Category Archives: News

UCU and Reveal Light Ministry combine efforts to increase refugee awareness

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Juan Zamba at UCU fundraiser (UCU Partners photo)

By Brendah Ndagire

Reveal Light Ministry, a Christian organization that works with refugee children, held a concert at Uganda Christian University (UCU) to increase awareness for the education, health care, land, housing and employment struggles for those forced to flee their homelands. This year alone Uganda has received more than one million refugees mainly from conflicted regions of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, and Eritrea.

The November 24 event organizers, Emmanuel Buyinza, the East African Director at Reveal Light Ministry, and UCU lecturer Mary Chowenhill, also sought to engage UCU students who were once refugees themselves and to raise funds to ease the poverty status of refugee children. Despite government assistance, some children go to bed hungry.

The organization has between 500 and 600 children in Hope Village Mubende district, according to Buyinza. In addition to basic necessities such as food, the Reveal Light Ministry gives “them hope through the word of God,” he said.

Buyinza and his team work with local churches to support refugee children in Uganda and through out East Africa. They have Bible studies, character development (for teenagers), and microcredit programs. Through the church’s support, they were able to get access to approximately 20 acres of land in Mubende where they plan to construct an educational hub for refugees. Currently, more than 500 refugee children in Mubende district are reportedly studying under a tree. They lack permanent school structures for primary grades. With the construction of the education hub for refugees, Reveal Light Ministries hopes to have a primary and secondary school, vocational training services and a health center.

“This is a christian university that needs to champion human rights, including the rights of refugee children to have access to education” said Juan Emmanuela Zamba, a first-year student of Human Rights Peace and Humanitarian Intervention. Even though Juan was raised in Uganda, she identifies with the experiences of refugees.

“My own country of origin, South Sudan, has had many conflicts for many years,” she said. “Uganda has been very good to my people and attending this event is an opportunity for me to give back to my home country, starting from here in Uganda.” UCU Creates opportunities such as these to allow its student to transform their communities from Mukono to Mubende.

For Aceduna Specioza Dorothy, a third-year law student, and a policy analyst at UCU’s Africa Policy Center, this event was a great reminder of her passion for children’s rights in Uganda. Life hasn’t been very kind to Aceduna. Her family was internally displaced during the two decade civil war led by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda.

“Child labor is widely common in Uganda,” she said. “Since this event is about refugee children, I wanted to be here for them. Uganda needs lawyers who love to serve our society. And I intend to be that pro-bono type of a lawyer for children.”

She continued: “When I heard about the refugee event, I wanted to pray with Reveal Light Ministry and support them in anyway I can because I identify with their story in many ways, including studying under the tree and not having a place we could call home.”

Buyinza mentioned that additional collaboration will occur among UCU, Makerere University and Ndejje University, including with a sports marathon that would take place towards the end of January. All of these events are geared towards raising funds for refugees. He is hoping that a telecommunication company might sponsor these marathons to take place every year.

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Contributions to support UgandaPartners and  UCU students, including those with refugee connections, can be made at https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/ or through Mark Bartels, UCU Partners USA Executive Director at Uganda Christian University Partners, P.O. Box 114, Sewickley, PA 15143 USA; 214-343-6422; mtbartels@gmail.com

From Uganda to Guatemala, God’s love is universal

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(Note: The author of this story is a 2011 graduate of Uganda Christian University. For the past two years, he has worked as a business and community relations specialist for Child Care Resource and Referral of Southeast Iowa, USA. He lobbies businesses and state policy makers to create policies that support families and help employees access quality, affordable childcare.)

By Dennis Wandera

It certainly wasn’t the first mission trip I had taken. And, growing up in underdeveloped Uganda, I certainly never imagined myself going on a mission trip to another Third World country – Guatemala, Central America.

When I was a journalism student at Uganda Christian University (UCU) nearly a decade ago, I developed the urge to seize any opportunity to live my faith through service to God and people. Thankfully the campus had many fellowships and a robust spiritual program offered by the Chaplaincy. Throughout my student time, I led four separate student-mission trips to eastern, northern and southwestern Uganda under the Compassion Leadership Development Program.

