Tag Archives: UgandaPartners

Family roots + UCU applied learning = graduation

January 28, 2021COVID-19, News, UCU Alumni#entrepreneurship, #Kapchorwa, #potatoes, #UgandaChristianUniversity, business, Mukono, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

By Collin Wambete

In addition to sickness and death, the COVID-19 pandemic reaped loss of employment and gaps in education around the world. Youth in Uganda have been discouraged and even more hard pressed to make money, including acquisition of funds to go to school.

Amidst the storm, Cherop Lillian found an answer to her personal situation. That answer – potatoes with an occasional onion, fruit and other edibles – enabled her to graduate on 18th December 2020 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Entrepreneurship at Uganda Christian University (UCU) with financial security.

She brought Irish potatoes from her home in Kapchorwa District, which is roughly 266 kilometers (165 miles) away from the UCU campus Mukono District. Starting in February 2020, she set up a retail business 50 meters (164 feet) away from UCU’s main gate. First, raw potatoes, onions and fried potatoes were sold. Ready-to-eat, fresh fruits followed.

Cherop Lillian at her December 2020 graduation from UCU

For Lillian, the lockdown that started in March and the subsequent loss of customers posed a threat to the survival of her business. She’d make fries from potatoes and sell to the students that were on campus. Her target market predominantly being students, the lockdown threw a wrench in her plans.

Who would she sell to? With transportation being shut down for 32 days, what would she sell?

She cut down her usual trade of six-to-seven 100kg (220 pounds) bags of potatoes to two bags. For most of 2020, no one was around to buy ready-to-eat fries. Lockdown measures eventually eased up and UCU, under Standard Operating Procedure guidance from the Ministry of Health, was permitted to let finalists return to campus and complete their studies. These final-year student customers returned on October 15th when UCU re-opened.

Food was the obvious product for sale. History told her so. The earliest business venture she can remember is selling vegetables on her veranda. On holidays, she fried cassava chips in senior six and senior four.

“It is a must for everybody to eat food, so this is a viable business.” She said.

Logistics was part of the survival. Since her produce comes from Kapchorwa, her business depends on the stability of crop prices there. Transport costs shooting up all over the country due to curfew and new road restrictions was an added obstacle.

“I spend 75,000 Uganda shillings ($20.50) to transport five bags of Irish potatoes and this is too high for me,” she said. “I wish I could buy my own van; it could be much cheaper.”

Lillian’s business survived. On January 1, 2021, it was stationed 100 meters (328 feet) from the main UCU gate. Most days, she was at her stall by 7 a.m. She employed five staff. In addition to potatoes, sometimes they sell homemade passion juice.

“At my age (24) I am trying as much as possible to find my destiny, and the mistakes I make today become very big lessons to me especially in business,” she said. “I do not ask for money from people and my parents are glad that as a girl child, I am independent and able to cater for my basic needs”

She advised fellow youth to venture into business, have self-drive, and aim at growing business instead of focusing on profits at the beginning. These skills, she acknowledged, were largely learned in her program of study at UCU.

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UCU-Norway collaborative – One recipient’s perspective

January 18, 2021News# NORHED II, #Faculty of Journalism Media and Communication, #Global Journalism, #John Semakula, #NORHED I, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Norway, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

John Semakula and Frank Obonyo, UCU communications manager, during graduation ceremony at the UCU main campus in Mukono in 2019.

(NOTE: In December 2020, the NLA University College in Norway announced plans to continue its partnership with the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Faculty of Journalism and Media Studies for a six-year period, starting in 2021. The partnership involves a grant of sh8.4bn ($2.3 million) for UCU as well as the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and the University of Rwanda specific to promoting equality in gender and for people with disabilities and including PhD scholarships. This article gives the perspective of one UCU beneficiary of the current collaborative.)

By John Semakula

Around this time in January 2018, I had just returned from a five-month study trip in Norway. I had never been away from Uganda that long and never experienced such cold temperatures.

Apart from struggling to adjust to the cold and missing home, staying in Norway was a wonderful, memorable experience that positively impacted my life and career. I travelled to Norway in early August 2017 under an NLA University College one-semester exchange program to study global journalism. The opportunity was part of a scholarship awarded in 2016 to me and five others at Uganda Christian University (UCU), where I was pursuing a Masters Degree in Journalism and Media Studies.

John Semakula (second left) with friends at Kristiansand, Norway, in 2017.

Through the Norway government Norwegian Program for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED), the UCU Mass Communication Department received in 2013 a sh4.7bn ($1.3 million) grant for staff capacity building. At the time, I was a senior writer at New Vision and teaching several UCU course units such as news and feature writing and investigative journalism.

Collaboratives are important from academic, cultural and work place perspectives.

While in Norway, one of the key values I learned was keeping time. If I had not mastered time keeping, I would not have survived because nearly everything in Norway – as is common for Western world countries – rotates around time management. Without the skill, one would miss a bus from the College to Kristiansand town for shopping and fail to submit coursework on time, which is punishable. Overall, being late is perceived as lack of respect. This expectation is difficult to implement in Uganda where tardiness excuses range from traffic jams to weather.

In Norway, traffic is orderly. Unlike in Uganda, Norwegian drivers follow roadway rules and are respectful of pedestrians. Respecting the laws means citizens report other citizen disobedience. In Uganda, citizens often help criminals to escape justice.

The experience in Norway reinforced the value of networking. In my class of about 20 students, we had representation from Palestine, Ethiopia, Ghana, Denmark, Norway, Uganda, Pakistan, Germany, Brazil and Nepal. Some of the journalists, especially those from Europe, could not believe our stories of Ugandan police using teargas and clubs to stop members of the press from doing their work. Such police brutality does not happen in many developed countries. In Norway, it’s rare to see a demonstration and when it occurs, the participants are escorted peacefully away by unarmed police officers. I learned that in Norway, Germany and Denmark, journalists are valued and paid well.

Through the Christian-based NLA University College, I saw a commonality with UCU in how belief in God was incorporated into the curriculum. Many people in Norway go to Church every Sunday and attend evening prayers and other fellowships. I attended many of the church services and evening fellowships in Kristiansand. I was treated the same way Jesus treated participants at the wedding in Cana. However, I saw the growing trend of fewer young people in churches.

I was impressed with how the materialistically wealthy in Norway helped poor migrants by sharing food and clothes with them. As a result there are usually no people sleeping on empty stomachs.

In addition to growing me, the Norwegian grant under NORHED helped UCU establish and run an MA Program in Journalism and Media Studies and another one in Strategic Communication (supported by NLA University College and the University of KwaZulu-Natal). The benefits for UCU involved sponsorship of five PhD students, four “post-docs” and six student exchange visits as well as engagement in four international conferences in Africa and Europe and procurement of books and equipment. The five PhD candidates completed their studies on time at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and four of the six MA students have graduated.

For the Norwegian government that funded my trip and MA studies, I am highly indebted and aspire to gain more knowledge and experience if selected for the 2022 doctoral program.

Countries in what is known as African Great Lakes Region (Victoria, Malawi, Tanganyika) have a scarcity of doctoral programs. The Norwegian program will help fill that gap for higher education at UCU and the region. The doctoral program, like all the other projects under the NORHED II UCU grant, will run on the theme, Preparing Media Practitioners for a Resilient Media in Eastern Africa. The goal is to produce a better-qualified workforce that can contribute to democratization. Other goals are improving the quality of media and communication education; enhancing the competence of academic staff; and improving gender balance and making the learning environment more inclusive.

UCU will reach out to the university in Rwanda to help start the first local MA program in Media and Communication Studies. To achieve all the goals, partner universities also intend to optimize research and dissemination of findings on the continent and have already marked out three thematic research areas for focus: Media, Democracy and Development in East Africa; Media, gender, identity and participation; and the changing role of the media in crisis.

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Former UCU Guild President publishes book on youth and leadership

January 11, 2021News, UCU Alumni#book, #CourageUnderFire, #Guild, #Leadership, #PriscaAmongin, #UgandaChristianUniversity, business, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Prisca Amongin (center) and friends at the launch of her book in December 2020.

By John Semakula

Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) former Guild President, Prisca Amongin Nangiro, has published a book challenging Christian youth in Africa to aspire to become leaders.

In her book, “Courage Under Fire: Let No One Despise Your Youth,” Amongin observes that the more Christian youth assume leadership positions on the continent, the easier it is for youth voices to be heard.

Prisca Amongin and the current UCU Guild President Kenneth Agaba Amponda during the launch of her book last month.

“We have to find our way into these big rooms to let decisions be taken in our favor,” Amongin writes in the 128-page book. “We need ambassadors, we need vessels.”

She observes that leadership positions give youth an opportunity to fulfill the burdens that are on their hearts.

“Heaven is on the search for men and women who will make a difference in our days,” she writes. “Dear friends, God is counting on us; on you dear reader. Our generation has so many wars against us, which we must fight. We cannot afford to maintain the status quo in politics, in health, academics among others. May the Lord make us restless and separate us for His work…”

Amongin’s book has received endorsement from prominent and influential Ugandans such as the Rt. Rev. Sheldon Mwesigwa, Bishop of Ankole Diocese in Western Uganda, and Lawrence Ssebulime, her former UCU lecturer.

Ssebulime describes the book as “a burning sensation that evokes a positive attitude even in the toughest of challenges.” Bishop Mwesigwa says the book is a “spell binding” story that takes the readers through the scenes and emotions that shaped Amongin’s resolve to engage in youth leadership positions with a desire to transform society.

“With Amongin’s brain power, godliness, down to earth character, social capital and zeal for service, youth will be inspired to exploit their leadership potential, even without adequate resources,” Bishop Mwesigwa writes in his endorsement message. “I unreservedly recommend this book, which illustrates that youth are leaders of today and not tomorrow.”

Amongin, who became the first directly elected UCU female guild President in 2016 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Accounting in 2018, started writing her book in March 2020 when the Ugandan government imposed a countrywide lockdown to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Amongin says it is good to always look at the silver lining in every looming cloud.

“Who knew the COVID-19 pandemic season would finally birth the hours I needed to put into this book to get it started?” she asked rhetorically during the launch of the book on December 27, 2020, in Kampala.

Prisca Amongin (in black) and her older sister, Filda Nangiro Loyok, at the launch of her book last month.

“I wanted to invite us on a journey to think together on why we are here in this world . . . To find ways for us to contribute and participate to resolve some of the issues in our immediate communities, especially as leaders and as the young people of our generation.”

Amongin who is currently contesting for the Female Youth National Parliamentary seat in Uganda, says that if elected, she wants to use that office to coordinate programs for youth development.

“I will use whatever there is within my means to advance the desirable change for all the youth,” she wrote. “This shall be made possible through partnership, lobbying and advocacy.”

Amongin’s book advises youth to enter politics with an ideology.

“Rome was not built in one day,” she says. “Each decision we make comprises of a collective approach. As a house is built brick by brick, so our lives are built decision by decision. These decisions have a collective destiny. In order for us to achieve the greater goal, we need the right ideology.”

Amongin’s family shaped her love and passion for leadership. Her mother, Eunice Lochoro Nangiro, served as a teacher before joining the National Resistance Council in the early 1990s to represent the people of Kotido District in northern Uganda. Her father, Simon Apollo Nangiro, taught her and her other siblings how to face life by ensuring they had experience with the family business in Moroto town.

“Through that experience we learnt people skills and staff management,” Amongin says. “He also taught us all how to stand up for what we believed in and work hard.”

Amongin, 28, comes from Natumkasikou village, Rupa Sub County, Moroto District in the Karamoja region, which is one of the poorest and least developed in Uganda. She urges youth not to let their humble backgrounds to stop them from scaling higher heights in life.

