtaining asylum. In Kampala, we help them to go to the Old Kampala Police Station to apply for asylum after which their application will be taken to the refugee eligibility committee which would grant or not grant refugee status. If not granted, they can appeal to the decision to the Refugee Appeals Board.
The other part of legal representation is the traditional one where a refugee can come for support in courts of law in case one of their relatives is legally in trouble. It is important to highlight that our services are free of charge, so we work with refugees because in most cases these are people of a lower economic status, and we help them to, for instance, secure police bond and bail. Sometimes language barrier is a big issue, and sometimes it is understanding what is considered a crime in Uganda and what is not. There may be a conflict of laws. For example, in South Sudan girls are married off when they are 16 years old, and in Uganda that is considered defilement. In this case, it is important to explain to a South Sudanese man that it is both illegal to marry and have sex with a 16-year-old in Uganda.
Why work with RLP?
I have always been inspired by the example of my father. He was a student in China in 1978. A Chinese journalist wrote an article at that time about a black medical student working with Vietnamese refugees in China. That black student was my father. My mother kept the article somewhere in our home, and when I found it, I was particularly inspired by him. I have wanted to be part of and living for a cause that is bigger than myself. And creating an impact that will last for generations to come.
What do you think was the most positive aspect of getting an education at UCU?
The education at UCU helped me to understand that life is one indivisible whole. I learned to integrate my faith into my career interests. When I joined the Honors College , I was exposed to brilliant students who challenged me to grow in different ways. I was challenged to strive for excellence. I also grew in my leadership and found many opportunities to serve within the Honors College and UCU community generally.
What classes stood out for you that currently have a huge impact on your career with RLP?
My best class was the Christian Legal Political Thought. It was very interesting because it helped me to appreciate the wide perspectives of law and justice within a Christian lens. To recognize that as a Christian, we live in a pluralist society/world, that there will always be different opinions on particular policy issues outside of the Christian perspectives and how to respectively engage with them is important.
Where do you see God’s work in the lives of the refugees you are accompanying?
I see God in His being sovereign. When I think about the challenging experiences of refugees, very few (1% of refugees world wide) get an opportunity to be resettled in (economically) rich nations, and it can be a daunting thought for many of them. I see God working in the refugees who are happily living here in Uganda with little/limited economic resources, and becoming very creative with the little they have. For example, many refugees from the Congo have succeeded in the clothing industry. They make their own fabrics, sell them and are able to pay for school fees for their children.
Jesse conducting legal training in Moyo District
What are your most proud moments working with refugees?
On a teenager who allegedly stole a phone: One of the most profound experience working with the refugees has been working with refugee mothers. One time there was a woman whose son had been arrested for allegedly stealing a phone. When the woman came to me, she was both very disappointed and sad for her son. I spoke with her, and gave her some advice such as securing a police bond, and how to cooperate with the police. And I will never forget the smile she had when she came back to me the following week. She was so happy and grateful for her freed son. And she makes these really beautiful African and Congolese fabrics, and she offered that if I ever need any fabric, she would make it for me at a discount.
On a single mother who faced eviction: Another time I felt proud was when I helped to accompany a refugee woman whose husband was killed on the way from DRC. She has six children to raise on her own. She was getting evicted by her landlord who had given her only two days to leave his premises. I intervened and spoke with the landlord and she was later given a one-month grace period to look for a new apartment. Knowing that she had another month with a roof over her family, it gave me satisfaction in ways financial achievements cannot.
On training armed officers: Sometimes when we are training military or police officers on the need to respect human rights and stop the habit of torture, one of the officers said to me, “I am going to implement what you have taught me today because torture is not something I personally want to commit, but I do it because I want to follow directions from our leaders.” It is promising and transformative to hear someone committing to engaging more humanly with the perceived other/enemy.
One of the key messages we put forward is that refugees are human beings just as any other human beings. That forced migrants also have rights, and have entitlements under Uganda’s laws. We also need to emphasize that Uganda has been hosting forced migrants since world II and that this is not something new to our society.
