New Nebbi Diocese Bishop Awinjo Ozelle waves to congregation after his consecration.
By Ivan Tsebeni Nebbi Anglican Diocese in northern Uganda has a new bishop. Pons Awinjo Ozelle, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) alum, was on January 16, 2022, consecrated at the diocesan headquarters with a call for him to “seek to serve,” rather than expecting to be served.
Ozelle was elected by the College of Bishops of the Church of Uganda in October 2021, replacing Bishop Alphonse Wathokudi who succumbed to Covid-19 early last year. Wathokudi was not the only Anglican prelate who became a victim of the pandemic. The Anglican Church also lost Bishop Benon Magezi of North Kigezi Diocese last year.
Ozelle, who becomes the third bishop of the diocese, is no stranger to administration in Nebbi. He previously served as a diocesan secretary and diocesan administrator, Archdeacon of two Archdeaconries, parish priest, and Chaplain of several schools. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Trinity Theological College in Singapore and a Certificate in Administrative Law. Ozelle received a Bachelor of Divinity from UCU about 23 years ago.
Ozelle also served with World Vision, taught at Uganda College of Commerce and Paidha Primary Teacher Training College, as well as chairing the Boards of Governors for Uringi and Pakwach secondary schools.
At his consecration, Jessica Alupo, the Vice-President of Uganda, who represented the President, handed over a new car to Ozelle, urging him to “serve with faith, dedication, humility and integrity beyond personal compromise.”
“We are here to walk this path with you,” Alupo said.
Vice Chancellor Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi speaks during the consecration ceremony of Bishop Pons Awinjo Ozelle in Nebbi on January 16, 2022
Church of Uganda Archbishop Most Rev. Dr Stephen Kaziimba, who performed the consecration ceremony, informed Ozelle that now that he has assumed office, he will be charged with “loving and serving God’s people.”
Kaziimba used the function to appeal to parents to groom both boys and girls alike, if they want to fight gender-based violence in homes.
”Mothers, as you teach the girls, please, do not forget that a boy also needs grooming and grounding in responsible living,” Kaziimba, who is also the Chancellor of UCU, said. “I’m sure people have given more attention to girls, forgetting about the boys.”
He also urged schools to prioritize counseling for learners, stressing that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused post-traumatic stress disorder for some students.
Speaking at the function, UCU Vice Chancellor Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi congratulated the new bishop, noting that the university would continue supporting the church by providing scholarships for the clergy and their children.
He added that the university, through the church relations office, would start short courses to train members of the clergy in fields of financial management, among others.
Mushengyezi said Ozelle would be appointed to the advisory committee of UCU Arua campus, tasking him with working with the team to turn the campus into a college.
On behalf of the University Council, Mushengyezi donated sh1m (about $280) and an iPad to the new bishop. He also pledged to donate another sh10m (about $2,800) towards the construction of the cathedral, the first development project that Ozelle is expected to engage.
Ozelle expressed happiness upon the consecration, urging the church to keep supporting Nebbi Diocese to be able to offer better service to Christians.
“The church has shielded me since my childhood,” Ozelle said. “I still need the same guidance so as to be able to fully perform my duties.”
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.
Gulumaire Andrew, a UCU alum and formerly a reporter with Daily Monitor, during his ordination as reverend at Christ Cathedral, Bugembe in Jinja City, on January 30, 2022. Monitor photo.
By Gloria Katya Gulumaire Andrew was not the kind of person whose company many of his peers wanted to keep. Not that he was a bad man. His demeanour and being a stickler for rules was a turnoff – especially for students who were accustomed to breaking rules. Many called him “pastor.”
He says the title meant that he tried to keep students away from anything dubious. And it was prophesied by his parents. Thirty-five years ago, when he was born on November 30, a day marked as St. Andrew’s Day, Gulumaire Andrew’s parents said their son would be called to ministry, just like Andrew the Apostle was called by Jesus to be a fisher of men.
In late January 2022, the former reporter for the Daily Monitor and Uganda Christian University (UCU) first-class degree divinity graduate was ordained as reverend at Christ Cathedral, Bugembe in Jinja City. The now father of three credits his mother for imparting in him Christian virtues.
Gulumaire, whose 4.56 of 5.0 Grade-Point Average garnered him the first-class rating during UCU’s Oct. 22, 2021, graduation, started out in Christian youth ministry. He served as a youth chairperson from a small church, then later rose to the level of a diocese. His friends noticed his commitment and, in a sense, foresaw his eventual pursuit of full-time ministry.
“Pursuing divinity to me was a calling,” Gulumaire says.
The feat did not come smoothly for him, though. He had a family, including his wife, Brenda Nankwanga. He had to reside at his home in Jinja, more than 35 miles away from the Mukono campus of UCU. He commuted to university whenever he had lectures.
Several times, the thought of relocating to the university so he could concentrate on his studies better came to Gulumaire, but he could not actualize it. It would not be easy for him to relocate, and he was committed to ministry in his hometown, Jinja, which is near his birthplace in Luuka district, eastern Uganda.
He says at some point, he “tried dodging the call to full-time ministry” but that God’s hand “drew him back” leading to his submission to full-time ministry and that is how he ended up at UCU, to pursue the Bachelor of Divinity course. For his earlier years of school, Gulumaire studied at Gwase Primary School for his early education and later went to Kiyunga Secondary School and Budini Secondary School.
Gulumaire says he draws inspiration from the testimony of the Anglican Bishop of Busoga Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Samson Naimanye, who, just like him, embraced adult education.
“He is a man of a humble background. He was a school dropout, but slowly upgraded and worked hard in ministry, and is now a bishop,” Gulumaire says.
“It shows how the Lord can lift you from nothing to something,” the son of the late Jehoram Namundere and Aidah Tibaaga Bakulimya emphasises.
The alumnus lauds UCU for what he calls “quality theological training.” He says he could not have made a better choice of the institution to pursue his studies from. While at UCU he served as a student leader in various offices.
“UCU is a unique place for interaction, learning and development of leadership skills,” he says, noting that spiritual development through fellowships and mentorship programs, especially for the theology department, were enriching.
For his course, Gulumaire was sponsored by his Diocese of Busoga and also benefited from a partial scholarship by UCU. He hopes to return to school for graduate studies in theology to enable him become a “powerful, passionate minister” of God’s word.