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Uganda Christian University alum authors book about his LRA captivity

December 28, 2020News#Acholi, #captivity, #childsoldiers, #JosephKony, #LordsResistanceArmy, #LRA #journalism, #terrorism, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Olum Douglas, far right, with his family shortly after being reunited after his escape from the Lords Resistance Army

By Patty Huston-Holm

With large snowflakes descending on my car windshield from a spot in a Columbus, Ohio, medical center parking lot, I read about my friend, Olum Douglas, and how at age 11, he was captured by an African terrorist group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). In December 2020, Douglas, now age 34, is a first-time author of “The Captive: My 240 days with the LRA rebels.”

Author Olum Douglas in photo taken by the Gulu Support Children Organization after his return and rehabilitation.

The stories of abduction, murder and sex slavery of 30,000 children since the LRA’s start in 1987 are many. I know something about the LRA and three other main African-based terrorist groups – Al-Shabab, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram. The main difference with this story, which is published in e-version and paperback on Amazon and is every bit as compelling as the other stories, is that I know Douglas personally. And I know every word of his story about his time as a child soldier is true.

I ate chicken and vegetables with his wife and children, ages 4 and 7, at their humble home in the village of Mukono, Uganda. I’ve mentored him as a journalist, reading and editing his stories about life at Uganda Christian University (UCU), where I have consulted and taught since 2012. Douglas, who is now pursuing his post-graduate degree in the Faculty of Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication, has been a freelance contributor for the UCU Partners organization, based in Pennsylvania, for more than a year. We have shared laughter, political opinions and frustrations with life. On occasion, we agree to disagree.

I knew Douglas was working on his book before we met. On pieces of paper since 2011, he remembered and wrote while, in his words, “tears endlessly flowed out, dripping down.” As he shared some of his draft manuscript, my first question was always about how he would feel being known for the indignities he suffered. Did he want to keep remembering that horrible time over and over again as an author?

“Yes,” he repeated. He is on a mission to bring attention and elevate change about civil rights violations – not just his own but those of others.

So it was in the darkness on April 4, 1998, that the LRA kicked open the door to where Olum Douglas slept in Gulu, Uganda, and brutally forced him and other children to become followers. I had been to Gulu as recent as January 2020. I knew the area was surrounded by dense bush.

As the snow pounded on my car, waiting on my husband who had a medical appointment inside in mid-December, I thought about the heat of Gulu – 7, 400 miles away – as well as the terrain as I turned the pages of Douglas’ book. I knew that Gulu was 468 kilometers (291 miles) away from what is now called South Sudan. Some say that Joseph Kony, the ringleader of the LRA, hides out in that region just across the Ugandan border still today.

Without my frame of reference, however, I saw how my author friend enabled even the most naïve about East Africa and terrorism to visualize and agonize with the LRA’s kidnapped boys and girls. With captivating detail, Olum Douglas allows the reader to see him as a boy, hungry and wearing rain-drenched clothes, walking with bleeding, blistered bare feet and carrying on his small back the heavy supplies stolen from huts. He feared death for faltering. He was beaten, sometimes to the point of losing his eyesight, when he slowed the train of rebels and child recruits.

The LRA brainwashing starts on page 17 as the terrorist rebels convince their abductees that they will help with a mission to save the Acholi people from Uganda President Yoweri Museveni’s alleged plan to wipe them out. To do this, the LRA must kill and steal from people and abduct more children. Those too weak or trying to escape from this mission as called by “the Lord” will be killed.

Throughout the book’s 120 pages of 240 days in captivity, Douglas describes how he and the other children, mostly boys, are slapped, beaten, forced to sleep in the rain and deprived of food to reinforce their submission. The two most heart-wrenching parts of the story are how Douglas witnessed the decapitation of two girls and how he participated in killing a 40-year-old man.

“If only I had a choice, I would have saved a life,” he writes in Chapter Five before describing how he and other boys were forced to bash a man’s head with logs until, under orders, the head “completely disappears into the soil.” They did. It did.

I finished the book on that snowy December Ohio afternoon. Two days later, I interviewed Douglas via Zoom. My first question was about his feelings about being party to that brutal murder.

“It was survival,” he said. “I knew many of the children captive with me, but I didn’t know the man. If I could find his family today, I would ask for forgiveness.”

My second question was about Kony.

“I never met him,” Douglas said. “He’s in his 60s now, I believe, and still alive, probably living in the Central African Republic.”

My third question was about anger. By his own admission in the book’s conclusion that follows the account of his escape (that I won’t give away), Douglas got into fights with other children.

“When I get annoyed, I don’t hit people anymore,” he said. “I just get quiet.”

In that Zoom discussion on a Saturday morning (for me in Ohio) and afternoon (eight hours later for Douglas in Uganda), my new author friend shared that he didn’t write the book just for himself. He wrote it to be the voice for those captive at his side and unable to escape and to encourage speaking out and attention to all injustices today.

“When the sun comes out, and the plant has germinated, there is nowhere to run,” he said. “There is much education and many stories to be told.”

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Among those who consulted with Douglas on the story in “The Captive: My 240 days with the LRA rebels” was Peggy Noll, wife of the first UCU Vice Chancellor, Stephen Noll. To access Douglas’ book, go to https://www.amazon.com/CAPTIVE-204-days-LRA-rebels-ebook/dp/B08QJR8T1S/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+captive%3A+my+204+days+with+the+lra+rebels&qid=1608578108&sr=8-1

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Life lesson through roosters

July 15, 2020News#chickens, #contextual, #entrepreneurship, #MartinLwanga, #realworldlearning, #roosters, #UgandaChristianUniversity, business, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Uganda Christian University Dean of Business and Administration, Dr. Martin Lwanga, right, discusses education with Columbus (Ohio USA) State Community College President, Dr. David Harrison, in 2019. Both leaders believe strongly in teaching higher education in the context of the real world.

By Dr. Martin M. Lwanga

One day for an occasion I don’t recall in all detail, Dad’s deep voice boomed through the corridors of our Kampala, Uganda, neighborhood house. He wanted something. He commanded my brothers and me to chase a rooster for a meal. I think it was meant for a visitor but it could have been some big event coming up like Easter or Christmas. Not sure now but then and without waste, we set off for the kill.

Roosters are programmed to sense danger. As little chicks they grow up in the wings of their mothers. I was maybe seven years old, but still recall this hen that had a dozen chicks. Proud of her brood, the hen was constantly on the look out as she furrowed the ground.

We had quite a number of domesticated fowls at our place. Early in the morning the bolts would be released from their evening shelter, and off they would jump from the poles where they rested. After stretching they would start slowly picking up crumbs around the house and gradually move on.

Rarely would they be seen in the day. In the late evenings the troop would return, one by one, sometimes in pairs, but they all made it back, tummies filled, for the nights rest.

Once an old friend of Dad came from the village with a gift of a rooster. After the friend left, the rooster was added to the rest of the chickens who were already a tight knit group. Things didn’t go well that night. In the camp, there was already a big red rooster. Looks like he had fathered all the chicks in the stead. Big Papa didn’t like being upstaged. And here was a new kid on the block.

A terrible fight broke out. Although seemingly timid, when roosters start fighting, they will fight their souls out. In the end, we just slaughtered off the visitor and left Big Papa rooster to his territory.

So here was Dad telling us to chase and slaughter him, too! Chasing a rooster for a meal would tax even Usain Bolt, the famed Jamaican runner. Agile, the rooster led us around, here and there, flew up, danced, elbowed, ditched us, teased, dusted us off, until he ran out of steam and, my brother, who was hiding behind a pole, nabbed him.

The rebel was brought to the slaughterhouse and dumped on some banana leaves. All hands started plucking feathers off his neck. Once his neck was clean-shaven my elder brother handed me a knife to slice it off. What??! I shook my head. I was timid, and killing things did not bode well with me.

Quickly, my brother sliced off the neck without missing a beat. I looked on with tortured awe. I hated being a coward and knew next time I had to prove myself. The meal later was sumptuous.

You can learn a lot from such things. When the Europeans came to Uganda, they brought to us an institutionalized education with its pecking classroom order. There, as we discovered, you read about roosters in books, and soon after we were made to memorize answers for grades. No life experience.

However, long before in our societies, kids picked up lessons of life from the lives around them and chores tasked within those lives.

Going to the well was one such chore I saw back in the village. There was this spring well in my mother’s village; it was kept tidy by all. All kids walked down to the well. We came back gingerly holding to a bucket with a pot on the head, swinging a jerry can.

Sometimes you would play too hard at the well; by the time you got home, the parents were angry, and then got you a few fine lashes. Time keeping did not start yesterday.

In such an economy, you got to know the value of water as a scarce commodity. You also got to know about teamwork for you could not get everything all done by yourself. Cooperation with others was an essential way of life.

Back in the days, there was no clock for roosters who would wake up the entire household. Much as they seem to have tiny little heads, roosters never got lost in the neighborhood and always found their way safely back home. Interesting though was that not one hungry neighbor would nab what was not his for a secret meal. There was a communal fraternity that respected and defended individual property rights.

UCU students demonstrating product they created as part of their entrepreneurship studies.

Our society has progressed, so to say, to a point where an average urban middle class kid might wonder how a chicken gets to his plate, since it comes already dressed from the downtown supermarket. He will not have seen the economy of these birds and how knowledge is not limited to only humans. He will be so full of himself, as expected.

He won’t learn the art of grasping a knife and slicing off the head of a chicken for a meal, which in his new world borders on animal cruelty. The things that run life have all been carved out for him, like running water in a house, being ferried to school, all chores removed from him.

But in this protected life he is also missing out on the real life out there, messy and sometimes ugly as real life is. Sooner or later, he will come face to face with that life. Perhaps our old way of upkeep – of learning by doing as young children – was not that bad.

(Dr. Martin M. Lwanga is Dean for the Uganda Christian University Faculty of Business and Administration, which stepped up its use of real-world learning in the curriculum in recent years – an education strategy promoted even more in discussions during the Uganda COVID-19 lockdown.)

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

‘Nothing inspires me like bringing new life into the world’

July 8, 2020Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Medicine#Ibanda, #Maternalhealth, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Nursing, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU Alum Christine Nimwesiga poses with a group of nurses after training them on maternal health practices.

By Alex Taremwa

(NOTE: Story and photos were generated before Uganda’s COVID-19 lockdown.)

Buried deep in the western region of Ibanda District is Uganda Christian University (UCU) Nursing Graduate Christine Nimwesiga. A trained nurse and midwife, she deputizes the District Health Officer and has been at it for seven years since she was transferred from Kisoro District.

Ibanda is a district on the verge of a municipality status, but its maternal and infant mortality leaves a lot to be desired.

“When I joined, the district registered about 18 maternal deaths,” Nimwesiga said. “but we have halved that figure to about eight and even those are referrals from outside districts.”

She is not just an administrative person. She is a self-motivated nurse and midwife who gets her hands dirty in the field. In her own words, nothing inspires her like the delivering a newborn, especially being there for that first cry.

UCU Nursing Graduate Christine Nimwesiga reviews district Maternal and Neonatal Health records with a nurse at Ruhoko Health Center in Ibanda district.

Among Nimwesiga’s accomplishments in Ibanda is that 77% of pregnant mothers deliver in hospitals. She achieves this using Village Health Teams (VHTs) and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) that are trained to encourage hospital-administered deliveries.

However, needs remain. She admits that although 86% of pregnant women turn up for the first antenatal check-ups in hospitals, only 46% return for the fourth visit. As a result, cases of severe anaemia and haemorrhages manifest often during birth, some causing maternal deaths.