Many of us (students) had never interfaced with the brokenness, injustices, vulnerability and need for God that hovered among people living in our own country. These experiences shaped our perspectives and desire to be part of the long-term solutions to the challenges that undermine our country. But it also – at least for me, was a formative moment to find my place in God’s global plan through missions in and outside my own culture. I was certainly not aspiring to change the world, but aspired to do something – however little – and to watch the world change me.

Cross-cultural ministry

When an opportunity was presented through my church, Harvest Bible Chapel (Davenport, Iowa), to partner with Impact Ministries, Guatemala for a short-term mission trip of 16 people on October 13-21, I knew God was sending me. This was a country and culture that I knew nothing about. I was prepared to have my mind, opinions and perspectives altered. I was determined to learn and grow through every experience – not to revolutionize the place I was going to.

Cross-cultural ministry experiences can be, and usually are, ones that change us in deep ways. From her fragile past history after Spain colonialists, to the current political establishment, culture, worship, hospitality and food – Guatemala mirrors Uganda in some contexts. Like my Ugandan homeland, more than half of Guatemala’s population is classified as poor. They lack material wealth yet they find joy and cling to hope in Christ through their circumstances.

The sight of Guatemalan kids in villages walking distances to schools and women doing back-breaking work for long hours was a down-memory-lane of my own boyhood struggles growing up in Uganda. These visuals, along with the lack of basic needs like clean water demonstrated that despite the 13,437 kilometers (8,341 miles) separating my native country from Guatemala, this newly visited Central American country and Uganda are a reflection of each other in their public policy system.

Construction and connections

Our team helped construct a classroom block at a local school and donated items to new moms in a local hospital. We played a soccer game, visited local food markets and got hosted in homes for cookouts as a way of cultural immersion. Not many locals spoke English. Nonetheless, we sang, prayed together, laughed at our pitiful Spanish, and worked alongside them. Despite the language barrier, God’s love is universal.

One aspect of the trip unique to me was local reaction to the color of my skin. While Guatemalans generally have darker skin than most American Caucasians, most had never seen a black person except in the movies. I became an attention in some places we went. Three kids in the market kept following me and wanting to touch my hair and skin. Their mom pulled out a phone, asking for a picture of me with her kids. The adults who had seen the Black Panther movie gave me a nickname: Wakanda (location near Tanzania, Africa). I loved it. Eventually everyone on my team from the United States started calling me Wakanda.

Visiting is about scenery and places. But more importantly, it’s about people.

In Guatemala, I made a connection with people in that country as well as those on my team through the joy of their life stories and struggles. This was much less about me making a profound impact in their lives and place, but rather about them (and God) making a profound impact on me and my heart.

Eyes widened to poverty

By exposing my heart while getting my hands dirty in the soil of this country, my eyes were widened to poverty and needs. Beyond poverty statistics are the beautiful souls of kids who sat on my lap. I hope that the impact of this trip stays long after their country dirt is washed off of my feet.

Ultimately I hope that for the first time, or in a deeper way, I come to see that the gospel needed by the not-yet-Christians I encountered while I served in Guatemala is the same gospel that’s needed in my own heart. The people I loved and served there are not merely good people trapped in hard circumstances who need little help. They are fellow sinners, whose sin is no less deep and no less present than my own.

And their deepest need – though it may look drastically different on the surface is no different than mine. The need for a Savior who not only says, “I am willing” but “It is finished,” so that they too can be welcomed home as sons and daughters of the King.

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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in communities around the world such as UCU graduate Dennis Wandera is, click on the “Donate” button on the upper right of this page or contact Uganda Partners’ Executive Director Mark Bartels @mtbartels@gmail.com

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UCU Students, Public Officials Air Opinions on OTT, Mobile Money Taxes

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By Billy Bayo
Uganda’s Over the Top Tax (OTT) on the country’s social media and Mobile Money taxes were the main topics for the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Law Society 2018 symposium.


Held at Nkoyoyo Hall on the UCU main campus in Mukono, on 31 October 2018, roughly 100 students listened and debated the economic and freedom injustices of the new taxes. OTT, which costs UGX 200 a day, and the Mobile Money tax were implemented in July of this year.