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.
Godfrey Loum will be enthroned on November 21, 2021, at St. Phillip’s Cathedral, in northern Uganda.
By Jimmy Siyasa For a larger part of his childhood, Godfrey Loum’s grandmother called him Bishop. In fact, to immortalize the Bishop name, she named him after former Ugandan Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum, in whose reign Loum was born.
While the grandmother has passed away, her prophecy will come true on November 21, 2021, at St. Phillip’s Cathedral, Gulu district, in northern Uganda. Loum will be enthroned as the eighth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Northern Uganda.
Loum, who is currently the Vicar of Christ Church in Gulu, seems to be already prepared for the expectations.
“It means from now on, I am going to be exposed and many people will be looking up to me, especially in the areas where I will be serving,” Loum, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) alum, said.
The 49-year-old will take over from the Rt. Rev. Johnson Gakumba, who has been the bishop since 2009. The news of election by the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda was released in August.
Godfrey Loum
Loum was ordained a deacon in 2007 and a priest the following year. Four years into priesthood, he assumed the role of chairperson of the House of Clergy, a position he holds to date. In the position, among his other duties, Loum is expected to convene meetings of House of Clergy.
During his tenure as bishop, the Rev. Loum looks forward to fishing more men.
“I would want to see more people give their lives to Christ,” he said.
Secondly, he hopes to bolster structures of the church in Gulu to be able to offer psychosocial support to members of the church and the community.
From 1986, for two decades, there was insurgency in northern Uganda, arising from the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels led by Joseph Kony. Loum is targeting the people in the post-conflict northern Uganda, especially those who are still facing major depression disorders, to benefit from the psychosocial support program.
Loum’s choice of program is not surprising. He specializes in psychology. Having both psychology and theological expertize is something Loum believes will help him understand people and their social environment better. Loum has authored a book on counseling – A Quick Guide to Premarital Counseling for Pastors and Couples.
Behind Loum’s rise to the apex of the Church of Uganda clergy is a series of events. While in secondary school at St. Joseph’s College Layibi, in northern Uganda, Loum was lured by a cousin into alcohol and smoking. He drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes so often that the habit became an addiction.
Loum says he made several attempts to quit, but with not much success. For the few times he stopped, they did not last.
Eventually, he found a spiritual remedy to his challenge of addiction. Loum went to church. On October 4, 1998, he did not only mark his 26th birthday, Loum also gave his life to Jesus Christ.
“That day means everything to me,” he said. “It means a total turning point.”
To this day, Loum is unashamed to share that difficult season of his life because of his strong belief in the power of testament. “If you let others know about what God has done for you, it offers great empowerment to them,” he says.
Loum graduated from UCU with Bachelor of Divinity in 2004. In 2019, he graduated with a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, also from UCU. That was his second MA, having acquired another in development studies at Cavendish University in Uganda a year before.
Loum credits UCU’s training for preparing him to offer a double-edged ministry as pastor and counselor. He speaks fondly of Prof. Stephen Noll, the former UCU Vice Chancellor who was one of his lecturers, and the Rev. Can. Dr. John Senyonyi, who was the chaplain during the time of his undergraduate. Senyonyi eventually replaced Noll as the Vice Chancellor, a position he held from 2010 to 2020.
Among Loum’s role models are Noll and Senyonyi – the former for his “deep knowledge of theology” and latter for his “oratory prowess that he often displayed on the pulpit.”
As Loum readies for his ordination in November, he looks back at his early life with nostalgia, especially about the conduct of his grandmother making it a point to call him her bishop, a prophesy that is about to pass.
To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
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An engineer uses a grader to fix the clock tower on Bishop Tucker Building on September 6.
By Ivan Tsebeni Every 30 minutes, a clock on an iconic building at Uganda Christian University (UCU) is supposed to go “ding dong.” The sound of the bell on the clock on the Bishop Tucker Building is a reminder to the institution’s community that “time is moving.”
However, for nine years, no one at UCU heard the sound. The electronic clock, installed in 2007 to mark 10 years of UCU, malfunctioned five years later.
As part of the 10th anniversary, the institution refurbished the Bishop Tucker Building on which there is a cupola that houses the clock. When the clock was installed, the wood housing of the cupola expanded and warped the clock’s face, so it stopped working.
Upon learning that the clock was no longer working, Prof. Stephen Noll, the first Vice-Chancellor of UCU, offered to buy a new one for the building. That offer was fulfilled over the summer of 2021 when Noll sent the clock through UCU Partners, a US-based charity that mobilizes financial support for the university. The organization supports UCU in providing scholarships to needy learners and supporting capital projects, including the UCU School of Medicine.
“I understand that this time, the installation has avoided that flaw,” Noll said of what made the clock malfunction in 2012. It is the third time that the cupola receives a new clock.
However, Noll says by the time he joined the university in 2000 as its first Vice Chancellor, the initial clock had not worked for decades.
According to Noll, the Bishop Tucker Building is part of the heritage of the Anglican Church of Uganda and of Bishop Tucker Theological College, which was founded in 1913.
“The building is one of the finest pieces of architecture in the country,” he noted.
Noll said the sound from the new clock should always remind the UCU community about the importance of keeping time.
“The clock reminds us that ‘my times are in your hands’ (Psalm 31:15),” Noll said.
Welcoming the gift, UCU’s current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, said: “We have received a special gift from our first Vice Chancellor. It will be reminding us of (the importance of keeping) time and playing the sweet melodies as we celebrate our achievements. We are honored to have such a gift, thanks to Prof. Noll and the entire community of Uganda Partners.”
Mushengyezi said “the massive sound bell inside the clock tower, looks spectacular at night when the clock face is illuminated.”
The new clock has been welcomed by members of the university community.
Cyrus Ayesiga, a student of Bachelors of Procurement and Management, said the clock will help them keep time while performing tasks at the university.
To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
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The Rev. Can. Titus Barrack prays for a team of UCU staff members led by Vice Chancellor Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi during the UCU Sunday event at Namirembe, Kampala.
By Dalton Mujuni There has been a silent challenge among a unique section of Uganda Christian University (UCU) students. And, perhaps, if the university management had not mentioned it, not many people would have known.
While preaching during a service on September 26, 2021, UCU Vice Chancellor Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi said some of the ordinands (person training to be part of clergy) who are at the institution are married and would wish that their spouses could visit them during weekends. However, that is not possible since they reside with other students.