Documenting the need in 2018, Nimwesiga presented a research paper at the annual Nurses Celebrations. It was titled; “Assessment of adherence to iron and folic supplementation among pregnant women attending ANC.” Her results revealed that pregnant women do not take supplement iron and folic recommended during pregnancy; hence, the anaemia.

As a result, she has developed plans to train nurses on identification of potential complicated births, structured stakeholder meetings in the health sector to adopt interventions that are making Ibanda some kind of a model district.

“I have formed committees at each of the 22 high volume delivery health centres where we monitor, record, follow-up and report on each prenatal, neonatal or postnatal deaths. The results are what inform our interventions,” she said.

Nimwesiga revived the technical support supervision committees that train and mentor health workers on safe delivery, nutrition and baby resuscitation for children born when they can’t breathe, and these committees trickle down to Sub-County and Parish levels.

“It was an intentional career development plan,” she said. “Every year, I ensure that we send one nursing officer, two enrolled nurses and two enrolled midwives to school. Now I have a pool of professional staff to pick from. I have even put it in the budget that at least three nurses attend the annual nurses’ celebrations.”

Personal goals
Nimwesiga’s kind of nursing is an evidence-based one. She would rather spend her day researching, publishing and studying on solutions to her people’s problems but she has no financial support for her research. She can neither publish nor go to the field.

“Most funders want to channel their support through universities leaving most of us with valuable field knowledge and access to respondents out. In places like here, we are in a pool of data but a local government will always remain local. We have no funding, no Internet, nothing,” she lamented.

Nimwesiga, age 38, wants to have her PhD by the time she is 45. She will then join academia, grants writing and research and perhaps move close to her family that currently lives over 300kms (186 miles) away in Kisoro.

UCU relationship
Nimwesiga holds UCU in a special place in her heart. Not only did she get a promotion after her MA in Nursing, she also has been involved in the Department’s activities and ensures that UCU Nursing graduates get internship and employment places. In the future, she hopes UCU can implement plans to conduct speciality continuous development courses for working graduates.

“Our staffing is at 67% – both medical and support staff,” she said. “Compared with other places, we seem to better off but when you compare with the population of 270,500, we are limping. So I created two positions under me for capacity building and most of these are UCU graduates.”

Nimwesiga has won several scholarships including a 10-day leadership course in South Africa that she began in March. The course was taught in South Africa and only four participants were from Africa, and she is the only Ugandan.

She is grateful to UCU for the opportunities that it gave her and the foundation to take her career by a firm grip. She advises nursing students at UCU to be self-motivated, work passionately and focus on changing the livelihoods of the people in their communities.

“Your actions will sell you. I love my profession. I am a born nurse and it gives me great pleasure to serve my people. It has taken me places,” she concluded.

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Community collaboration is asset to quality nurse delivery in Uganda

June 24, 2020Faculty, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine#elderly, #healthcare, #SchoolofMedicine, #traditionalhealers, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Nursing, Poverty, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, left, UCU Head of Nursing, and students meet with Magdalene Nayonjo, a community resident

By Caleb Bamwesiga

Magdalene Nayonjo is one of 653 residents of Nakkoba Village, located in rural Dundu Parish, Kyampisi Sub County – about a 45-minute mostly bumpy bus ride from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) main campus. At age 89, she’s the one I remember most during a February 2020 trip with UCU Nursing students and their head of department, Elizabeth Nagudi Situma.

Openly in her Luganda language and while plucking tiny stems from the bitter miniature apple fruit called katunkuma, she says she is barren. She admits that over the years she has been shunned for her inability to have children. Now approaching 90 years, however, she is an accepted part of her community. With her husband who has had other wives with children, she is content.

Segayi Dessan Salongo, coordinator for UCU nursing student visit in Nakkoba

Segayi Dessan Salongo, a village council member and the student nurse contact for the day, agrees. Magdalene is a respected and valued member of this poverty-stricken village. He supports the student visits not just for their ability to apply learning but also for what they teach residents about health care. In this village, safe drinking water is not abundant. There is no health care facility or pharmacy. Knowledge of the importance of cleanliness is sparse.

Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, who sits next to me enroute to and from the village and remains with me as I meet residents, explains that these visits are part of the year four learning for students working toward a UCU Bachelors of Nursing Science degree within the School of Medicine and give opportunity to students get exposed to health care at the grass roots level.

While healthy for an elderly person, Magdalene struggles more than younger residents who spend hours in farming or brick laying and ride motorcycles called bodabodas into towns with stores and clinics.

In order to address rural and urban health care disparities, Elizabeth says that the university joins forces with the Mukono district health service.

“We signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mukono district health service,” she said. “We carry out community health nursing outreach, educating people about the health preventative measure. This program is just one aspect of the university’s efforts to improve health care in rural communities around the university.”

The UCU Head of Nursing notes that the community nursing program’s strategic initiative is emphasizing preventive measures that not only have direct impact on rural areas, but also cultivate learning opportunities for students.

“With preventive measures at finger tips, this places people in the community at a privileged position of not suffering from communicable diseases, and other diseases resulting from poor sanitation are minimized,” she said. “Students are able to address critical issues encountered by health care professionals every day, from the prevention of disease to the delivery of care.”

She also noted that public awareness of symptoms of conditions and diseases (such as strokes) can help improve the speed of receiving medical help and increase the chances of a better recovery.

“On some occasions we encounter people who are sick with diabetes or blood pressure and live without knowing they are sick,” the head of nursing said. “This delays the chances of one seeking diagnosis from medical professionals. The untreated condition can advance and get worse. In these cases, the benefit of treating the disease promptly can greatly exceed the potential harm from unnecessary treatment.”

Residents are encouraged to go to government hospitals where they can access free medical services. Mulago hospital, for example, has free diabetic clinics.

John Bosco Ntambara, one nursing student, noted long-held cultural beliefs and practices keep people from seeking health care facilities. Often, they prefer traditional healers because they are better known and live nearby.

“That’s why they go for medical treatment late,” John said. “They first believe that they will get better. Some traditional healers will tell them that the payment arrangements will be made when they heal.”

However, the university head of nursing notes that one aspect of quality nurse service delivery is understanding culture and also getting to know what traditional healers offer to clients for easy clarification to community members.

“We don’t just talk,” she said. “We listen.”

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Community visits reinforce practical side of Ugandan health care

June 18, 2020COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine#CommunityService, #FamilyPlanning, #healthcare, #MedicalSchool, #Nolockdown, #Nurses, #students, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Mukono, Poverty, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU Nursing student Nankya Brenda Diana visits a village family

By Patty Huston-Holm

Four plastic cups of passion juice. Several crumbling, miniature queen cakes. Bananas. Two melting strawberry and vanilla ice cream cones – a relatively new treat on the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono campus. Laughter.

For 15 of the university’s year-four nursing students, that’s how the ride in a burgundy and white bus in central Uganda’s scorching heat started.

Loosely called a “community visit,” this weekly trek supplements learning that takes place in classrooms and laboratories on the campus. The trips into remote villages enable students to see the practical side of health care in their final months before graduation. In years one, two and three, the book, lecture and Internet knowledge have been complemented with real-world experiences in hospitals and health centers.

Previous real-world experiences have included conversations with traditional healers and professionals dealing with mental illness and observing circumcision and critical care of accident and HIV/AIDS victims.

On this sunny, February 2020 pre-COVID-lockdown day, the student nurses and Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, UCU head of nursing in the School of Medicine, travel on bumpy, dirt-rutted roads 45 minutes away from the main campus. They serve and learn in village of Nakoba – an area too remote to be found on a map. With guidance by Situma, students listen, observe, record and advise two residences each at various locations within an approximate one-mile radius.

“I think it was more than worms,” student Nankya Brenda Diana said about one child’s protruding abdominal area. “When you push on the stomach, it feels like an organ or something out of place.”

Normally, she said, a child’s extended belly means intestinal worms. They contract them from uncooked food, walking barefooted among cattle feces or eating dirty mangoes. In her kit, she has mebendazole, a drug that she can provide to eliminate worms. The better resolution is prevention through proper sanitary practices. This time, however, Brenda is not so sure that the stomachs of a two-year-old and her four-year-old brother are filled with worms. She puts her suspicions in her report.

The mother, Helen, has six children, including two sets of twins. Giving birth to more than one child at a time is a much-esteemed blessing in Ugandan culture. In addition to discussion of hygiene related to chickens that roam freely in the family’s cooking and sleeping areas, a rudely constructed rain water pipe and lack of dedicated space for the household’s bathroom habits, Brenda is ready today to discuss family planning. Steven, the husband and father, is there to get advice, too.

Brenda, wearing a backpack and holding a clipboard, talks to the family in their Luganda mother tongue. Helen sits on a single stool, nursing the baby, as Steven and their other children, barefooted in torn and dirty clothes, lean against trees near their humble home. Across an unpaved, dirt road are more than 20 gravesites, signified by a few stones but mostly by rounded mounds of dirt.

Roughly a half mile away, John Damasen Ntwari has his second weekly meeting with Niyonsaba, a mother of seven who, along with her husband, escaped here from Burundi ethnic disputes in 2015. They are Tutsi who fear death still today from the richer, more powerful Hutu. In broken English, she explains that they want to go back someday. But the time is not yet right.

John Damasen Ntwari, president of the UCU Nursing Class of 2020, visits with a family in a remote village near Mukono.

“I am very happy to see John,” she says. She shares that her family is better off than most with two children enrolled in school. While her young daughter smiles broadly, Niyonsaba says her problems with allergies and a weak heart seem less than John’s last visit and the daughter has healed nicely from a vaginal repair.

John, who is president of the nursing class, scribbles notes as walking to his second site. There, 15-year-old Nabaweesi Zakiah emerges. As when John previously visited, she’s alone. Again, in clear English, she says her mother is away “just one day to visit a friend.” When she returns with school fees, Zakiah can return to school.

Situma emerges and deepens the questioning about what the girl eats, if she is alone, if she is afraid at night, and if anyone hurts her. She praises the surroundings that include a vanilla plant and trees plentiful with bananas and jackfruit. Zakiah carries a large knife to a tree, cuts down some matooke and carries it back to her small living quarters. A dog, kitten and chicken with babies scatter.

“It’s hard to know,” John said. “I’ve asked that her mom be here today, but she still isn’t. Maybe next time.”

For most of the UCU student nurses, including Brenda and John, the desire to work in health care stems from a young age when encountering a void in medical attention for a family member. In addition to this motivation, there is a government promise of a paid job for at least one year after graduation. They are placed around the country with a 750,000 UGX ($200) a month salary for 12 months.

Seat backs filled with ready-to-eat avocados. Fingers dipped into large, freshly opened shells of sweet jackfruit. Some laughter, but mostly vocalized thoughts about the conditions, causes and remedies for health maladies. That’s how a February six-hour day – but not professional careers – concluded.

“Ultimately, I want to work in cancer care,” John said. “But I’m prepared for anything.”

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University staff blesses community amidst COVID-19 lockdown

June 10, 2020COVID-19, Faculty#BlessingCommunity, #FoodSecurity, #gardens, #Peace, #UCUStaff, #UgandaLockdown, Uganda, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Ayub inspects a backyard nursery bed with one of his learners

By Douglas Olum

When Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni directed COVID-19 restrictions on March 20, 2020, many citizens wondered how they would survive. The lockdown order involved closure of all schools and academic institutions, ban of public transportation and shutting of businesses except for manufacturing industries and food dealers.