The annual symposium topic was “The choice of taxing OTT (Over the Top Tax) and mobile money services as a tool of widening Uganda’s tax base.” Joining students in the discussion were thinkers, policy makers, and journalists.

The Infamous OTT and Mobile Money Tax

Hon. Nobert Mao, the Democratic Party (DP) President

Hon. Nobert Mao, the Democratic Party (DP) President, who was tasked to discuss the role of citizens said, “If you want to encourage innovation, internet should be free. The social media tax is about undermining collective citizenship not collecting money. The tax is also anti-young people because it is the young generation that is so much on these social media platforms. I hope the next government which is coming soon will reverse that decision immediately.”

Nicholas Opiyo, a Human Rights Attorney attached to Chapter Four Uganda, agreed that shutting down social media is “an attempt by state to shield from scrutiny and also cartel the free flow of information and it is associated with state violence.” He added his belief that taxes should be levied for progressive purposes with hopes that “the court will declare the tax unlawful and nullifies it.”

Ian Mutiibwa, an advocate at Signum Advocates said, “The taxing of social media and the tax on mobile money is wrong even if it’s only 0.5 percent. It is taking us backwards. These taxes will kill people because we shall go backwards. The principle of double taxation is that the same income should not be taxed twice from the same person. However, the mobile money tax is absolutely against that principle.”

Raymond Mujuni, a journalist with NBS Television said the multinational companies providing those services should be taxed instead of double taxing the citizens.

An intellectually charged Raymond further said he is totally against the OTT and Mobile Money taxes.

“These taxes must go, I totally disagree with them and I am ready to challenge it. Without economic freedom, there is no freedom for any black man. Those who have taxed us into oblivion, there must be accountability,” he said.

Simon Peter M. Kinobe, the President of Uganda Law Society (ULS) agreed that the state has an obligation to collect taxes.  However, he took issue with what the taxes are used for, arguing that the impact of both taxes needed to be researched before being passed.

“The state has an obligation to collect tax. The big question is what our taxes are being used for?” he asked.

Other issues discussed at the annual forum included tribalism and political inclusion of the youth in decision-making.

Peggy Noll inspires Uganda’s next generation of writers

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Mrs. Peggy Noll
Mrs. Peggy Noll

By Douglas Olum
It was 2:57 p.m. (East Africa time) when I left The Standard newspaper office at Uganda Christian University (UCU), where I work. I sped towards Eunice Guest House, located at the foot of the forested hill on the southeast side of the Mukono campus. I had three minutes to arrive for a folklore lecture due to be delivered by Peggy Noll, the wife of the former and founding UCU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stephen Noll.

But the venue had been changed to M3, one of the rooms on Maari block, a lecture block at the university. I rushed to the new venue. Mr. Peter Mugume, the acting head of languages at the Faculty of Education and Arts, was delivering his opening remarks.

“We are glad to report to you that the department you started has grown. We now have PHDs in literature, Masters of literature and we teach various languages like French, Kiswahili, Chinese and Spanish as undergraduate level,” Mugume said, addressing his message to Peggy.

The venue, located at the ground floor of the single-stair building, was packed with undergraduate students from first- to third-year and their lecturers. Reading from their faces, I could tell that there was thirst for more knowledge, the kind that Peggy Noll would soon impart to them.

After a few speeches from their staff, most of which were praises and recollections of great roles that Peggy played in transforming their lives, the Rev. Abel Wankuma Kibbedi, who was the Master of Ceremony at the event, introduced Peggy Noll.

She shared books, including various children’s literature, a collection of stories authored by Sir Apollo Kaggwa, an influential political figure in the pre-independence Uganda, and her own literature, “Under the mango tree,” which describes an environment seen by students on daily basis but with little attention.

“I would like to see someone write about him. For instance, why would he be busy collecting and writing these stories when he was Prime Minister?” Peggy Noll said, as she encouraged the students and staff to write and share their stories.

“You don’t have to look down on simple stories,” she said. “Children’s stories are very important.”

The study of literature at UCU started with only one student, a clergyman from the Western part of the country. But soon it grew to seven, all of who were pursuing it in line with the vocation to teach the English language. Right now, there is an entire department dedicated to the study of literature and languages.