At the virtual service celebrated at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala to mark UCU Sunday, Mushengyezi mentioned a solution. The university intends to set up an apartment section for the ordinands and the clergy who will be resident students at the institution.
In fact, Mushengyezi said sh400m (about $113,000) had already been secured for the project that is estimated to cost sh1.5b (about $424,000).
In 2017, the Church of Uganda designated the last Sunday of September as a UCU Sunday in its province. Every Anglican church is expected to make financial collections on the UCU Sunday, to help in the running of the Church-founded institution.
Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi delivers sermon during the UCU Sunday service at Namirembe.
According to the Church, on this Sunday, “each and every congregation in the whole province will receive a representative of Uganda Christian University who will be given time to speak about the university. Congregations will be given time and opportunity for prayer and financial support to the university.”
Mushengyezi noted that the ordinands need a supportive environment while transitioning into professional evangelists.
Premising his call to the church to support the project on Nehemiah’s story of building the walls of Jerusalem, under the theme, “Arise, let us build the walls,” (Nehemiah: 2:18) the Vice Chancellor challenged Christians to contribute anything they can, to build on the foundation of Christ Jesus. Collections during this year’s UCU Sunday will go towards Mushengyezi’s call.
The apartment complex is expected to house over 50 student clergy and ordinands.
At the same event, the Vice Chancellor pledged to improve the university’s relationship with the Church. He said the university intends to hand over a van to the Church relations office to enable its staff to reach out to churches located upcountry.
The Rev. Capt. Can. Titus Barrack, while leading the virtual service, shared his memory of university life at UCU, characterized by “inconvenience,” saying he and others studying to be priests often listened to worldly music within their places of residence. He implored the audience to rally behind the cause.
The 2020 UCU Sunday was greatly hampered by the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on churches in Uganda. The implication of churches operating virtually meant that the church collections reduced significantly, hence little to no return to UCU. However, in 2018, UCU collections amounting to sh300m were injected into building the infrastructure at the UCU School of Medicine in Mengo, Kampala.
To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
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Eng. Rev. Paul Wasswa Ssembiro in his office at UCU
With the negative stigma attached to testing positive for Covid-19 in Uganda, it takes courage to confess publicly that one has contracted the virus. Despite the wrongfully imposed shame, some Ugandans are courageous enough to tell their experience, reminding others with Covid to have hope and encourage all to follow Covid safety guidelines. The Rev. Eng Paul Wasswa Ssembiro, the Chaplain of Uganda Christian University (UCU), is one such courageous person. Ssembiro contracted Covid in November 2020. He narrates to Eriah Lule his ordeal with the virus and how God helped him overcome it.
By Rev. Eng. Paul Wasswa Ssembiro as told to Eriah Lule I don’t know how Dr. Geoffrey Mulindwa (UCU’s Director of Medical Services) referred to me, but I am sure I was “Covid-19 Patient 001.” I don’t have a clue of where or when I contracted the virus. But I got it.
I began to be conscious about some sort of infection when I started feeling general body weakness and pain in the joints. The joint pain was unusual because I used to jog every day, to beat off fatigue. The symptoms were akin to those I got whenever I suffered from malaria. On this Saturday, I discovered that I had developed a dry cough. I was uneasy because I had to lead the church service the following day. So, I sought immediate medical attention at the Allan Galpin Health Center, the university clinic.
Eng. Rev. Paul Wasswa preaches during community worship in Nkoyoyo Hall.
I had a throbbing headache, which seemed to be localized just slightly above my ears. I took painkillers and even took too many at some point and out of despair. But, to no avail. I must confess that I struggled with denial and self- pity, saying to myself “I can’t be infected.” Soon, I reached out to Dr. Mulindwa,who gave me a referral to Mengo Hospital, an Anglican Church-founded hospital in Kampala. Mengo. It is affiliated with UCU.
When I got to the hospital, I met a doctor whose team noticed my agony. They administered a diclofenac (anti-inflammatory drug) injection that relieved my pain a bit. Several medical tests ensued: Lung scanning, heart-echo tests, blood count tests and finally, a test that I dreaded the most – the Covid-19 PCR test.
I was admitted to the hospital and immediately given intravenous injections for pneumonia, and pain killers. When the Covid results returned, the doctor told me I could not go home. They had confirmed I was positive for coronavirus.
They told me my lungs were in a crucial state. They sent doctors to counsel me, because the hospital did not have the facility for treatment of Covid-19 patients. My spirits sunk. I was distraught.
I was referred to Mulago National Referral Hospital. Anxiety caused me to unduly feel stigmatized in the process because I seemed like a problem Mengo was trying to rid itself of as soon as possible. But, thankfully, God gave strength to my wife who stood firmly in faith, for me, that all would be well.
Eng Rev. Paul Wasswa preaches at a seminar
Before admission at Mulago, I was sprayed with chlorine that soaked my clothes. The experience was irritating and traumatizing. It was an uncomfortable and painful wait of nearly two hours, before I was taken to my admission room. Eagerly awaiting a bath, having spent 24 hours without one, I was alarmed there wasn’t any I could have.
But God granted me divine favor. It was a Friday morning. A nurse walked in to check on patients who had been admitted the previous evening. She was a UCU alumna. She knew me. God used her to get me to a better ward, where I got a private room, with certain privileges such as accessing fruits to make juice and immunity-boosting concoctions from lemon and ginger, among other foods.
I also met a young man, also a patient, but in a better state than I was. He had known me as clergy from the church conventions I attended. “Pastor, you are my responsibility now,” he told me, with a smile. He started bringing me salads and hot water, until the day he was discharged. However, before he left, he asked colleagues at the hospital to take care of my meals and make sure I was comfortable.
The healing hand of the Lord was with me; my body responded well to medication. Six days after admission, when the Director of Mulago Hospital was moving around the ward, he entered my room. When he saw me, he said: “You are not supposed to be here. There are worse cases than you are. We should be discharging you soon.”
This was good news, to me, from a person who had a bigger picture of the virus. My fellow patients would later tell me I looked better than when I was admitted into the facility. I began doing mild physical exercises. My breath was improving. Finally, on the December 4, 2020, I was discharged.