This story is just one of many examples of how Uganda Christian University graduates are making a difference in their country. If you would like to assist 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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Reveal Light Ministry, a Christian organization that works with refugee children, held a concert at Uganda Christian University (UCU) to increase awareness for the education, health care, land, housing and employment struggles for those forced to flee their homelands. This year alone Uganda has received more than one million refugees mainly from conflicted regions of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, and Eritrea.
The November 24 event organizers, Emmanuel Buyinza, the East African Director at Reveal Light Ministry, and UCU lecturer Mary Chowenhill, also sought to engage UCU students who were once refugees themselves and to raise funds to ease the poverty status of refugee children. Despite government assistance, some children go to bed hungry.
The organization has between 500 and 600 children in Hope Village Mubende district, according to Buyinza. In addition to basic necessities such as food, the Reveal Light Ministry gives “them hope through the word of God,” he said.
Buyinza and his team work with local churches to support refugee children in Uganda and through out East Africa. They have Bible studies, character development (for teenagers), and microcredit programs. Through the church’s support, they were able to get access to approximately 20 acres of land in Mubende where they plan to construct an educational hub for refugees. Currently, more than 500 refugee children in Mubende district are reportedly studying under a tree. They lack permanent school structures for primary grades. With the construction of the education hub for refugees, Reveal Light Ministries hopes to have a primary and secondary school, vocational training services and a health center.
“This is a christian university that needs to champion human rights, including the rights of refugee children to have access to education” said Juan Emmanuela Zamba, a first-year student of Human Rights Peace and Humanitarian Intervention. Even though Juan was raised in Uganda, she identifies with the experiences of refugees.
“My own country of origin, South Sudan, has had many conflicts for many years,” she said. “Uganda has been very good to my people and attending this event is an opportunity for me to give back to my home country, starting from here in Uganda.” UCU Creates opportunities such as these to allow its student to transform their communities from Mukono to Mubende.
For Aceduna Specioza Dorothy, a third-year law student, and a policy analyst at UCU’s Africa Policy Center, this event was a great reminder of her passion for children’s rights in Uganda. Life hasn’t been very kind to Aceduna. Her family was internally displaced during the two decade civil war led by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda.
“Child labor is widely common in Uganda,” she said. “Since this event is about refugee children, I wanted to be here for them. Uganda needs lawyers who love to serve our society. And I intend to be that pro-bono type of a lawyer for children.”
She continued: “When I heard about the refugee event, I wanted to pray with Reveal Light Ministry and support them in anyway I can because I identify with their story in many ways, including studying under the tree and not having a place we could call home.”
Buyinza mentioned that additional collaboration will occur among UCU, Makerere University and Ndejje University, including with a sports marathon that would take place towards the end of January. All of these events are geared towards raising funds for refugees. He is hoping that a telecommunication company might sponsor these marathons to take place every year.
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Contributions to support UgandaPartners and UCU students, including those with refugee connections, can be made at https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/ or through Mark Bartels, UCU Partners USA Executive Director at Uganda Christian University Partners, P.O. Box 114, Sewickley, PA 15143 USA; 214-343-6422; mtbartels@gmail.com
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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(Note: The author of this story is a 2011 graduate of Uganda Christian University. For the past two years, he has worked as a business and community relations specialist for Child Care Resource and Referral of Southeast Iowa, USA.He lobbies businesses and state policy makers to create policies that support families and help employees access quality, affordable childcare.)
By Dennis Wandera
It certainly wasn’t the first mission trip I had taken. And, growing up in underdeveloped Uganda, I certainly never imagined myself going on a mission trip to another Third World country – Guatemala, Central America.
When I was a journalism student at Uganda Christian University (UCU) nearly a decade ago, I developed the urge to seize any opportunity to live my faith through service to God and people. Thankfully the campus had many fellowships and a robust spiritual program offered by the Chaplaincy. Throughout my student time, I led four separate student-mission trips to eastern, northern and southwestern Uganda under the Compassion Leadership Development Program.