Mary Owor, a lecturer at the department, agrees with Peggy on the importance of compiling children’s literature and other simple stories saying, “As Ugandans, it is time for us to get out of the oral story telling and get into written.”

On the part of the students, the lecture that could have started as an option to their program, turned out to be a life-changing event.

Daniel Kishoda, a student of Bachelor of Arts in Education with Languages, said the lecture has inspired him to focus more on his writing projects.

“I always know that all the peace and stability that we long for in this world rely on us because we can influence society using literature, but I had never concentrated on my writings,” Kishoda said. “You (Peggy Noll) have given me a dose of inspiration that will make me focus more on my writings.”

The students resolved to resurrect the inactive “Literature Association,” founded in 2005. They have committed to write poems and short stories and share with their lecturers. Through individual and association effort, literature will grow again in the country.

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If you are interested in supporting UCU programs like this one in literature, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.

World View impact on Marriage to be addressed at 2018 Uganda Christian University Public Lecture

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The Rev. Prof. Stephen Noll, former Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University, will headline the University’s 2018 Public Lecturer Program at 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 24, at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel. His topic is “Secularism on the March: The Abolition of Marriage and Family.”

The guest of honor will be Justice Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza of the Ugandan Supreme Court.

Prof. Noll will explain the fundamentally opposed worldviews of religions, which see God as Creator of the world, and atheistic secularism, which claims that there is nothing that is absolutely true, good or beautiful. These worldviews, he claims, have profound effects on how a society values marriage.

For most religions, marriage and family are ordained by God. The Bible sees it this way, as Jesus says: “From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Atheistic secularism, on the other hand, sees “sexuality” as an end in itself, leading to short-term “hook-ups” and cohabitation, and easy divorce.

When the secularist worldview dominates a society, Prof. Noll argues, marriage loses its stabilizing role, and women and children are the greatest losers.

After returning to the United States in 2010, Rev. Noll was appointed Chairman of the “Task Force on Marriage, the Family and the Single Life” of the Anglican Church in North America.

He also has been a leader at the Global Anglican Future Conferences over the past decade. The “Gafcon” movement has opposed the same secularizing trends in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Last June, 2,000 Anglicans, including all the Ugandan bishops and their wives, met in Jerusalem and stated: “For some time our Communion has been under threat from leaders who deny the Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture.”

Prof. Noll will be accompanied by his wife Peggy, who served with him in Mukono from 2000-2010. He will be the Guest of Honor at the UCU Graduation on Friday, 26 October. The Nolls reside in Pennsylvania, USA.

Uganda Christian University faculty member’s book, which is published in 30 languages

‘Mother tongue’ translation project elevates literacy for Uganda’s children

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Uganda Christian University faculty member’s book, which is published in 30 languages
Uganda Christian University faculty member’s book, which is published in 30 languages 

By Patty-Huston Holm

What if after years of affectionately calling the woman who gave birth to you by the name “mother,” you are told she had to be addressed as “maama wange?” At the same time, your mother’s brother that you grew up knowing as “uncle” is now “kojja wange.”

The words you heard and spoke with emotional attachment in your western, predominately English-speaking country since birth takes a back seat to a Ugandan tribal language called Luganda. Now, everything you read and say is no longer in English, but in Luganda.

Cornelius Wambi Gulere, senior lecturer in literature, at Uganda Christian University (UCU)
Cornelius Wambi Gulere

That, according to Cornelius Wambi Gulere, senior lecturer in literature, at UgandaChristian University (UCU), is similar to what happens with Ugandan children born into tribes speaking more than 65 different languages and dialects before going to schools where English is spoken and read. Not only do the children drift from the native language but also pull away from the feelings associated with those first words, the desire to be creative when putting words together and the excitement for reading and writing.

Project possible because of UCU Partners
The UCU Department of Languages and Literature project of creative writing, translation and publishing for children strives to change that – one book at a time.  With most of the financial backing from an anonymous donor through UCU Partners, English stories with illustrations are being translated and published into the “mother tongue.” From April to October of 2018, students and staff members at UCU and Uganda’s Kyambogo University had translated 1,000 stories into around a dozen languages.  Among the languages in the project are Ateso, Acholi, Kumam, Rukhonzo, Lusoga, Luganda, Kiswahili, Rufumbira, Kinyarwanda, Runyankore-Rukiga, and Runyoro-Rutooro.