While I still battle with side effects, such as high blood pressure, occasionally, I bless the Lord for healing me. Of course, my Christian ministry was disrupted; plans got sabotaged. Matter of fact, the whole chaplaincy office was closed to control the spread of the virus, as well as my leadership responsibilities quelled. But, we still bless God for His faithfulness.
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The Rev. Jessica Hughes, lecturer and online learning leader
By Joseph Lagen Behind her glasses, the Rev. Jessica Hughes’ eyes carry a glint to escort her warm, inviting smile. She is a missionary serving at Uganda Christian University (UCU), Mukono, under the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) – an organisation based in the USA state of Pennsylvania.
The Rev. Hughes was recently appointed the head of the university’s Online Distance Learning (ODL) department – more commonly known to its students as eLearning and via one of its preferred teaching platforms, Moodle. The cleric inherited the role under unfortunate circumstances, after the covid-related death of Dorothy Mukasa, the former head of UCU’s eLearning department.
“It is an honour to serve in this capacity,” Hughes says. “I was a member of the committee that launched ODL in 2020.” She added that it is a pleasure for her to continue implementing and expanding virtual learning in her expanded leadership role.
The expansion and shift were timely. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, education institutions were closed in March 2020. It was only seven months later that the schools were allowed to open for physical learning, but only for final-year students. In March 2021, the rest of the learners were allowed physically back in school. However, three months later, a Covid-19 second wave led to increase in the number of infections and deaths, leading to another shutdown of in-person classes at education institutions.
Thanks to the ODL department, UCU was one of the few Ugandan schools where learning quickly shifted online.
The woman of the cloth is a UCU alum. Being a former student and current lecturer in the University’s Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology gives Rev. Hughes an ideal vantage point for her new task.
“From 2009 to 2011, I studied at Uganda Christian University, where I received my Master of Divinity,” she says.
This was the second graduate degree of the Virginia-USA-born missionary. In 2005, she earned her first Master’s degree in Human Performance Systems at the Marymount University based in Arlington, Virginia.
Hughes’ undergraduate degree in psychology came from the George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia in 1992. She also possesses a 1993 certificate as a legal assistant from the George Washington University in the neighbouring Washington, D.C. area.
Her academic pursuits continue. Hughes is a candidate for a doctorate degree. “I enrolled in a PhD programme at the University of South Africa in 2014.” She is currently awaiting the results of her dissertation.
With all this training, one wonders how Hughes chose the missionary path, let alone being a clergywoman. She, too, had her reservations.
“I never wanted to go to Africa,” Hughes reveals in her eponymous blog.
“In fact, in my high school discipleship group of 12, 11 wanted to go to Africa as missionaries,” Hughes says, noting that she preferred to pray for them as they came to Africa.
“I now think that God was just tapping His watch (and probably chuckling), telling me to wait and see.”
The “about” page on the jessicahughes blog succinctly narrates her journey into study and service within Uganda – particularly UCU.
“My bishop, the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, had suggested that I study abroad for my M.Div., and then suggested Uganda, since my home church (All Saints Anglican in Woodbridge, Virginia) had come under the Church of Uganda when we left the Episcopal Church.” Hughes says Guernsey then casually suggested that she remain and minister there after graduation.
Hughes has ministered from the pulpit of the Thornycroft Chapel at UCU. On weekdays, you are sure to find her either lecturing theology students or responding to queries of students or staff members using the online learning platforms.
Learning online comes with its challenges – and those are before the challenges specific to a developing country like Uganda are considered. UCU has a mission to be a centre of excellence in the heart of Africa. Yet, in her online spaces and world over, Africa is faced with a threat to excellence in education – degree mills.
Degree mills are fraudulent institutions that pedal “accelerated” degrees, some from legitimate schools. They promise certification within absurdly short periods. Because of degree mills, some people walk with both undergraduate and graduate degree transcripts attained within under a week. The growth of the Internet has helped to spread the scourge of degree mills. How does the ODL department plan to nip this in the bud with regard to UCU?
“One of the things I am grateful for is that UCU does take education seriously,” the reverend says, noting that the deans and faculties work hard to ensure that the curricula are up-to-date and that the lecturers follow the curricula.
“Within eLearning, we are working with the faculties to ensure that they are posting their materials well: Posting recorded lectures, current readings and creating opportunities for community engagement.”
She says they do not want the platform to become a content dump, but rather a place full of learning resources and collaboration.
Hughes’ strategy for the near future is to “solidify UCU networks and hardware,” which she and her team are already working on.
“I want us to overhaul our understanding of pedagogy (teaching methods),” she said. “We need to move from a teacher-based instruction model to a learner-based one. This will change how we approach online and blended education.”
With such a daunting task, it is an asset that Hughes has made Uganda her home. And she has no plans of returning to the U.S. permanently.
“I am happy serving at UCU, and I will remain, as long as the Lord and the community will have me,” notes Hughes. She says her mission in life is to teach and disciple those who teach and disciple.
To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
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Students carry food packs donated by the UCU Chaplaincy.
By Yasiri J. Kasango The office of the chaplain at Uganda Christian University (UCU) recently donated food to students that the latest government-order covid lockdown has stranded in hostels around the institution.
Each student received a food pack containing beans, sugar, maize flour, salt and soap. A pack was valued at sh23,000 (about $6.5).
“When we got a report about students who are stranded in hostels and in need of food, the chapel council raised some money to help them out,” the chaplain, the Rev. Eng. Paul Wasswa, said.
Uganda on June 7 closed all schools and institutions of higher learning following increase in the positivity rate among the Covid-19 tests that were being done. Uganda is currently in the second wave of Covid-19.
Two weeks later, the country’s President, Yoweri Museveni, announced a 42-day lockdown, banning the movement of vehicles. Only vehicles belonging to categories of people government considered essential workers, such as the media, medical personnel, workers at construction sites and in factories, and trucks delivering goods, among others, were issued with travel permits.
The development meant that the students who were caught up in hostels had to stay there until the lockdown terminates at the end of July. However, in mid-July, it was not yet clear whether government will lift the lockdown after the 42 days. Government has said the positivity rate in the Covid-19 tests dropped from 18% when the lockdown was instituted to 10% a month later.
For the donation that was handed to the students, the chapel council raised sh1m (about $280) towards purchasing the food items. A total of 54 students benefitted from the generosity. The beneficiaries were identified by the UCU deputy guild minister for religious affairs, the Rev. Benson Amanya.