Many of us (students) had never interfaced with the brokenness, injustices, vulnerability and need for God that hovered among people living in our own country. These experiences shaped our perspectives and desire to be part of the long-term solutions to the challenges that undermine our country. But it also – at least for me, was a formative moment to find my place in God’s global plan through missions in and outside my own culture. I was certainly not aspiring to change the world, but aspired to do something – however little – and to watch the world change me.
Cross-cultural ministry
When an opportunity was presented through my church, Harvest Bible Chapel (Davenport, Iowa), to partner with Impact Ministries, Guatemala for a short-term mission trip of 16 people on October 13-21, I knew God was sending me. This was a country and culture that I knew nothing about. I was prepared to have my mind, opinions and perspectives altered. I was determined to learn and grow through every experience – not to revolutionize the place I was going to.
Cross-cultural ministry experiences can be, and usually are, ones that change us in deep ways. From her fragile past history after Spain colonialists, to the current political establishment, culture, worship, hospitality and food – Guatemala mirrors Uganda in some contexts. Like my Ugandan homeland, more than half of Guatemala’s population is classified as poor. They lack material wealth yet they find joy and cling to hope in Christ through their circumstances.
The sight of Guatemalan kids in villages walking distances to schools and women doing back-breaking work for long hours was a down-memory-lane of my own boyhood struggles growing up in Uganda. These visuals, along with the lack of basic needs like clean water demonstrated that despite the 13,437 kilometers (8,341 miles) separating my native country from Guatemala, this newly visited Central American country and Uganda are a reflection of each other in their public policy system.
Construction and connections
Our team helped construct a classroom block at a local school and donated items to new moms in a local hospital. We played a soccer game, visited local food markets and got hosted in homes for cookouts as a way of cultural immersion. Not many locals spoke English. Nonetheless, we sang, prayed together, laughed at our pitiful Spanish, and worked alongside them. Despite the language barrier, God’s love is universal.
One aspect of the trip unique to me was local reaction to the color of my skin. While Guatemalans generally have darker skin than most American Caucasians, most had never seen a black person except in the movies. I became an attention in some places we went. Three kids in the market kept following me and wanting to touch my hair and skin. Their mom pulled out a phone, asking for a picture of me with her kids. The adults who had seen the Black Panther movie gave me a nickname: Wakanda (location near Tanzania, Africa). I loved it. Eventually everyone on my team from the United States started calling me Wakanda.
Visiting is about scenery and places. But more importantly, it’s about people.
In Guatemala, I made a connection with people in that country as well as those on my team through the joy of their life stories and struggles. This was much less about me making a profound impact in their lives and place, but rather about them (and God) making a profound impact on me and my heart.
Eyes widened to poverty
By exposing my heart while getting my hands dirty in the soil of this country, my eyes were widened to poverty and needs. Beyond poverty statistics are the beautiful souls of kids who sat on my lap. I hope that the impact of this trip stays long after their country dirt is washed off of my feet.
Ultimately I hope that for the first time, or in a deeper way, I come to see that the gospel needed by the not-yet-Christians I encountered while I served in Guatemala is the same gospel that’s needed in my own heart. The people I loved and served there are not merely good people trapped in hard circumstances who need little help. They are fellow sinners, whose sin is no less deep and no less present than my own.
And their deepest need – though it may look drastically different on the surface is no different than mine. The need for a Savior who not only says, “I am willing” but “It is finished,” so that they too can be welcomed home as sons and daughters of the King.
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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in communities around the world such as UCU graduate Dennis Wandera is, click on the “Donate” button on the upper right of this page or contact Uganda Partners’ Executive Director Mark Bartels @mtbartels@gmail.com
Also, follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.
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.
Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.
Nestled among a sloping-down building bustling with students seeking financial information, an attached, sloping up classroom and, to the right, the large, open-air worship center is the Uganda Christian University (UCU) call center.