In addition to hindering the ability for workers to get to places of employment, drivers of motorcycles and taxis were out of work. The pressure on husbands and fathers in particular gave rise to violence in homes. In one three-week period, the Uganda Police Force reported 328 cases of domestic violence. Uganda’s Minister of State for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Peace Regis Mutuuzo, reports that Uganda has recorded over 10,000 cases of domestic violence in the past year, 1,000 of which were recorded between January and April. She said the number is higher as compared to 2019 statistics where only 3,000 cases were recorded in that year.

James Ssenkubuge, a Front Desk Officer at the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Kampala Campus, saw first-hand the impact of such stress. When returning from work one evening, he witnessed battering of a wife by her husband after the woman complained about her spouse’s inability to get food for the family. Ssenkubuge ran to the neighbor’s house and separated the fight.

After listening to their plight, he went back to his house and returned with some food that saved the family from sleeping hungry that night. Despite his reduced salary and uncertainty of payment for the future and with his experience of working with less-than-peaceful students, he continued to counsel and help his neighbors in this time of need.

UCU’s Vice Chancellor, Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, has in recent weeks notified staff like Ssenkubuge that their salaries are reduced by 75 percent for the month of May with no payment for June and possibly other months. The university staff pay is curtained because UCU, supported largely through tuition, is unable to serve new or current students during the lockdown. The roughly 5% of essential UCU employees working on campus are completing tasks without pay.

Ayub tends to his tomatoes in the garden

While the lockdown threatens peace in families like those in Ssenkubuge’s neighbourhood, Mutaasa Mugereza Ayub, the UCU main campus/Mukono Students’ Affairs Administrator, is reaching out to share what he has with others to bring about food security and reduce on the chances of domestic violence. He is using the lockdown period to inspire and mentor children at his neighborhood in practical agricultural skills that can translate into food security in Uganda in the long run.

At the time the lockdown was pronounced in Uganda in late March, Ayub had just transplanted his tomatoes and green pepper seedlings in a garden measuring about 15 x 20 meters (49.2 x 65.6 feet). He started spending more time in his plot, watering, weeding, prunning and spraying the crops.

Passersby of all ages stopped to ask Ayub questions. Without hesitation, he gladly answered and even encouraged them to give the project a try.

Tomatoes seedlings planted in used tires at Ayub's compound — Tomatoes seedlings planted in used tires at Ayub’s compound

“To me agriculture is one thing that gives people financial freedom and time, let alone the food security aspect,” Mutaasa said. “But the problem is that, because of the way some people were raised they look at agriculture as a backward and dirty practice.”

Among the people who asked him questions were five neighborhood children who started regular visits to the garden. As he encouraged the children to do what he was doing, they started looking for tomato seeds and seedlings for planting. Ayub gave them some seeds free of charge.

In early June, the five children were raising their own backyard gardens of not only tomatoes, but other vegetables like onions and green peppers. In Ayub’s own home, children and other relatives are growing tomatoes, beans, among other crops in pots and used car tires.

Ayub says he enjoys imparting whatever skills he has to people and he feels fulfilled seeing the children he is mentoring practice the skills he taught them. He continues to visit the children’s gardens, to support them with chemical spray treatments and to advise them on what to do next.

As his tomatoes and green pepper hit the harvest period, Ayub’s garden has become the community food basket. People flock to the site to purchase products at fair prices – not the higher rates from markets.

Ayub is currently raising another garden of vegetables, hoping to get more fulfilled with his garden outputs and the learners’ skills while he and other people worry about possible job losses and struggle financially.

In mid-June, the possibility of the university re-opening and the staff getting back to work was hanging in balance because the Government of Uganda remained undecided on when schools and other learning institutions could resume. UCU staff like Ssenkubuge and Ayub can’t afford to wait. While exploring options to support their own households, they seek to apply Christian principles to help others.

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UCU rescues hungry students amidst lockdown

June 3, 2020COVID-19, Students#Covid-19, #StudentsGetFood, #UCURelief, #UgandaLockdownStarvation, Education, Hunger, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Some students receiving food relief carry packages from university gate to their hostels

By Douglas Olum

At mid-morning on Thursday, May 14, 2020, and under the sun’s sharp burning rays, small groups of students banned from Uganda Christian University (UCU) under government COVID19 guidelines approached the main gate in Mukono. Students trickled in and out of the university, undergoing hand sanitizer spraying and temperature check exercises before entering.

As with all Ugandan universities since the country’s lockdown and university shutdowns started in late March, the students faced health scrutiny by university security officers and a medical worker. The students were hungry – struggling for roughly eight weeks without access to the regular university meals of tea, bread, rice, beans and, on occasion, chicken. While not the same as regular consumption, the UCU Office of the Director of Student Affairs provided some food relief.

The university’s intervention, supported by the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, responded to television and news reports that revealed that university students were starving in nearby hostels, caught by the lockdown with no public transportation to leave. The news reported by NTV Uganda and the Daily Monitor newspaper, coupled with direct phone calls to the Guild President, Timothy Kadaga, prompted an the necessary intervention.

An estimated 160 UCU students were stuck in various hostels and rentals around Mukono. At least 81 students got the first batch of the relief package which included; 10kg (22 pounds) bag of maize flour, a carton of 124ml (4.23 ounces) boxed milk, beans, powdered milk, cooking oil, (1kg or 35.3 ounces/2 lb.) of sugar and a bar of soap.

Students were interviewed anonymously to avoid shame that most felt about receiving assistance. They came, they said, after exhausting all other possible options to survive.

“I had just received my transport money to return home that evening when the president [Yoweri Kaguta Museveni] announced the ban on public transport,” one of them, a second-year Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering student, said. “I had to use the money for upkeep but it even got finished within a week. I called home again and I was sent some more money, which also got finished. When I called again, I was told to wait because there was no money.”

For more than a week prior to the time of the food relief distribution, the 22-year old said he depended on his friends and well-wishing neighbors.

Just like him, another beneficiary who is on the UCU Sports Bursary, and residing at the St. Michael Historical Hostel, said he lived on porridge for three days and almost died. He recounted:

“My tummy was grumbling. My joints were weak. I kept turning in my bed, trying to find a position in which my tummy would stop hurting to no avail. I got up and tried to make porridge again, but there was no more sugar in the room. At that point, my body was shaking like I was standing on something vibrating. I fell back to bed and that was when I started thinking of alternative options like contacting the guild president.”

At that point, the student said he came to realize that food was not just mere quench for hunger, but life itself.

A female student pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration echoed these thoughts. She said: “The package may appear small but it means so much to me. At least I can be sure that I will feed myself and live for some time while I explore other options and wait for the end of the lockdown.”

A second batch of students received portions on Tuesday, May 19, taking the total to 150 beneficiaries. They were humbled and grateful, they said.

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2020 Global 5K participants from USA, Canada, Nigeria, Uganda

May 19, 2020Faculty, Scholarship, Sports, Students, UCU Alumni#Canada, #Florida, #Global5K, #markbartels, #NewMexico, #Nigeria, #Pennsylvania, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Scholarship, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

By Patty Huston-Holm

“If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.”

The African proverb was the essence for the first few years of the Global 5K, a five-kilometer (3.1 miles) walk/run/social engagement activity sponsored by the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Partners non-profit organization. Abby Bartels, who lived for 10 years on the University campus and raised three children there with her husband, Mark, is the founder.

The year was 2015 and a time when many organizations were jumping on a 5K fund-raising bandwagon. For UCU Partners, it was less about raising money and more about building a relationship base among alumni of the Uganda Studies Program (USP), a one-semester, UCU learning experience for students enrolled in Christian universities, mostly in the United States. Mark Bartels, executive director for UCU Partners, started USP on the UCU Mukono campus. UCU Partners values USP alumni because they are a unique set of donors who have lived and studied at UCU.

“The event was actually better than expected because it strengthened connections not just with American students but with Honor’s College students and staff,” Abby, now living in Pennsylvania, said. “In addition to a time for remembering and re-connecting about a cultural, Christ-centered experience, it became an opportunity to raise money for Ugandan students in need.”

According to Ashton Davey, UCU Partners fundraising coordinator and facilitator for the 2020 Global 5K, nearly 200 people participated this year. Despite the hiccup of having an event on April 4 in the midst of worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns, more than $3,000 was generated, mostly by participant purchases of the event’s green T-shirt. The funds will supplement tuition for 12 needy students at UCU.

“Many participants found the Global 5K to be good motivation to get out of the house and simultaneously support a great cause,” Ashton said. “The event’s flexibility allowed people to participate alone from wherever they live, which allowed them to adhere to social distancing guidelines.”

So what was it like engaging in an event during an unprecedented worldwide pandemic? From Canada, Nigeria and Uganda, and nearly half of the 50 USA states, here is a sample of thoughts compiled from virtual interviews.

Atimango Innocent (Minna, Nigeria) – former UCU Honors College student who previously benefited from the scholarship assistance and was once a USP staff member; now engaged with The Navigators, two-year discipleship training program

In the midst of focusing on Mathew 28: 19-20 and its message about “making disciples of all nations,” Innocent and a friend, Drew Uduimoh, did 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) for the Global 5K. She has done it every year except for maybe one when the event didn’t get off the ground. For 2020 and while Nigeria reported more than 800 virus cases, she jogged around the town where she lives with no lockdown restrictions.

“I feel personal about it since I was one of the students who benefited directly from the funding,” she said of the Global 5K. “But I also find it a time to do reflections on people and on the Lord.”

Mikaela Hummel (Pakenham, Ontario, Canada) – USP student in 2019, while studying at Houghton (NY) College, where she receives her undergraduate degree in May; preparing to begin studies for a Masters of Science degree in physiotherapy

Mikaela, at right, with her family in Canada

On the day of the Global 5K, it was 10 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) in Pakenham, Ontario, where Mikaela participated in the event with her mom, dad, sister and dog. She wore long sleeves under her green shirt and her traditional African kitenge-design shorts. The area where they ran was a bit quieter than usual as COVID-19 restrictions had most stores closed and gatherings limited to five people or less.

“The experience in Uganda helped me to pause and think about what is really important in life,” she said. “The Global 5K is a time to reflect on that again. The pandemic puts the brakes on even stronger, reminding us to trust God.”

Erin Neilson (Gallup, New Mexico) – USP student in 2006 while majoring in music at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa.; now raising two children and serving on a church music team with her husband, Phil, a middle school English teacher and also a 2006 USP student and USP program assistant 2008-2009

USP alumni, Erin and Phil, and family in New Mexico

On the date of the 5K Zoom discussion on April 20, New Mexico had more than 2,000 confirmed cases of cornonavirus. Sixteen days earlier, the Neilson family of four, living in a small town near part of the Navajo Nation, did 5 kilometers. A special highlight was that Christiana, age 5, made the entire distance on her own. Caleb, a toddler, was carried.

“We had been hoping to hike with friends, but due to social distancing requirements, we ended up with time just as a family,” Erin said. Fourteen years after our USP experience I am reminded of the value Ugandans place on presence and am trying to live that daily with my children.”

Laura Sollenberger (Gainesville, Florida) – USP student in 2018 while majoring in exercise science at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa.; now finishing her Penn State University bachelor’s degree in nursing through on-line classes while living back home with her parents

For Laura, her career move from occupational therapy to nursing was stimulated by a 150-hour internship at the Church of Uganda hospital (Mukono), where she realized the intimate and critical role of health care workers at a patient’s side. COVID-19 has reinforced that decision with some frustration that she can’t be on the front line now; she graduates in December.

Laura’s UCU experience in 2018 was “life-changing with deeper connections to friends and God, clearer purpose, better understanding of systemic injustices, and the challenge of learning from new cultural perspectives,” she said.