A recent UCU guild government survey indicated that there are at least 200 national and international students stranded in hostels.
Amanya said the needy students were identified through the coordination of class representatives.
“When a class representative recommends a needy student, we interrogate them about the student. Their response would help to identify whether the student was actually in need of food,” Amanya said.
“I am grateful for the support rendered to us,” Edith Joseph from South Sudan said. “We are going through a hard time in the hostels.”
David Kisakye, a final-year student pursuing the Bachelor of Laws at UCU, commended the chaplain’s office for the initiative. “Receiving some food, although little, is better than nothing,” he said.
The Rev. Wasswa acknowledged that the food relief given to students could not sustain them until the end of the lockdown and, therefore, called upon other well-wishers to donate more food to the students. He also asked students who may be in need of counselling to approach his office.
To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org
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The Archbishop, His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Samuel Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu (left), receives donation from UCU student leaders, led by Guild President Kenneth Amponda (right). Behind them is Vice-Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi.
By Yasiri J Kasango A recent act by Uganda Christian University (UCU) is a reminder that when people are protecting something dear to them, they will defend it in spite of adversity. While digging into pockets was ever harder during the most-recent Uganda Covid lockdown, dig is what UCU did – for the church.
Church of Uganda Archbishop Samuel Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu was recently at the UCU main campus during a visit as part of his duties as the chancellor of the university. That is when he was welcomed with a donation of about sh111m (about $31,000) towards the Church House project.
The donation, which was from the institution, its staff and student leaders, went towards clearing the sh60b (about $17m) debt that the Church incurred while constructing the commercial complex located in the heart of Kampala in Uganda.
Of the money that was handed to the archbishop, sh100m (about $28,380) was a donation from the university while the rest was collected from members of the University Council, the staff members as well as student leaders.
The university’s staff members used their social groupings – Christ centeredness, diligence, stewardship, integrity and servanthood – to collect the money. The social groupings are built on the institution’s core values of “a complete education for a complete person.”
The University Council members contributed sh2m (about $580) which they cut from their sitting allowance. The student leaders, under the Guild Government, donated sh1m (about $280).
Kaziimba thanked the university and its staff for the generosity, imploring other Christians to own the project by contributing towards clearing of the debt.
Kaziimba said the building is not fully occupied, with 13 floors lacking tenants. He said the church would advertise calling for tenants for the remaining space, to attract tenants.
In 2010, the Anglican Church, through its business arm, the Church Commissioners Holding Company Limited, secured a sh41b (about $15m) loan from Equity Bank to fund the construction of the commercial complex, the Church House. However, the Church faced challenges in repaying the loan, attributing it partly to the Covid-19 lockdowns.
On June 3, during the Uganda Martyrs Day celebrations, Archbishop Kaziimba launched “Yes, We Can! Yes, we can raise sh60b (about $17m) from one million people.” During the event, he asked individuals and institutions to contribute to the cause.
The idea of constructing the Church House was conceived by Janani Luwum, who was the archbishop from 1974 to 1977. Luwum was in February 1977 arrested and later died in what many believed was murder by the Ugandan regime at the time.
Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo later reignited the idea of the Church House project as a real estate when he was the archbishop from 1995 to 2004. Over sh720m (about $204,500) was collected, but it was not enough to start the project.
In 2010, the Church secured a loan from Equity Bank and the following year, the project started under the reign of Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi. Six years later, a sprawling 16-story building was commissioned by then Archbishop Stanley Ntagali.
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By Esther Byoona Gray hair. Walking stick. Wrinkles. These are perfect descriptions of a centenarian. If that centenarian is a building, its architecture is likely to be a sharp contrast to that of other younger buildings around it. The appearance of Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Bishop Tucker building, which will join the club of centenarians next year, will certainly seize one’s attention.
Its medieval architecture starkly differs from that of most buildings you would walk past on the campus. The neatly arranged baked clay brick walls tell of a time when such a building was associated with royalty and colonial administrators. A closer look over the center arch of the building’s entrance confirms this. The year “1922” is inscribed. This time next year, the Bishop Tucker building will make 100 years. Uganda was under colonial administration from 1894 to 1962.
With preparations for the event in its preliminary stages, a date is yet to be set for the celebrations.
“We plan to hold a hybrid event – both physically for those that can make it and an online event to cater for as many of our friends and supporters in the U.S and Europe,” Prof. Christopher Byaruhanga, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, says.
It is then, according to Byaruhanga, that the faculty will publish two academic papers – one on the work of the Church Missionary Society and another detailing the over 30 years of service of Bishop Tucker after whom the theological college was named. The late Bishop Alfred Robert Tucker was an Anglican Bishop of Uganda from 1890 to 1911. Prior to that, he was the Anglican Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa. The papers will become part of a book at some point.
The walkway to the building is paved with baked clay tiles, a sharp contrast to the tarmac walkways elsewhere on the campus, possibly to preserve the building’s medieval nature.
A plaque at the easterly side of the building’s entrance tells the origin of both the faculty and the facility that houses it. “To the Glory of God,” it reads. “And the memory of Alfred Robert Tucker, D.D, LL. D, Bishop of Uganda 1890-1911…” Mahogany-wood arches serve as a ceiling of the building. They are held up by Y-shaped wooden columns that seem to be grayed by time.
“From a bird’s eye view, the Bishop Tucker building forms the shape of an E,” Byaruhanga says. “On one end, you have the Thornycroft Chapel,” he says, with a guiding hand. “On the other, you have the Principals’ Hall.”
Between these are the equally storied offices and the Faculty of Theology. The Principals’ Hall is the university’s boardroom. In it are framed photos of the Bishop Tucker Theological College’s principals from inception in 1922 until when it became Uganda Christian University in 1997. The building also houses the office of the UCU Vice Chancellor.
The musty air of worn out wood welcomes visitors who walk through the Thornycroft Chapel door. Everything about the chapel signifies its age, except the new Yamaha speakers cleverly installed on either side of the altar. The aisle is hemmed by mahogany pews, made several shades darker because of age. All furniture here, from the pulpit to the pews, is sculpted, as opposed to being hewn.
At the front right-hand side of the chapel, two unique instruments sit silently – an upright piano and a large drum. The piano’s lid reads “Ralph Alison and Sons-London.” Its keys are detuned and ivories yellowed by several decades of striking. The hide on the drum has been smoothened to baldness by countless years of drumming it.