Peer review to assure literacy quality is part of the process. In addition to Cornelius, others helping with that review are Manuel Muranga, Monica Ntege, Constance Tukawasibwe and Peter Mugume, among others.

A western humanitarian strategy has been to increase literacy in underdeveloped countries by donating books in English – an appreciated action especially in a country like Uganda where the government does not provide financial support for libraries. The less recognized but effective approach to fighting illiteracy, however, is to reinforce reading through the words children hear first.

“When reading is familiar, it is easier and more enjoyable,” said Dr. Cornelius, who has had his original children’s book, “A Very Tall Man,” published in 30 languages. “Plus, literacy increases with the more languages you can read.”

Words + illustrations = Creativity
And the value of illustrations with stories should not be overlooked.

“Pictures often carry more messages,” he said. “Ask a child to tell his own story by looking at the pictures, and watch something amazing happen. The illustrations increase creativity and lifelong enjoyment with books.”

For the Department of Languages and Literature in the UCU Education and Arts Faculty, the children’s literature project has benefits beyond serving Uganda’s children. It offered opportunities for interdisciplinary and off-campus collaboration.  Translators include UCU’s own students and staff – undergraduates from Journalism and Media studies and the librarian at the Mukono campus, for example – and students at Kyambogo University in Kampala. Support also comes from the Uganda Community Libraries Association, local community families and the free on-line children’s Web sites of Story Weaver and African Storybook. Besides UCU Partners, other literacy support has come from Hewlett and Neil Butcher Associates.

UCU Student translator, Buryo Emmanuel Noble
UCU Student translator, Buryo Emmanuel Noble

“I started learning English when I was 6 or 7,” second-year journalism/media studies student Buryo Emmanuel Noble recalled. “I wanted to keep speaking my native language, but it was hard because I was in boarding school.”

Buryo was one of the project translators, doing the work from English to Runyankore-Rukiga without charge because he not only enjoyed doing it but felt it would help young children from his Kiruhura home in western Uganda.  He smiled as he recalled the story he translated.  It was about a sheep who wanted to leave the city and get back to his country home.

Another UCU student translator, Babirye Dinnah, also in journalism/media studies, translated from English to Luganda a story about a hare and hyena. The lessons were about trust, honesty and laziness.  Her first career goal is to be a news anchor, but after the project, she realizes that with her knowledge of five languages, she might be able to get a job as a translator after obtaining her bachelor’s degree.

“It’s very important for children to know their local language to interact with family and know about their family history,” she said.

According to Cornelius, the next step beyond the initially funded translation is to have a doctoral studies program focused on children’s literature.

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One of UCU’s core values is service. Faculty and students seek to live this out by connecting what they are teaching and learning in the classroom to the broader society, meeting the needs of Ugandans who may never set foot on the University campus. If you are interested in supporting projects like this one in Uganda, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

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UCU’s Africa Policy Centre Joins Fight to End Child Sacrifice in Uganda

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By Alex Taremwa

On the sidelines of the Hope Event organized by Kyampisi Childcare Ministries at the Kampala Serena Hotel is Joseph Nkunda, a 54-year-old pastoralist in the rural district of Nakasongola along the Kampala-Gulu highway.

Nkunda narrates that after two of his children – Canaan, 10, and Sylvia Nkunda, 7, returned from school in 2009, he asked them to look after the cows as he went to buy food from the market.  After the father left, a man the children didn’t know approached them with a sharpened machete and claimed that the cows had destroyed his garden. The children denied the claim, but the man overpowered them.

Joseph Nkunda, left, with his son, a child sacrifice survivor
Joseph Nkunda, left, with his son, a child sacrifice survivor, talks about how his son survived and his daughter was brutally murdered by a witch doctor.

“He commanded them to walk ahead of him so he could go and show them the garden that the cows had allegedly destroyed and since he had the machete, they could not object,” Nkunda continued.

When they got to a shrub, he motioned the children to sit on the ground. The boy refused, but the accuser grabbed him by the neck and his sister by the hands.