Laura planned to re-connect with 10 of those friends by participating in the Global 5K and making rolex afterwards in Lancaster, Pa. Instead, she is sheltered with family in her home state of Florida. Her mom and dad did the 5K with her.

“We did a Zoom afterwards,” she said of her USP friends. She added, “I will definitely go back to Uganda someday.”

Molho Bernard (Kilowoza/Mukono District, Uganda) – 2018 UCU graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, working with the Honors College and USP up to February 2020 when Ugandan universities closed due to COVID restrictions while pursuing a Masters of Education in Planning and Administration.

On April 4, Bernard engaged in his second Global 5K by walking around his compound – different than the previous year when there were more people and it occurred on the campus. His “informal” companion during his warm-up with push ups and laps around the compound was a two-year-old named Mathew who lives in the same area and “loves coming to my room to watch me do some art work.” The 5K has special meaning to Bernard as he was once a recipient of the money raised through the event.

“In 2018, my family was going through a financial breakdown, and I was afraid of getting a dead semester,” he said. “Through the proceeds of 5K through UCU Partners, I was able to have my tuition and graduation fees cleared.”

Bernard continues to appreciate the Christian and academic standards at UCU. The environment has enabled him to “know Christ more, and I have grown up more in loving, trusting and obeying Him.”

Ashton, who splits her time between Uganda and Kansas, said it was “heartwarming” to see social media posts of people supporting Uganda Christian University in the 5K green T-shirts – from those “running in rural villages in Uganda and families hiking to wave across the state border at each other to USP alumni organizing a Zoom call to reflect on the lessons they learned in Uganda.”

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With the help of Canadian mentor, ball hockey breaks ground in Uganda

March 30, 2020Faculty, Sports#ballhockey, #Canada, #hockey, #JeanChamberlain, #MarchMadness, #ThomFroese, #UgandaChristianUniversity, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Ball Hockey team during training at the Uganda Christian University sports field

By Maxy Abenaitwe

Africans take pride in their cultural roots. For Ugandan Amon Matthew, the curiosity for other cultures has always been equally as strong.

Captain Amon Matthew with the Uganda flag

That inquisitiveness found an eight-year-old Matthew playing ball hockey, a sport more common to Canada. He played it on the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono campus with the children of a Canadian couple, journalist Thom Froese and medical doctor, Jean Chamberlain Froese, founder of the UCU Save the Mothers program.

Now age 22 and captain of the UCU Ball Hockey Team that in March 2020 had no name, Matthew recalled his addiction to “the most beautiful and interesting thing” he had learned. Referring to the ball hockey sport, he added, “Out of love for the game, I put my all.”

Uganda Ball Hockey will forever be grateful to Froese for building the first playground at the UCU staff quarters. Now, Matthew has taken over the ball hockey team reins from the Canadian founder.

“At that point, I realized I had been left with a huge task ahead of me, considering the fact that I was young and still in secondary school,” Matthew said. Part of taking his leadership role seriously involved missing his high school sports activities. When students questioned his absence, he replied with two words – ball hockey – and then had to explain what that was.

Captain Amon Matthew with ball hockey supporters

Ice hockey is synonymous with Canada. When the ball hockey sport evolved by replacing an ice puck with a tennis ball in the 19^th century, ball hockey became elevated in popularity in this North American country. Rules between hockey on ice and other surfaces vary but all involve using sticks to move an object toward a goal.

Matthew’s excitement about the sport became contagious for other Ugandan youth. There were teams and games – first informally among young men and then formally with Matthew’s persuasion to places like the Baroda International Vocational Institute in Mukono and UCU.

By 2018 and armed with videos and enthusiasm, Matthew approached the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports. He also visited the National Council for Sports, and met with a representative of the Uganda Hockey Association and the Mukono Municipality Mayor, George Fred Kagimu, who had watched the game in Sweden. With some coaching, ball hockey moved from an association to a federation.

Barriers were largely financial – lack of equipment, including the ability to buy hockey sticks at 50,000 UGX ($15) each; and no uniforms. Matthew sought and received foreign support from the London Ball Hockey Association in Canada, International Street Ball Hockey Federation and World Ball Hockey Federation.

Ambitious Matthew sees Uganda taking part in the 2021 World Championship Events. Additionally, Matthew is organizing a national tournament of the UCU juniors and men’s teams.

“With or without Ugandan government, we can still go on,” he said. “We are moving on and growing. No matter what, we shall get there.”

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UCU Shepherds gain notoriety in rugby world

March 23, 2020Sports, Students, UCU Alumni#EastAfrica, #MarchMadness, #rugby, #Sevens, #UgandaChristianUniversity, #UgandaRugbyCranes, sports, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

(NOTE: Across the United States, March Madness refers to National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball competitions – a month when university rivalries are at their peak. While March Madness was cancelled due to the Coronavirus in 2020, these Uganda Christian University sports stories are offered in honor of what was to be. The stories are a collaborative of The Standard and UCU Partners.)

By Maxy Abenaitwe

In the early years of the past decade, the Uganda Christian University (UCU) 7s Shepherds were the untouchables of East African rugby.

As a result, the Uganda Rugby Cranes and other national clubs like the Black Pirates continuously fished from the Shepherds’ pond. It is no wonder that half of the Uganda Rugby Cranes are former Shepherds.

Rugby, which originated in England in the first half of the 19^th century, is a sport involving two teams of 15 players each. They carry, pass and kick a ball into an end zone with winning determined by the greatest number of points. Often, the sport is known as “rugby sevens” for seven players per team engaged in seven-minute halves. The most basic law of the game is that no player is allowed to throw the ball forward to a teammate. In rugby, the ball is moved with sideways or backwards tosses or a player kicking and running with the ball.

Uganda had a deep history of men’s rugby participation ahead of the country’s first official rugby match in 1958. In 1955, the Uganda Rugby Football Union was formed. Much as there were no clubs at the time, games were frequently played between representatives from Kenya and Tanzania (or Tanganyika as it was called at the time) teams, but matches were mostly against the Royal Navy as well as some British and South African Universities. In 2000, UCU took on the rugby mantle and over time developed a great team of influential players.

Shepherds (in red jerseys) representing Uganda at international level

Over the years, UCU players have been recognized for their talent. Philip Wakorach has been the most desired player, whose talent is sought across borders, namely in Kenya and France. Equally, Ivan Magomu has been the best fly half (receiver of a short pass). Pius Ogena was recently awarded Male Rugby Player of Year 2019 under the Uganda Sports Press Association Awards, and Desire Ayera was recently ranked 37th player of Uganda’s 2019 top athletes.

Considering their current maiden performance, the current Shepherds are leaving lasting marks. The team won gold at the 2019 University Side Step 7s events. The Shepherds went ahead to win during the 18th AUUS 2019 games at Kisubi University. And immediately after their remarkable performance, two players were called at the National Rugby Cranes team.

Ivan Kabagambe, a former Shepherds’ player, says the great performance is largely inspired by the success of the Shepherds alumni.

“The alumni have also kept in touch to ensure talent keeps growing,” he said. “This has been done majorly through friendly matches between the Shepherds and their alumni.”

Despite a few challenges, Kabagambe thinks there is no excuse for not making it at UCU. This signifies that with more support from the university, the team could do wonders since the passion and talent is there. If only the Shepherds could participate in more tournaments, have more funding and have enough designated rugby training space, more medals would be brought home.

Why the great performance
Approximately 90% of the Shepherds attribute their success in the larger rugby world to UCU’s favorable environment that best suits sports development. They cite the hilly landscape, availability of drinking water all over the compound, access to good food, and use of gym facilities as well as university administrative support and medical attention.

The good medical attention, specifically the physiotherapy, helps the players to quickly get back on their feet and continue with their struggle.

Additionally, UCU sportsmen and women have a reputation of being the best people to work with. This is because of their remarkably good discipline. The factor of character also has contributed to the quick growth of the Shepherds.

The future of rugby
Close to 50% of the rugby clubs, the national team inclusive, have aging players. This means university students are being targeted and have professional opportunities.

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Ugandan football (ah, soccer) continues to soar for girls

March 17, 2020Sports, Students#EastAfrica, #football, #LadyCardinals, #MarchMadness, #soccer, #UgandaChristianUniversity, sports, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Akao (in yellow, center) poses with her teammates (Photo by Andrew Bugembe)

(NOTE: Across the United States, March Madness refers to National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball competitions in a month when university rivalries are at their peak. In honor of the “madness” of watching American basketball in March 2020 and in collaboration with the Uganda Christian University student newspaper, The Standard, UCU Partners is featuring stories on this month on some of the sports played at UCU. This week, the focus is on soccer.)

By Eva Kyomugisha

One of the greatest gifts God gave Africa is football. It is very common to find a group of people gathered at a field or around a television in a pub watching a football match, each with his or her own comments as to how the game should be played.

Ugandan football, which Americans would call “soccer,” came to the country with British introduction in 1897. Like USA soccer, the objective is to score goals without touching the ball with the hands. The Uganda Football Association, now called the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), started in 1925 with a league inaugurated in 1962. The game originally for men only has crossed the gender barrier.

Women’s football in Uganda started in the early 1990s but initially was only played for fun and not professionally. According to the FUFA website, the first time qualification was attempted for the African Cup for women was in 1998 when Uganda hosted Egypt at Nakivubo stadium.

Currently, women’s football in Uganda has gained traction with approximately 50 teams participating in a number of leagues in the country.

Ruth Akao plays a ball during practice (Photo by Andrew Bugembe)

As a little girl, Ruth Akao grew up around boys who loved to play Ugandan football. This exposure ignited the 21-year-old Uganda Christian University (UCU) student’s passion for the sport as she often participated in some of the groups’ games.

“It made me happy when I played,” she said.

She continued playing the sport while at school. She has been engaged in professional leagues for over 10 years and isn’t done yet. While at Hope High School along Masaka Road (between Mukono and Kampala), she was scouted to play for the UCU Lady Cardinals team.

“I play position 11 which is the left-wing,” Akao said. “My job is to get the ball from the midfield and cross it to the box for scoring. Sometimes, we do the scoring ourselves.”

According to Akao, a major benefit from the sport is the fact that she receives half tuition to pursue her studies in Human Rights, Peace and Humanitarian Intervention in the Faculty of Social Sciences. She also states that she has been able to meet new people and make the necessary connections that she may need at a later time in her career.

“Ten years from now, I would like to start my own sports academy for girls,” she said.

Akao was part of the UCU Cardinals’ team that captured many honors in 2019, including a win of the Women’s Elite League. Despite Akao’s success in the sport, not many people in her life support her passion for the male-dominated sport.

“There is a time I went to the village and the people there were not happy with the fact that I am a football player,” she explains.

Akao added that most people find girls’ football to be too slow and boring for them to watch. She attributed this to the limited publicity from television and radio stations, which do not air the girls’ games as much as the boys’ games.

“It is only one radio station, FUFA, which sometimes plays our games,” she said.

Akao has also personally had her own challenges the sport. She explains that the volume of games means that she often has to miss some of her classes to participate in them.

“I have resorted to studying in the night in order to keep up with my studies,” she said.

For Akao, she advises the ladies who want to join the male-dominated sport to get out of their comfort zones and do what they love to do irrespective of what people tell them to do.

“Do not give up, and keep going,” she said.