Together, these instruments tell of the intercontinental partnership that brought Thornycroft and the entire Bishop Tucker building into existence. “Resources for the building of Bishop Tucker College and the Thornycroft Chapel were sourced from well-wishers of the Church Missionary Society and those of the deceased bishop and slain King’s Army Rifle Militant,” Byaruhanga says, adding, “they were not the biggest funders, however. Royalty from four kingdoms gave building resources and labor to the cause.”
The kingdoms were Buganda, Tooro, Bunyoro and Busoga. Buganda’s king at the time, Daudi Chwa, was also credited for providing building resources for the Anglican Church’s Namirembe Cathedral. A glance at Namirembe Cathedral and the Bishop Tucker Building exposes their striking similarity in architecture and age. Their identical high ceiling arches and long columns are telling.
“The construction of the Bishop Tucker Theology College started in November 1919, only two years after the completion of Namirembe Cathedral,” Eng. David Kivumbi, UCU’s director of facilities and capital projects, says. “While buildings of the time were constructed using mud and cow dung or sun-dried brick and straw, baked brick and cement were used for these (Bishop Tucker and Namirembe). Deep excavations were made for their foundations, too.”
On the plans for the centenary celebrations, Byaruhanga said: “We plan to carry out renovations on the building, hold public lectures and, at the centennial celebrations, launch four academic (professorial) chairs for the four branches of theology – Church History, Systematic (doctrinal), Biblical, and Practical Theology.”
It is through this, he hopes, that the school that has trained the majority of Uganda’s Anglican bishops to date, will be better equipped to serve its purpose.
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Joram Kule (lower right, in black) seated with his family in a displaced people’s camp at his village, after escaping from the ADF rebel captivity.
Joram Kule is a theology student at Uganda Christian University. In 1999, Kule was abducted at age nine by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group that held him captive until his escape four-and-a-half months later. In the late 1990s, the ADF rebels terrorised part of western Uganda. In 2021, they have shifted their area of operation to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This abduction and escape as a child are part of Kule’s story as he works to bring others through their adversities to the way of Christ. Now age 27, Kule says it is the Lord who saved him, reunited him with his family and is now leading him to further be a witness for God’s strength. Kule, who is set to graduate from UCU in 2021, eyes a doctorate in his field of education.
Story as told to Gloria Katya
I was abducted on September 21, 1999, and memories of that night are still fresh in my mind. After supper, the practice usually was that we went to hide in a bush away from our home. We would hide so that when the rebels invaded at night, we would not be abducted from our house as others were. Rumour had circulated that our village, Mirimbo in Kasese district, western Uganda, would be attacked by rebels that night. We even built small grass-thatched huts in the bush, where we would take cover.
When the rebels eventually attacked our village, they came up to our home and followed a footpath that led them to our pineapple and sugarcane farm. And that was the same route to our usual hideout.On their way, the rebels ate pineapples. Sensing danger from the intruders, our little dog barked and my father woke up. When he got out, he saw the dog attack a stranger. That is when he called my elder brothers, who were also in the hut.
A fight ensued outside. It was my father and my brothers who were armed with spears, knives and machetes, on one side, against the rebels.
Joram Kule taking a reading.
For me, it was the noise from the fight that woke me up. When I moved out, I saw my father and my brothers fighting against a larger group of people, using spears and machetes. The fight went on for more than 10 minutes until my father and his team were overpowered.
At one point, my father speared one of the rebels who had attempted to shoot him. Another rebel had hurled a grenade towards my father, but it missed him by a whisker. It was the fragments of the grenade that ruptured part of my father’s ribs.
It was at that point that my father ordered us to retreat. My brothers and my father did. I was not as lucky. As I tried to run away, one of the rebels held me back. And they eventually went with me.
On our way back to their camps in the forests, the rebels raided more homes for food. They slaughtered people’s animals and carried meat in sacks. I was also given a sack of meat to carry.
After the raids, we crossed River Isya and climbed Kati Kati hills. After about two hours, we reached the top of the hill, where we retreated for the night. Very early in the morning, the rebels prepared some meat, which they ate. I did not eat what I was given. At that time, my bigger challenge was how to keep warm. After their meal, we then set off for our journey, deep into the forests. But before setting off, the rebel who was speared by my dad during the fight the night before died and he was buried at that spot.
As we moved deeper into the forests, I recalled what my mother, Masika Grace Maate, had once told me. She said that abductees are killed whenever they said they were tired. So, each time I was asked if I was tired, I would say “no.”
We walked the whole day, before we could get to our destination. At nightfall, we rested and the rebels prepared food. They also erected the shelters where we slept. The next day, we started the journey very early again. We moved through swamps, which made it difficult for us to move faster. At about noon, on the third day, we arrived at the main barracks of the rebels. I was shocked at the level of hospitality at the barracks. I saw rebels in rags, and quite many looking malnourished.
At one point, they brought a strong, beastly man who warned the new recruits that they would live to regret if they misbehaved. He was the hangman in the camp. I later established that the rebels at the barracks lacked food and, therefore, the ones who raided the villages did so with the intention of returning with food. And those who did were welcomed like heroes.
At the barracks, we prayed five times a day since the commanders were Muslims. Although I came from a devout Christian family, I started learning Islam and the Muslim culture. I was also given another name, Ismail. No one was allowed to call me by my real name.
After one week, another group of about 50 men joined us. It had a chief commander called Abdul Majidu. He came with a camera, and, sometimes, took photographs of us. Two of the other commanders at the barracks were Baruku and Mulangira. In my first two weeks at the barracks, I would get nightmares of my father, siblings and mother being shot and killed.
After about three weeks at the barracks, one morning, we were ordered to pack our belongings and leave. The boys and women were told to carry some of the luggage, and they moved ahead of the men. We were moving deeper into the forest.
Behind us were armed men, with cocked guns ready for battle any time. In the forest, we were greeted with heavy rains and fog. Sometimes, we moved under total darkness and also spent days without enjoying sunshine because of the canopy of the forest. Along the way, we would meet skeletons of people by the side of the paths, but no one seemed to care. I did.