“He cut the boys neck from behind and the boy fell flat, lifeless, unconscious and bleeding profusely. He left him for dead and then cut the girl into several pieces, drained her blood, took her heart and her genitals,” the father recounted both privately at an August 24, 2018, cocktail reception for about 75 people and later that night in front of 1,000 parents, children, Ugandan officials and non-profit representatives from Uganda, Australia and the United States.

Because the boy was unconscious, the witchdoctor thought he was dead. But he wasn’t. Upon his return, Joseph Nkunda could not believe his eyes to find his children – ones he left alive and well an hour ago – lying lifeless in the jungle. He fainted.

Fast forward, the boy survived, and the witchdoctor was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Nkunda believes the sentence could have been tougher and more lives saved had there been stricter laws in Uganda against child sacrifice and trafficking.

“Most cultures and traditions in Uganda still believe in appeasing the ‘gods’ with blood sacrifice of mostly children for they are considered pure and holy,” William Kasoba, a children’s activist, said.

Kasoba claimed that in Uganda, two of every 10 children are classified as targeted for child sacrifice. He added that some sacrifices are condoned by parents for material gain and that the business of witchcraft under the guise of “traditional healers, herbalists” is thriving.

Peter Sewakiryanga, left, executive director of the KCM organization
Peter Sewakiryanga, left, executive director of the KCM organization serving as the primary sponsor of the child sacrifice awareness event in Kampala, and Karen Lewis, Australia, holding a baby she is hoping to adopt, offered their voices about child protection. While not a victim of witch doctors, the baby falls in the category of “vulnerable” because he was one of two twin boys tossed out age two weeks by a mother who called them “snakes.”

This is where Uganda Christian University (UCU)’s think-tank Africa Policy Centre (APC) comes in. A study conducted by the Centre has been shared by the Parliamentary Committee on Children’s Welfare demanding for tougher legislation on child sacrifice.

“Prosecutors currently rely on the Penal Code Act, the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, and a series of legislation designed to enforce constitutional provisions on the right to life, personal liberty and freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The relevant parts of Ugandan law shows how inadequate it is to address child sacrifice,” Dr. Dickson Kanakulya, a Senior Researcher at the APC, said.

Kanakulya agrees with Justice Margaret Mutoni that the current law is too lenient for criminals who kidnap children with the intention to kill them but somehow the children survive. Parents who have lost their children to the vice call for even tougher and more extreme sentences – like the death penalty.

“The perpetrators are charged with manslaughter or kidnapping and are given lighter sentences that do not send out a clearer message that the practice is unacceptable and condemned,” he added.

In their legislation proposal, the APC calls for a unified missing persons database and the implementation of uniform procedures in investigation, training for law enforcement, and minimum standards of investigative excellence. APC also demands that the new legislation should name an NGO (or a network of NGOs) that will deal with all aspects of victim care.

Gloria Dandridge, left, and Chelsea Mack, are affiliated with the Christian law faculty of Regent University, Virginia.
Gloria Dandridge, left, and Chelsea Mack, are affiliated with the Christian law faculty of Regent University, Virginia. They have been working with the Uganda public prosecutions office to shut down witch doctor shrines and impose harsh penalties on perpetrators of child sacrifice.

Regents University in Virginia, a collaborative partner with UCU and the APC, was recognized for its program of bringing new attorneys to help wage the child sacrifice fight through the Uganda Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Also applauded for efforts were World Vision; the Ugandan Ministry of Gender and Justice; Operation Underground Railroad, a USA-based anti-trafficking organization; and Droplets in a Stream, an Australia charity focused on helping vulnerable children in Kenya and Uganda.

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To obtain a copy of APC’s analysis of the child sacrifice issue or to learn more about UCU’s APC, contact Dr. Dickson Kanakulya, APC Senior Researcher at tdkana@gmail.com.

UCU Students’ Internship in Adolescent Girl Education in Northern Uganda

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By Akongo Ruth Rose, UCU Student, Mass Communications & Patty Huston-Holm, UCU Visiting Professor (7th February 2018)

(In late November-early December 2017, three Uganda Christian University students in Mass Communications participated in a one-week internship focused on adolescent girl education and lead by Dr. Diane Ross with assistance by Dr. Pegi Lobb, both from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. The Uganda Christian University students of Professor Angella Napakol were Mercy Agenorot, Akongo Ruth Rose and Adiru Hope. Akongo provides this account.)