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Netball – Game of speed, height, discipline

March 9, 2020Sports, Students#Basketball, #GirlsSports, #MarchMadness, #Netball, #PeaceProscovia, #SheCranes, #ShePearls, #UCUAngels, #UgandaChristianUniversity, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU Journalism Student and Netball Player, Hanisha Muhammed

(NOTE: Across the United States, March Madness refers to National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball competitions – a month when university rivalries are at their peak. In honor of the “madness” of watching American basketball in March 2020 and in collaboration with the Uganda Christian University student newspaper, The Standard, UCU Partners is featuring stories on a few UCU sports. Today’s story is about netball.)

By Patty Huston-Holm

For eight years and while serving Uganda Christian University (UCU) as a volunteer consultant and lecturer on the Mukono campus, I watched a bunch of girls move swiftly around a basketball court, passing a ball without letting it touch the ground. This, I was told, is a sport called netball.

I observed the mostly very tall and physically fit young ladies move energetically around an outside basketball court as I engaged in my own end-of-day exercise – stretching and strengthening my arms, legs and abdominal muscles on some nearby metal bars and elevating my heart rate with a rapid climb up and down stone steps. Occasionally, I would sit on the steps overlooking the court and watch the netballers while chatting on the phone with my mother back in Ohio.

Girls playing netball on the UCU Mukono practice court

The ladies had a smaller version of a basketball, an object of familiarity to an American like me. But they didn’t dribble it, which seemed odd. It reminded me of the USA in the 1960s and 70s, when girls were protected from over exertion with female basketball rules of no more than three ball bounces before passing. However, these UCU players that didn’t dribble the ball were not frail.

Periodically, over the years of watching the Mukono, Uganda, girls practice but never seeing an actual game, I looked up the netball sport on the Internet. I learned that it started in 1891 in the United States, which ironically pays little-to-no attention to the sport today. My country’s 2020 teams are mostly comprised of players outside the country.

Netball started for men, but then became a mostly female sport. Netball is the most popular women’s sport in Botswana, Malawi and Tanzania. And it is pretty popular in Uganda.

Finally, in February 2020, I made an appointment with one of the UCU players to learn more. The player, Hanisha Muhammed, is not just any university player. In addition to being on the UCU Angels team, she plays for two national teams – the She Pearls (name connected to Uganda’s reputation as the “pearl of Africa”) for those under 21 and the older women’s She Cranes (named after Uganda’s national bird) team. At age 20, Hanisha is the youngest player for the She Cranes.

On an early evening of February10 and on a day when she is not working her journalism/marketing internship at the Bank of Uganda, Hanisha arrives. She carries her practice ball (slightly smaller than a basketball) in a black bag. She patiently answers questions about her life, and explains the game and why she is so passionate about it.

“I was a swimmer,” she said. “But people kept telling me that because I was tall that I should do netball. I’m 6’3”.”

Short netball players are rare.

One of eight children from two mothers and one dad, Hanisha acknowledges her Ugandan family was more privileged than most. Her mother is a hotel owner from Rwanda, and her father is a retired psychiatrist with mostly Acholi, Uganda, roots. Hanisha calls Kampala her home, but lives in Mukono when UCU classes are in session.

In Secondary 5 (high school junior year), Hanisha exchanged her bathing suit and the pool for a T-shirt, shorts, sneakersand a cement court. She never looked back. Her program of study at UCU is journalism – a career she believes she can do alongside netball until she’s in her late 30s. When her sports career subsides, she will still have something in public relations or journalism.

“In other countries, you quit the sport earlier, but in Uganda, there are players up to 40,” she said.

While little-to-no payment to play isn’t an enticement, travel and the lessons of physical fitness, patience, teamwork and discipline are. The sport has taken Hanisha to Fiji, South Africa and Botswana. She maintains her weight with a healthy diet, sometimes practicing eight hours a day. She drinks lots of water and juice and avoids drugs and alcohol.

Some of the netball rules are: Seven players with two defenders and two shooters on the court. Thirteen players on the team. No dunking. No dribbling. No running with the ball. Feet firmly on the ground when shooting. No basket backboard. Release ball within three seconds.

“The umpires do the counting, but so do we,” she said. “You can’t hold onto the ball very long.”

Hitting the net’s pole so that the ball bounces off of it is a highly honed skill, she explained, adding, “The best players know what they are doing when they do that.”

“The game has a lot of rules,” according to Hanisha, who, like other netball players, pulls her long dark braids up on the top of her head for a game. “Few basketballers can play netball, but netballers can play basketball. Netball is about the feet, how you land with the ball and speed. You have to be as quick as possible.”

While realizing young girls look up to her, she does the same with Peace Proscovia, a UCU graduate with bachelor and master degrees in business administration and captain of the She Cranes.

After Hanisha’s graduation in October 2021, she hopes to begin playing more with international teams. Right now, her life is occupied with studies at UCU, playing netball, reading and praying. Financial remuneration is not important.

“Money doesn’t blow me away,” she says. “It’s just not a priority for me.”

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Shorter-than-normal Ugandan basketball player uses ‘brain’ to excel

March 3, 2020Sports, Students#Basketball, #CaliforniaWarriors, #FayedBaale, #FIBA, #MarchMadness, #NBA, #StephCurry, #UCUCanons, #UgandaChristianUniversity, sports, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Fayed Baale celebrates after winning game 6 of the finals of the National Basketball League (NBL)

(NOTE: Across the United States, March Madness refers to National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball competitions – a month when university rivalries are at their peak. In honor of the “madness” of watching American basketball in March 2020 and in collaboration with interns working at the Uganda Christian University student newspaper, The Standard, UCU Partners is featuring stories on the UCU sports of basketball, netball, soccer, rugby and hockey.)

By Maria Eyoru

Every evening, when returning the Standard newspaper office keys to the Uganda Christian University (UCU) main gate, I watch students, namely members of the UCU Cannons boys team, practice at the nearby court.

My interest in the game especially peaked when I observed the shortest player on the team. He dribbled the ball, gripping it firmly in his hands while smartly ducking to dodge his taller opponents. I was intrigued by this young man who stood at five feet, eight inches – more than four inches shorter than any other player.

His feet appeared to move as light as feathers as he smartly ran fast while still dribbling the ball, ducking down to pass the ball to a teammate. That uncanny speed, especially by a not-so-tall player, caught my attention. The opponents seemed lost and confused. Captivated by what I saw, I decided to talk to this player – Fayed Baale. I simply had to know more about this UCU player of a sport, basketball, which started internationally in 1891 and in Africa in the early 1960s.

Fayed’s journey to become a basketball player wasn’t easy. It was a difficult voyage that involved a game of cat and mouse. Before he developed the interest in basketball, he had a passion for playing football (soccer) as is most common among the youths of Uganda.

One of his coaches, Zayed Yahaya, approached him about shifting his skill to basketball. Zayed nudged and kept nudging until Fayed joined in Secondary 3 (high school junior year).

Fayed said his coach’s persistence was so overwhelming that he found strategies to “dodge” him. Half joking, Fayed added, “He started monitoring me and punishing me, so I played out of fear.”

At the onset, Fayed’s parents were not supportive and asked teachers to discourage him from being on the court. Basketball began in 1963 in Uganda. It was registered under the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and has since grown to have over 20 teams. It is popular but still lags behind soccer that has been around longer.

“My parents tasked the teachers at school to punish me if they ever found me on court, but they did not,” Fayed said.

He eventually developed a passion for the game and started to play with the National Basketball Association (NBA) Junior League; the team won the NBA Junior League in 2015.

Though he loves the game, he understands that height as his could be a challenge. He overcomes his elevation deficiency with being quick on his feet, playing smart and focusing on his goals. He has to put in extra effort and works twice as hard as the other players through speed and quick thinking.

“What it takes for me to make it, you have to have the heart, passion, self motivation, patience and work harder,” he said. “I work out a lot so that by the time I go for the game, I’m faster than others. And I use my brain. That is how I survive.”

His drive comes, in part, from Stephen “Steph” Curry, a Golden State Warrior with National Basketball Association honors in the United States. Curry is taller than Fayed and from a sports family with a role model sports father and basketball-playing brother and volley ball-playing sister. Curry also is a decade older than 20-year-old Fayed, the first born of seven children. Yet, despite differences, the California basketball star serves as an inspiration for the younger and shorter Ugandan.

Fayed is planning on playing the sport professionally when he finishes his education and while being a human rights activist in Uganda. He is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Human Rights, Peace and Humanitarian Interventions within the Social Science faculty at UCU.

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Uganda has many ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ of Katwe, including at UCU

January 30, 2020Faculty of Engineering, Design & Technology, News, Scholarship#Chess, #NorthwestUniversity, #Overcomer, #QueenofKatwe, #RobertKatende, #SOMChessAcademy, #UgandaChristianUniversity, engineering, Poverty, Slums, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU students Ivan Mutesasira and Mildred Nampala pose with chess and “overcomer” coach Robert Katende. All are from Katwe. (UCU Partners Photo)

By Patty Huston-Holm

In the game of chess, if you lose the queen, most players forfeit.

Not so for Robert Katende, best known as the chess coach for Phiona Mutesi, the Ugandan slum girl featured for overcoming the odds of poverty in the “Queen of Katwe” movie. Not so for Ugandan Madina Nalwanga who had never seen a movie before being plucked from a line up to portray Phiona in the 2016 movie. And not so for chess players and Katwe slum residents Ivan Mutesasira and Mildred Nampala, studying at Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2020.

The list of Katende-influenced, overcomer names is long and growing.

Children learning about life and chess at SOM Chess Academy in Katwe (UCU Partners Photo)

The game of chess and the Sports Outreach Ministry (SOM) Chess Academy compound in Katwe are the visible ties between Katende and his protégé students. Yet, the most valued of 16 chess pieces – the queen who can move in all directions on 64 squares of the game – symbolizes much more. Katende and his young chess players have suffered losses that would cause most people to quit. But they didn’t.

On a hot, sunny day in early January 2020, more than 50 children surround Katende at the academy. He calls them “kings” and “queens” because, he says, they can rise to the top despite their poverty and other vulnerabilities. They call Katende “coach” as they learn not only how to play the game of chess but how to maneuver through life.

On break from regular school, the poorest of Kampala’s boys and girls ages three to teens, play or silently watch two-player teams at a dozen handmade, wooden chessboards. They sit or lean against each other under an avocado tree, within a three-sided tent or in the building that also houses Katende’s small office at the academy. Katende tells some of his story behind the better-known one about Phiona. It also is detailed in his newly released book, “A Knight without a Castle.”

Coach Robert Katende at the academy in Katwe (UCU Partners Photo)

Katende lost his “queen” – his mother – who abandoned him before he was a year old. As he grew, he felt so abused and unwanted that his only deterrent from killing himself was that he couldn’t scrape up enough money to buy rat poison to do it. He persevered with a life that often found him sleeping on cardboard with his grandmother and a younger child, suffering injuries that included a dislocated wrist wracked with pain as he successfully completed written exams, and digging his fingers into gardens and laying bricks to work his way through school while oftentimes being cheated out of wages.

Today, the former mathematics teacher with a university degree is the backbone of the Academy located in Katwe, which is the poorest slum in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala. The Academy is a haven in a village best known for high illiteracy, poor housing, prostitution and low employment except for metal workers who get accolades for their skill in crafting beds and sheds. The chess coach also leads the newer Robert Katende Initiative, a child-uplifting, fund-raising arm based in the United States.

“I see myself as a moving miracle,” he said. “It is not of my own making. God has chosen me to glorify His name. I have no reason to be alive but for His Purpose.”