After moving for several days and nights in the forests around Mt. Rwenzori, we came closer to an area where people stayed. For the first time in weeks, I saw civilians washing clothes, grazing cattle, and tilling their land. We camped at a place called Kasanzi in Bundibugyo district, in western Uganda. That evening, some men were chosen to go steal food from the gardens of civilians. When they reached the gardens, Uganda’s army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), solders waylaid them and killed some of them. The few who survived returned the following morning, exhausted. They brought sacks of cassava.
One day, one of the rebels asked me to go fetch water for him from the river. I was so blessed that for the first time, I was trusted and sent alone to the river. I moved down to the valley and to the river. On the way, there was an inner voice telling me to escape. When I had established that no one saw me, I started my escape.
However, I walked for several miles without knowing which direction I was going. A thought even came to me to return to the ADF camp. But I soldiered on. The first night, I rested in a wild banana plantation that was like a cave. I discovered it was a shelter for wild animals because it had animal droppings.
In the morning when I woke up, I continued with the journey. I saw a military base from a distance. At one point, I was not sure if it was a base for the rebels or the Ugandan army. So, I took the direction away from the base. As I moved closer to people’s homes, I found a small path that led me to the main road, where I met people going about their business. I was very dirty and shabby and with a bad odour.
I later met a herdsman armed with a panga, who took me to the Ugandan army base in Bwamba village. I was interrogated by soldiers before I was taken to the village chairperson’s home, where I spent the night. For the first time in four months, I took a decent bath and ate well-cooked food.
The following morning, a woman who was the herdsman’s mother had heard my story and paid me a visit with food.
By coincidence, she recognised me. She happened to be one of my aunts who got married in the area and, as luck would have it, had heard about my abduction. I was taken to the district headquarters and then transferred to an orphanage, where my father picked me and took me to an internally displaced people’s camps, where my family and other 800 people were living. After about five years in the camp, we returned to our homes after normalcy had returned.
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The Rev. Liberty Muhereza, who has degrees in law and divinity from UCU, receives an award from the Uganda Police in recognition of ALARM’s contribution towards the improvement of the force. Courtesy photo.
By Eriah Lule Muhereza means “servant leader” in various parts of Uganda. According to Forebears, the world’s largest database of name meanings and distributions, more than 14,000 Ugandans are called Muhereza. One alumnus of Uganda Christian University (UCU) is among them, and appropriately so as he serves as a social justice leader for communities.
The civil rights activism of the Rev. Liberty Muhereza led him to write a training module focused on civil rights ideals to be imparted into society. When he shared his curriculum with leadership of the Uganda Police Force, they did not hesitate to take it up. Today, the module that Muhereza developed is part of the curriculum that is taught to trainees in police academies in Uganda.
Rev. Liberty Muhereza with his family. Photo/ Eriah Lule
“Since childhood, I have always dreamt of a world where there is equity and social justice,” Muhereza says.
It is this dream that even after completing his law degree course, the 38-year-old opted to work with civil society organisations, where he thought he would make more impact than setting up a law firm. He studied a Bachelor of Laws course at UCU, after which he pursued a Diploma in Legal Practice at Uganda’s Law Development Centre.
Muhereza is the Country Director of the African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM), a not-for-profit organisation that deals with conflict resolution, servant leadership development, social justice and reconciliation, as well as community transformation. ALARM, a Christian organization that was birthed in 1996, is based in Ntinda, a suburb of Kampala.
The organization operates in six countries in the Great Lakes region: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, where it started in 2002.
Muhereza, a father of two, started working with ALARM when he completed his Diploma in Legal Practice course. He joined the organisation as its head of the peace and justice department. It is while heading the peace department that Muhereza developed a module on social justice that was eventually integrated into the curriculum of the Uganda Police Force.
Police officers being one of the major enforcers of social justice, Muhereza explains, ALARM found it necessary to train them in servant leadership development, peace, justice and reconciliation. He said they also mentor a section of lawyers under the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity.
As a Country Director, he has created partnerships with Civil Society Organizations, Government agencies and many churches in Uganda to train pastors or church leaders. Muhereza says they have held sessions with leaders in the Church of Uganda, the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal churches.
To champion their goal of fostering peace and reconciliation, the organisation set up a vocational school, the ALARM Technical Institute in Pader district, in northern Uganda, to equip former child soldiers, wives of soldiers and illiterate teenagers with self-sustenance skills. Northern Uganda was a hotspot of a two-decade civil war, from 1986, with the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels forcing communities into internally displaced people’s camps.
At the technical institute, Muhereza says: “The youth are empowered with skills like carpentry, computer literacy, building and concrete practice, electrical installation and many more, in order to establish a job-creating generation rather than a job-seeking one.” He is the institute’s board chairperson.
Muhereza resigned from his job as the head of the Peace and Justice Department at ALARM in 2015 to pursue the Master of Divinity course at UCU. Upon completion, he joined All Saints Cathedral Nakasero, as part of its clergy. However, due to his exceptional service at ALARM, it did not take long for the organisation to call him back, this time as its Country Director, a position he holds to date.
“Attending UCU ignited my Christian values and leadership skills,” says Muhereza, who was a fellowship leader, choir master and was also involved in various ministries as a student at UCU.
Currently, Muhereza is a board member of Hope Children’s home, a not-for-profit that looks after underprivileged children. He also is the general secretary of the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity, and the board chairperson of Fashion and Compassion, an organization that empowers women with skills for economic development.
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Some new UCU Deans and Heads of Departments present for announcement at a May 2021 function at the Hamu Mukasa University Library. Photo/ Israel Kisakye
By Jimmy Siyasa The Uganda Christian University has announced a change of the guard within its faculties and departments.
The announcement was made by the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, during the farewell for some of the outgoing leaders and the unveiling of the new guard. The ceremony took place on May 10 in the Learning Commons Room, located at the Hamu Mukasa University Library.
The Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa unveils a list of some new deans and heads of departments. Photo/ Israel Kisakye
“Covid-19 has shifted the demands,” UCU Vice Chancellor Associate Professor Aaron Mushengyezi said as he urged the new leaders to be creative in their work. “And so, as we come in to lead, please take note, you are not going to lead with the ordinary tools your predecessors have led with. You will require new tools because wholly duplicating what your predecessors did, may not work.”
Due to the “new normal” presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mushengyezi said all programs will have a digital equivalent.