For one week of our final year toward receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications at Uganda Christian University (UCU), two other students and I had the opportunity to participate in an internship with two American professors. Our job was to assist with an empowerment project involving adolescent girls in Uganda’s West Nile region. The project focuses on the use of personal story telling to increase self-esteem and improve the school retention rate for girls. Fewer than 11% of girls in this region finish secondary education – one of the lowest girl child education rates in our country.

Adiru Hope, Mercy Agenorot, Akongo Ruth Rose

We knew the rate was low because the three of us grew up in this geographical part of Uganda. We knew some of the reasons. What we didn’t realize was how telling our own stories to these younger girls and listening and providing feedback to their stories could help. For six days, we took our listening, public speaking and feedback skills from the UCU classroom to approximately 160 girls in four real-world settings of an area of Uganda bordered by the Congo and South Sudan.

We met about 20 girls ages 11 to 16 in each the P6 level classrooms of Galia, Arua Hill and Atratraka primary schools and about 100 older girls in the Bidibidi refugee camp in Yumbe. They had touching and painful accounts of their lives. Many of the more than 60 schoolgirls we met walk long distances to go to school and may spend a night or two without food. The 100 girls in the settlement camp at the Uganda-South Sudanese border live with memories of murder and rape. Just inside Uganda now, they are relatively safe from the acts but not from the thoughts.

One of the UCU student sharing her story in order to inspire the girls to consider their personal stories and to pursue excellence in the midst of their lives.

The school girls told us about drunkard and imprisoned fathers with multiple wives; about abuse from those fathers and other men and even boys; about sneaking out to go to school; and about no money for school fees, uniforms and supplies.

One girl wrote: “Those of us without pencils are given sticks by teachers. We do our lessons in the dirt, and teachers grade them from there.”

From others within the three schools: “My father says I am wasting my time at school.”  “He says, ‘I will kill you. You are worthless. I’ll throw you in the pit latrine. Go away before I kick you like a ball’.” “The boys won’t leave me alone.” “My mother has 11 children and can’t afford fees for girls.” “They want me to stay home and watch the babies.”

The settlement camp girls have writings about living with the sound of guns and the smell of blood, with the cries, begging for mercy and the knives cutting through the throats of loved ones in their memories. Some ran without parents, living on their own while others managed to escape by being raped by the rebel soldiers and are now caring for those babies from fathers they will never know.

But in the midst of these messages of desperation were expressions of support – writings about hard-working peasant farmers trying to get money for girl school fees and about the camp girl’s relatives that may still be alive. There were words of hope with dreams of becoming teachers, midwives, nurses, doctors, builders and bankers.

“I want to be elected to parliament and not be an evil leader,” one girl wrote. “I want to be able to get electricity to the villages.”

From another: “I want to be Uganda’s first female president.”

As I interacted with adolescents, it brought peace in my heart to hear girls talk about their futures. Today’s girls in Uganda tell us that empowerment of a woman should not only be about the babies they produce, but also other contributions connected to the development of their country and the world.

Previous research shows that personal story telling increases self esteem and awareness of possibilities to realize dreams. During our nearly seven days of time with girls in four West Nile locations, we realized the value of not only listening but serving as older role models – Ugandan young women about to graduate from the university. I talked about my plans to be a writer. Mercy wants to make it in the film industry.  Adriu would like a career working with kids.

Another aspect of the project involves teaching about the menstrual cycle and erasing embarrassment about this natural part of growing into womanhood. The American university faculty provided this education, including about menstrual hygiene and reproductive health.

All the girls we met love school. They want to learn. They want to go to the university some day. They want to be part of a new statistic – to raise the current literacy rate of only 29% for women in this region.

Agenorot with students at one of the schools

While we were there to help them, hearing their stories helped close the gap of fear in me. If these girls could overcome their obstacles, I, too, could move on from any negatively I’ve had in my life. While I know we were there to help the girls, being with them gave me added courage to overlook my own education distractions and stand up as a young woman and be proud of who I am.