Katende’s story is one he would rather tell through the next generation that he might have inspired. That generation includes:

famous Phiona, now studying business at Northwest University (Kirkland, Washington), where another Katwe chess player (depicted in the movie as the boy clicking his fingers a lot) named Benjamin also is enrolled with a dream to become a neurosurgeon;
teenagers named David, Lydia, Gloria and Stella who auditioned as young, poor Katwe children and received supporting roles in the movie;
two student chess players enrolled in engineering at the Mukono campus of UCU. There, with the hand of the university’s Vice Chancellor, the Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) exists to serve the underserved with the Academy – if there is financial support.

Through the UCU Partners organization, based in the USA state of Pennsylvania, San Antonio, Texas, resident, Sandra Lamprecht, offered that first support. She sponsors the two UCU students, Ivan Mutesasira and Mildred Nampala. Already an admirer of UCU quality curriculum and character-building education and with family in Uganda, the United States woman saw the “Queen of Katwe” movie in 2016, met Katende in 2017, and felt led to help.

With Katende’s recommendation and facilitated by the MOU at UCU, Lamprecht first agreed to be the American “mom” for Ivan Mutesasira, who is a lesser-known character in the “Queen of Katwe” movie.

“I’m the guy with the hat,” Ivan commented amidst the young chess players, including one hanging onto his leg on this January 8 day. He smiled as he referred to his movie portrayal as a member of the chess team that traveled more than a decade ago with Phiona to Juba, South Sudan, and the tournament where she won and garnered international attention through the media, a book and then a movie.

Like Katende, Ivan, who is now 28 years old, believes his life outside the movie better defines him and God’s purpose.

“The movie touches me because I lived it – paying for water and fetching it in a jerry can, sharing pit latrines, no electricity,” Ivan recalled. “My parents divorced when I was age five. There were five of us as children with a mom supporting us by selling vegetables at the market.”

While he was raised Christian and went to church, Ivan saw his life take an upward turn when, at age 12, he met Katende. Through moves on a chess board, the young Ivan learned discipline, responsibility, strategic planning, action consequences and that someone – the coach and God – believed in him and loved him.

“My friends were dropping out of school and having unplanned children,” Ivan said. “I was learning to accept and appreciate what I had, trusting in God, praying and playing chess.”

What Ivan learned through the chess academy is continuing at UCU, where character building is incorporated into his program in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Upon his graduation with a bachelor’s degree in July 2021, he hopes to make a difference in the place where he grew up.

“That building is wrong structurally,” he said, pointing to a crumbling residence towering three stories above the Katwe academy. “Effluent from the upstairs bathroom is flowing down into people’s rooms. That’s part of what I want to fix to improve lives.”

Mildred Nampala, 21, and the second Katwe youth sponsored at UCU by Sandra Lamprecht, likewise wants to be part of the solution to her country’s poverty issues. She is a year behind Ivan at UCU and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering.

One of three children, Mildred never knew her father who died when she was a toddler; her mother died when she was 12 years old. She served as a house cleaner and cook in exchange for school fees and a place to live with an uncle, his wife and five children until one of the biological children got pregnant out of wedlock. Out of fear that the same would happen with Mildred, the uncle kicked her out of the house. She found refuge in various homes, including that of her sister who works as Katende’s accountant.

Mildred found refuge in chess. The game also reinforced the value of teamwork with all the pieces working together under the guidance of the players. And the “Queen of Katwe” movie that Mildred has “watched more times than I can count” reinforces that she and others in poverty can be more.

While he has had offers to relocate with other organizations and in developed countries, Katende says he is called to remain in his Katwe birthplace. As he looks around and admires the mechanical skills of the less-educated population of the slum, he aspires to grow the chess academy focus into a vocational school within the next few years.

“The school will go there,” he said, pointing to an area near the academy’s single avocado tree and below crumbling houses and rows of laundry blowing in the dusty wind.

This Katende and others know: Millions of people around the world play chess. Losing a queen early on doesn’t mean you lost the game.

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UCU alumna in England: Surviving and thriving with character and faith

July 31, 2019UCU AlumniBarjere, Education, England, God, UCU, UgandaPartners, University of ManchesterPatty Huston-Holm

Sarah Lagot Odwong (third from left) celebrating Uganda independence day with friends in the United Kingdom.

By Sarah Lagot Odwong

Graduate school was always a childhood dream. A Master’s degree. Perhaps several Master’s degrees. And a PhD, that is Dr. Sarah Lagot Odwong, has quite a punchy ring to it. The academic designation adds power to tell the story of hope.

From a simple, dusty Barjere village in the throes of recovery after over two decades of civil war in Northern Uganda, beauty could rise from ashes. More importantly, young women who shared my background could see that they could achieve anything. They could paint pages of colorful life portraits. They could tell their life stories in whatever manner or fashion they felt represented their authenticity.

Uganda Christian University graduate, Sarah Lagot Odwong (center) with members of her church youth group in England.

When I got an email confirming my admission into a global top 10 humanitarian graduate school at the University of Manchester (England), I envisioned pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of my life painfully strewn by circumstances and carefully gathered back finally fitting into one coherent whole. Now, I could visualize myself seated at “The Table of Men.” Now, I could see myself applying for global positions of leadership in the places where people who looked like me, who thought like me, who spoke like me hardly ventured or never got the opportunity to enter. I was elated.

This breakthrough was the culmination of prayer and hard work. And so my journey to England started. I did not know what to expect. I was anxiously hoping that I did not make a mistake in coming to the graduate school instead of accepting a seemingly life-changing job offer.

I knew that in spite of my fears, I had to make this experience count. I was welcomed to the United Kingdom by a harsh gust of icy wind at the airport. I remarked to a colleague who came to pick me up that I hoped the rainy, chilly weather was not ominous of what lay ahead.

Once at school, I settled in with much gusto to the rigors of course registration, opening bank accounts, finding a place to live, attending socials with classmates, joining societies, visiting museums, searching for a new church, meeting new people from around the world, learning to ride double-decker buses and trains, trying out new cuisines (I live three minutes away from a two-mile stretch of Indian, Pakistani, Turkish, Lebanese, Afghan, Iraqi, Caribbean, Chinese, Thai restaurants dubbed The Curry Mile.). The experiences of a new place, new culture, and new people were initially exciting. Until they weren’t.

One shock that jolted me out of my reverie was an academic roadblock. For most of my life, school came fairly easy to me. Granted, I work hard. Extremely hard, I might add. However graduate school outside of Uganda challenged me in ways that I could never fathom. My classmates were 29 of some of the smartest, most competitive and accomplished people from around the world. Some had led United Nations humanitarian operations in Iraq. Others had overseen disaster relief efforts in Haiti, Japan and other corners of the globe. Suddenly, my experience leading a small communications department in the Uganda Country Office of an international non-profit seemed incomparable.

This was when the “impostor” syndrome set in. I wondered if I was good enough. I wondered if by some strange twist of fate I had fluked my way into the program. I pondered on how I would measure up to academic giants and people of noteworthy professional report over the course of program. My self-confidence dipped. It must have showed. Some boisterous types made it a point to laud their career exploits and academic achievements around me.

Overnight, my work was not good enough. The professors’ comments on my assignments were razor sharp and captious. I lacked critical thinking abilities, they said. My academic writing was lackluster. My thoughts were incoherent. I needed to reference better. Stop using colloquial language, they opined.

One in particular failed me flat in an assignment, calling my referencing for the paper “atrocious. “ I failed and picked myself up numerous times, but this time was different. The surly remarks ate into my psyche. I started to feel constantly inadequate. Self-doubt crept in. I walked into the graduate study office and cried at my desk.

Dark cold days, no friends, no family and mind ready to explode with stress and fatigue. I was struggling. And I did not know how to get a grip on the fast spinning chaotic wheel that my life had become.

Being thousands of miles away from my biological family in Uganda and my bonus family in Ohio, I kept up a facade of a big strong girl facing a big unwelcoming world. But even big strong girls falter. Phone calls, emails and texts from my loved ones contained the usual banter of familial relations. “How are you?’,” they prodded. I answered in the affirmative. I was doing okay, I was learning new things, and I was meeting new people. How far from the truth! I feared to rock their boats. Confessions of struggle would elicit worry and panic.

I made a difficult mental decision to turn things around for myself. It took utmost courage but here’s what I did:

I asked to resubmit certain assignments where I attained less than desirable grades. They were re-marked and I got much better grades.
I extracted myself from the class social setting to avoid the constant negativity and comparisons.
I sieved comments put on my assignments. I took to heart the ones that prompted me to learn and improve. I dissociated from the ones that were penned in jest and bad taste.
I joined a new church and started attending youth fellowships on Thursday evenings.
I became more deliberate about keeping in touch with family and friends in Uganda and in Ohio. I called regularly. I sent texts. Maintaining a line of connection with the people who mattered most in my life reminded me of the circle that valued my worth. It reaffirmed my existence and evoked appreciation of my capabilities. Family and friends will do for your self-confidence what a thousand self-praise singers cannot.
Above all, I found God in a brand new way. In the midst of the chaos, He anchored me. In the midst of insecurity and instability, He was a refuge. I developed a relationship of reckless faith, of absolute trust in his ability to steer the course of my life. I knew that despite what the reality presented, I was coming out stronger on the other side. That for me, made all the difference.

When people ask me about my experience of graduate school, my mind does not immediately wander to the mundane academic rigors associated with it. This was the easy part.

Instead, it veers to something more profound: Character.

Nobody prepared me for the loneliness, doubt, tears, frustration, agony and disappointments. I had to learn to gain resolve, to build a stronger relationship with God, to strengthen my resilience muscles, to find the inner strength daily to get up and put in the work. I came to understand that the mind creates in the spiritual what eventually manifests in the physical. You have to believe in you first before anybody else does. I realized our lives are dictated by variables and constants. Variables are opinions of men and always subject to change. Constants are laws. Our lives should be run by constants (truth). There is no truth without the WORD.

This certainly put things into perspective. People who maligned and doubted me uttered variables. My life should not be swayed like a yo-yo ball in the direction of their dictates. I needed to remember whose I am.

I chose to align to what the WORD said about me. I am an overcomer and a world changer. Whosoever is born of God overcomes the world. God’s purpose for our lives is that we fight the good fight of faith. Perpetual sleepless nights spent studying, constant fatigue, no social life, walking alone in a snow-filled park, praying in the cold; I needed to keep sight of the vision. The resultant good grades, the PhD admission, the extended professional networks, speaking engagements with global organizations did not come out of nowhere. They were borne out of painful sacrifices, never giving up, and the unmerited favor of God.

In a nutshell, my key takeaway from graduate school was the importance of character in navigating this journey called life. People see your outward glory. They do not see the toil and sacrifices planted prior.

Do not expect many to understand or even support your dream. Even the people set in your path to steer you to your destination will be inhibitors. Hold on to the people who love and support you. They will buttress you from the waves of adversity.

Above all, remember that the situation you find yourself in is only “impossible” because you have not taken action. “Impossible” is only an opinion in the minds of men. You define the limits of what is possible and what is not. As long as you have a mind to think, you have everything you need to achieve your dreams.

Becoming Dr. Sarah Lagot Odwong does not seem so far-fetched anymore. Running the United Nations Directorate of Gender is not a childhood mirage anymore. It is actually a dream within potential grasp. One day, a young girl in Barjere village will say: “I pursued because I saw her pursue. I soldiered on because she never gave up.”

All things are possible to him or her who believes. Pick up your cross and try again.