Arthur Balayo Watuulo alone occupies the generally quiet room with white curtains, a desk and two chairs, filing cabinet, computer, calendar and musical keyboard. His is the voice at the end of extension 200 for internal staff, at 0312350800 for Ugandans and at 011-256031350880 for Americans.
Arthur: “Uganda Christian University. Good morning. How may I help you?”
Female caller: “I would like to inquire…” She ran out of Airtel airtime. He tried to call her back, but the message said “caller busy.”
Good customer service “They are surprised when I call them back,” Arthur, a UCU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, said. “But I try to do that. It’s good customer service.”
Often, Arthur’s voice is the first one that people hear at UCU. Sometimes, especially in the case of international callers, his is the only one they ever hear. Recognizing that people outside of Africa are from different time zones, he provides them his cell number in case they want to call back. He may take calls late into the night.
Since March 31, 2016, Arthur has been the call center. Before that, calls went to the Vice Chancellor’s office. Arthur recalls that first day of walking into his sparsely furnished office on the main/Mukono campus. He got some help to carry in a desk and chair. He got a computer and phone. The small musical keyboard next to the phone today is his – for stress-relief tapping when call center hours go late into the night.
Arthur describes himself as musician (gospel, jazz, blues singer and instrumentalist), communicator (member of UCU Communications and Marketing Department), information technician (program developer and documenter) and Christian. The book, “Confessions of a Happy Christian,” by Zig Ziglar, is on his desk.
Humility, calmness, patience “Arthur’s personality is a perfect match for his role. He is humble with a very calm demeanor, which suits his position given the different personalities of callers,” said Michael Mubangizi, manager for the Communications and Marketing Department and Arthur’s supervisor.
“People have a negative opinion of a call center,” Arthur said. “I see it as an opportunity to serve and be a witness for Christ.”
The job requires patience, especially when the caller is angry. It requires deep listening, including with a person on the line who is depressed and might need a scripture, a prayer or referral to counseling. It requires organization to track calls and find information for callers. It involves discernment, including figuring out “con artists” and unidentified members of the media looking to trip up somebody to get story information.
“I’ve fallen victim,” Arthur said, recalling a time when being scammed by a caller who said he was looking to award internships to UCU students. “I put him in contact with a friend. She said he wanted money from her for uniforms. This mistake cost my friend 100,000 shillings ($27).”
The center’s most frequent calls go from Arthur to “extensions 880 and 218,” admissions reception and the business program area, respectively. The busiest times are September, when the largest number of undergraduate students are admitted; February/March, when most law program admissions occur and S6 (high school graduation) marks come in; May, when creditor calls are frequent; and graduation weeks, when there are questions about fee deadlines, certificates, locations, dates and times. In 2018, there have been a lot of questions about the new UCU School of Medicine.
Arthur starts each call in English. He responds in English, Luganda, or Lumasaba, depending on the customer language origin. He can generally figure out languages he doesn’t know.
The loneliness of the job fits Arthur’s part-introvert, part-extrovert personality with the extrovert part satisfied when he exits his office to meet some of the callers on the Mukono campus and helps them find locations. He taps into his musician talent by changing his telephone response tones.
“Today, I’m speaking low,” he said. “Commanding my voice makes me a better singer.”
Arthur realizes his job isn’t for everyone. When he’s on leave, he understands that those filling in relish his return.
“You have to be really patient, handle yourself well, not lose your cool,” he said. “I find it rewarding, and a way to serve God.”
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Support to UCU helps pay salaries for staff members and UCU alumus like Arthur. If you are interested in supporting UCU, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.
Name: Uwimbabazi Sarah
Name: Murezi Mereth
Name: Monday Edson
Challenge
“There was never any question that I would come back,” Dr. Gilbert said. “Most people see being a doctor as something prestigious. I see what we do as that of a servant.”
By Patty Huston-Holm
“I’ve fallen victim,” Arthur said, recalling a time when being scammed by a caller who said he was looking to award internships to UCU students. “I put him in contact with a friend. She said he wanted money from her for uniforms. This mistake cost my friend 100,000 shillings ($27).”
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