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New Chaplain shares personal aspirations and expectations for Uganda Christian University community

July 10, 2019Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and TheologyAnglican Church, Education, engineering, Paul Wasswa Ssembiro, Theology, UCU Chaplain, Uganda Christian University, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Introduction:
The Reverend-Engineer Paul Wasswa Ssembiro is no stranger to Uganda Christian University (UCU). A mechanical engineer, teacher and preacher, his careers have taken him different places, including UCU. He has been an Assistant Lecturer at Makerere University and Kyambogo University, has worked as a Provincial Secretary to the Church of Uganda and served as National Team Leader of African Evangelistic Enterprise. With his education and experience, he emerged in the new role of University Chaplain at UCU, Mukono, when the previous Chaplain, Rev. Nyegenye Rebecca Margaret Ajambo, left for another position at All Saints’ Cathedral, Kampala, earlier this year. His official, full-time appointment is effective November 2019. Uganda Christian University Partners spoke with him to learn about his inspiration in the role, his background, and expectations for the larger UCU community. The interview is edited for clarity.

By Brendah Ndagire

What inspired you to accept the role as Chaplain at UCU?
I have been ministering to UCU since 1999, visiting this campus as a speaker during “Mission Week,” for the student/staff community worship and during chapel time. I have specific gifts, such as oratory skills, leadership, Christian ministry, and my general experience working with a university as it relates to its community. I have preached at Makerere University, Kyambogo University, and at UCU. Comparing audiences at public universities, I think that UCU is a wonderful fit for me.

The Rev. Eng. Paul Wasswa Ssembiro outside Principal’s Hall

What does your role as Chaplain entail?
It is a broad role. Primarily, it entails spiritual formation for the university community. Whatever we do as a ministry team within the chaplaincy falls into a wider umbrella of spiritual formation. We pray and believe that as people come to UCU to pursue their studies, they would encounter Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Savior, and find wholeness. We pray that they would grow fully because that is something that is hard to realize in our Christian development. Spiritual growth is not about information but about formation, and becoming more and more like Jesus. But we also have a resident community among staff members. The chapel ministry serves this community, and the community outside UCU.

Is that an institutional or personal view of the role?
It is a personal view which interfaces with the general institutional view.

What is a scripture that defines your work as a Chaplain?
That is a difficult question. One will be Ephesians 4:11-13, with text that talks about the fact that God appoints ministers for the sake of equipping other people and what other people would do in the ministry … and the goal of ministers God appoints is that people come to the full stature of Jesus Christ. The particular scriptures talks about apostles, teachers, pastors, prophets, evangelists, and to me, chaplaincy fits into that.

What do you anticipate would be the most difficult part of being a University Chaplain?
The most difficult part would be the fact that the audience (young adults) is trying to discover what God is calling. I think spiritual stability for young people enrolled at UCU is a unique challenge that would make walking with them towards spiritual formation an uphill task. This is particularly (challenging) because young people are independent and they want to try out different things before they discover themselves.

The other challenge is that for now we do not have a chapel structure for community engagement throughout the week in terms of organizing activities related to spiritual development.

What do you think are the solutions to the above anticipated challenges?
Inevitably, Uganda Christian University needs to think about coming up with a comprehensive development plan for the chapel. That would include a sanctuary, that is, a place to worship, and hopefully with some outside space where students or staff can meet for other chapel activities. For now we are using Nkoyoyo Hall, and we are grateful. But in terms of a larger place where students or staff can come for prayer meetings, seminars in large or small groups, that is still lacking.

What do you find rewarding about your new role?
The most rewarding aspect of this role is recognizing that UCU is a great gift to Uganda and Africa at large, and it is rewarding to be a part of this community. Secondly, when God gives you the opportunity to pastor a community, it is important to recognize that you are responsible for sending out people in the community as agents of transformation. Thinking about UCU in particular, it is important for me to recognize that I will be part of the process of three or four years forming the spiritual nature of its students. I think that is truly a great great reward. Part of our work as a Chaplaincy is participating in the training of Anglican priests in Uganda through Bishop Tucker School of Theology, and I consider it a privilege too, to be a part of that process.

What do you think are the major needs of the people (students and staff) you serve at UCU?
First, the staff at UCU needs to recognize that part of the work they are doing here is aiding students to integrate professional development with spiritual formation since UCU is primarily a Christian institution. For example, if I come to teach mechanical engineering, how I train students at UCU matters. The values and ethics I pass on apart from the scientific aspect of the program, would ensure that I am developing an engineering student who is primarily God fearing, a graduate who honors God, with the sense of mission, and who go in a job environment to make a difference and be different in a job market. Thus, UCU staff need to appreciate that calling to make a difference in the lives of the students they are teaching. I hope we walk that journey together.

To the student community, the need is that they are able to find/discover their purpose and calling in God, and also solidify it. There are so many opportunities for serving God in our country, and I hope that we if students are able to participate in spaces we organize at UCU, they would be better equipped to serve our nation fully.

With your background in engineering, are you hoping to take on the role of teaching in that area at UCU at some point?
I have a passion for teaching. That is why I call myself a teaching evangelist. I also love my engineering profession but as to whether that would translate into teaching within UCU’s engineering department, is dependent on how stretched I am in the chaplaincy role. But if I got that opportunity to teach engineering, I would see it as a platform for mentoring and supporting someone to develop professionally and rooted in Christian principles and ethical values.

Since you are based at the main campus in Mukono, how are you planning to reach out to students studying at UCU’s regional campuses?
The chaplaincy takes a central role in programming and setting up spiritual programs for students who are not studying at the main campus. We plan that Tuesday and Thursday community worship hours are available to all students through their deans, and/or an appointed chapel representative.

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More information about UCU’s Chaplaincy and Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity at Uganda Christian University can be obtained at: http://ucu.ac.ug/bishop-tucker-school-of-theology.

To support UCU Theology students, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org, or donate directly at: https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

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UCU Year One – School of Medicine Student Reflections

May 20, 2019UCU School of Medicinechildbirth, dentistry, family medicine, Higher Education, Medical School, Surgery, Uganda Christian University, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Uganda Christian University School of Medicine students are (left to right) Peter Kabuye, Richard Ogwal, Ayikoru Hilda Diana, Birungi Beatrice, Ampumuza Davis and Ronnie Mwesigwa (UCU Partners photo)

Note: Uganda Christian University (UCU) Partners selected a sample of the UCU School of Medicine inaugural class with feature stories on each in 2018 and the intent for an annual follow up. Here, at the end of two semesters, are edited responses to two questions posed by the Partners team of Brendah Ndagire, Pauline Nyangoma, Douglas Olum, Frank Obonyo, Alex Taremwa and Patty Huston-Holm.

Qn1. What is one new experience?

Mwesigwa Ronnie, surgery and medicine
The new experience I have this semester is the practicals. Also, I am having two more tests before the end of the semester. The lecturer had travelled out of the country, and she just returned. So we are having the tests before we begin our exams the other week (in about two week’s time).

Ampumuza Davis, surgery and medicine
There are plenty of off-putting myths about being a medical student, but in reality, it is enjoyable, interesting and highly rewarding especially in light of what we are working towards. This semester has exposed me so much and ignited me to go beyond the basic lecture material and satisfy my curiosity about what I have been taught especially in anatomy classes. Clearly, I am confident that I will make a crucial difference to my patients.

Beatrice Birungi, surgery and medicine
Towards the end of March, our class had a clinical exposure. It was so amazing to see a mother deliver a baby naturally without going through a caesarian operation. I was very happy because it gave me hope that with skills and commitment, I will save lives of babies and mothers who die in my country due to ill-equipped facilities and poorly trained health workers.

Kabuye Peter, dentistry
Clinical exposure sessions are amazing. We divide ourselves into smaller groups that rotate around the different departments of medicine (medicine, pediatrics, surgery and gynecology and obstetrics) weekly. These sessions enable us to apply our theoretical knowledge.

Richard Ogwal, dentistry
I enjoy clinical exposure (practical sessions) in the hospital wards, the lecturers are friendly and full of words of encouragement, students are cooperative in discussing academic work, and l thank God l am passing the progressive examination tests. Leadership. I have no new roles and responsibilities yet but I am still holding the previous post as the boys’ representative.

Ayikoru Hilda Diana, dentistry
The clinical exposures this semester have been very interesting and helpful in mastering the lectured work. For example, this semester we did embryology and whenever we went to obstetrics and gynecology, the gynecologists showed us the anomalies we learned. One day, we witnessed a mother giving birth to a baby and thereafter studied the placenta. In pediatrics, we were taught how to diagnose on two different occasions. The first time, we were taught about pneumonia and the pediatrician then asked us to try to diagnose and categorize a child who seemed to have the same signs as those of pneumonia. We went through all the procedures from interviewing the parent of the child and looking at the signs he presented. In the end we diagnosed the child with severe pneumonia, which turned out to be wrong. He simply had asthma. On the second occasion, we were taught about diarrhea in infants and repeated the procedure for diagnosis and indeed the child had come to hospital with severe diarrhea with dehydration, but by then she had improved. Without this exposure, I would never have related theory to reality.

Qn2. Other than money, what are two challenges you face now?

Mwesigwa Ronnie, surgery and medicine
My only challenge this semester is the workload. They have introduced us to practicals that we did not have last semester. We have two practicals every week after which we have to write reports. And that means we also have to write two reports every week in addition to the lectures and tests that we may have. That has cut down on the time I would have for reading that would refresh my mind.

Ampumuza Davis, surgery and medicine
I knew being a medical student would involve working harder than I have ever worked in my life, but I didn’t realize how hard that would be. I have a lot other responsibilities alongside my studies that involve looking for school fees and supporting my siblings. Secondly, the school has no sports facilities, gym and much more at the main campus. The school also should work towards acquiring updated textbooks in the library and expand our learning rooms for they are congested.

Beatrice Birungi, surgery and medicine
We have a lot of reading that we barely have time for personal life. This is a challenge because my life is not balanced without the social aspect. However, I am trying to work out my own schedule to ensure that I have a better-balanced life. At the medical school, we still adequate space. We are 60 in total, and there is no room for reading and in lecture rooms.

Kabuye Peter, dentistry
My first challenge is commuting from home. It is cheaper than staying at the university hostels, but challenges my studies with time on the road. The second challenge is learning space with 60 students in small lecture rooms that are often hot and not air-conditioned.

Richard Ogwal, dentistry
The experience I have had so far has made me realize that medical school is so demanding not only on matters of academic concentration but also on time, scholastic materials and personal requirements. We are still doing mostly medicine-related work as opposed to dentistry, but l am comfortable because there are many similar things that I used to do as a Clinical Officer. With so much academic work, including foundation units, filled with assignments, report writings and recently introduced practical sessions, there’s almost no time for leisure or checking in with my family that expects me to pay tuition for my siblings. It is a stress factor that I am afraid could affect even my performance. We have no facilities for sports that could help lessen the stress.

Ayikoru Hilda Diana, dentistry
There’s so much to do in such a little time in medical school. I have to attend lectures the whole day, find time to write reports, assignments and do personal study. It’s really hard to fit all these in. One week, I had three very long reports to write for biochemistry and physiology practical. I also had two essays to write and a test. I learned not to procrastinate anything, from personal study to assignments because they eventually pile up and become very hard to complete. I also changed my strategies of studying. I discuss more with my classmates to improve understanding. It also is important to actively participate in lectures and labs. For example, dissection for anatomy opens up your mind about a particular topic and saves you some time as you read. The other problem I’ve faced is having enough time for family, friends and fun. Most people assume that I’m always busy and find it unnecessary to invite and inform me, which causes me to feel alone. Going out refreshes my brain. I also ensure that I go to church on Sundays so as to interact with people and my family after the service.

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Those interested in helping students like these become part of the solution to Uganda’s health care system or providing other support to UCU can contact UCU Partners Executive Director Mark Bartels at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/.

For more of these stories and experiences, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org.

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