“Covid-19 has changed the academic landscape,” he said. “And so, one of the main tasks for you is to pioneer and continue to consolidate e-learning.”
The university’s council chairperson, the Rt. Rev. Can. Prof. Alfred Olwa, congratulated the new leaders and thanked the outgoing for their dedication and hard work.
The newly appointed Head of the Department of Literature and Languages, Dr. James Tabu Busimba, was delighted by his new role at UCU. Busimba recently retired from a public university, Makerere, after clocking 60 years.
“I think serving in an institution that has one of its core values as Christ-centeredness is such a golden opportunity,” Busimba said. “I am grateful to God.”
According to the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, who unveiled the new team, the UCU Statute for Appointment of deans and heads of departments mandates that the appointments are ratified by the University Senate and then submitted to the institution’s human resource board for consideration.
Comments from some of the leaders “To me, serving in Uganda Christian University is building the kingdom of God,” Professor Martin Lwanga, former Dean, School of Business, said. “It is a privilege, and some of us are still available to serve at this great institution.”
Eriah Nsubuga, the Head of the Fine Arts Department, said: “It is unusual times. But an opportunity for us to reengineer how we do things. And one thing I like about UCU is that they care for their staff.”
“This year, we are changing direction as a university,” said Prof. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, the dean of the School of Research and Post Graduate Studies. “We shall provide a bigger amount of funding to professors, to lead various teams of researchers.”
The changes that were announced in May 2021
Faculty/ Department
New Head of Department
Predecessor
School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies
Dr. Emilly Comfort Maractho (Now the Director- UCU Africa Policy Center) Also Head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, until contract expires on 31 May 2021
Reverend Professor Lawrence Adams
Faculty of Social Sciences
Mr. Kasule Kibirige Solomon
Department of Social Work and Social Administration.
(Expired contract )
Contract renewed
Faculty of Education and Arts
Department of Languages and Literature
Dr. James Taabu Busimba
Mr. Peter Mugume
Honors College
Ms. Pamela Tumwebaze
Reverend Abel Kibedi
Department of Art and Design
Dr. Eriah Nsubuga
Dr. Joel Masagazi
Department of Education
Dr. Mary Kagoire
School of Business
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
Mr. Martin Kabanda
Mrs. Elsie Mirembe Nsiyona
Faculty of Health Sciences
Department of Public Health
Dr. Edward Mukooza
Dr. Ekiria Kikule
ASSOCIATE DEAN APPOINTMENTS
Faculty
New Dean
Predecessor
Faculty of Social Sciences
Rev. Dr. Andrew David Omona
Prof. MarySsonko Nabachwa
School of Business
Mr. Vincent Kisenyi
Assoc. Professor Martin Lwanga
School of Medicine
Dr. Gerald Tumusiime
Has been acting Dean, but now is the substantive Dean
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Former UCU Vice Chancellor Dr. John Senyonyi speaks during a Zoom session held at the time of his university retirement in mid-2020.
By Esther Byoona
When he was retiring from university service last year, former Uganda Christian University (UCU) Vice Chancellor Dr. John Musisi Senyonyi said he would carry two main passions into retirement. The passions for the 65-year-old revered preacher, mathematician, evangelist, husband, father and grandfather are theology and writing.
In the midst of a packed schedule as Vice Chancellor, Senyonyi often afforded time to write messages to preach to students during the bi-weekly community worship sessions in the main campus’ Nykoyoyo Hall. He also contributed regular articles for not only the university’s The Standard community newspaper, where he had a column, but also national publications like New Vision and Daily Monitor.
Dr. John Senyonyi
Senyonyi retired from the Vice Chancellor position in August 2020 after serving UCU for 19 years. He joined the institution in 2001 as university chaplain. Two-and-a-half years later, Senyonyi was the deputy vice-chancellor in charge of finance and administration. In 2010, he replaced the university’s founding Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stephen Noll.
So, six months into retirement and now moved off the Mukono campus to his home on Mukono Hill, how far is Senyonyi with the activities that he said would keep him company during retirement?
“There’s a manuscript I did while in the theology school that was recommended for publication, but it was not done,” he said. “When I retired, I decided to work on it, to see if it is still relevant. Now, I am done working on it.”
Dr. Senyonyi’s manuscript focused on the preaching of Bishop Festo Kivengere. He said the title could change, but when he was writing the thesis, he called it “philosophy of evangelization.” He related it to his context in the East African Revival. Kivengere is a former Anglican leader in Uganda.
Dr. Senyonyi explained that in the days after the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum, the theme that became prominent in Bishop Festo’s preaching was love. He talked about the love of God, as well as the love for our enemies. In 1977, Festo co-authored a book titled I love Idi Amin: The Story of Triumph under Fire in the Midst of Suffering and Persecution in Uganda. The title and content,Dr. Senyonyi explained, were unthinkable at the time.
Senyonyi said he has completed working on the manuscript. “There were many mistakes, but I’m thankful someone could type it in because the original manuscript was on a (now outdated technological) floppy disk, which I lost, but I still had a hard copy.”
Senyonyi also had edited a book for his long-time friend, Mark Blair, a former lecturer at the Bishop Tucker Theological College and now a pastor in Beijing. He edited a small part of what Blair was writing. He further explained that Blair wanted some assurance regarding his work, especially if the facts were accurate.
The other book Senyonyi edited was on his father-in-law, the late Bishop Misare Kauma, who wrote about suffering, which Senyonyi said was a reflection of his ministry as a pastor to people who were in anguish, especially from HIV/AIDS.
Senyonyi said Kauma was a very compassionate man and that he was instrumental in closing the gap between the church and those who were in need and the vulnerable. Kauma was one time the chairperson of the Uganda AIDS Commission.
Senyonyi also has a chapter in the book the Third Education Revolution that focuses on the education and the church. His chapter talks about his experience in the university and how the church and the university can work together to form a new cohort of graduates whose understanding of education is formed by the Christian worldview.
Before his retirement, Senyonyi narrated, there was an article he was given to write, regarding Christian education in Uganda. He says he has embarked on that, too.
Senyonyi noted that he is willing to write the history of UCU in a bid to preserve it. He has fears that a lot of the university’s history will be lost if it is not documented. Senyonyi particularly cites the death of former university librarian Frederick Mukungu, who, he believed, had a lot of knowledge about the university, but it was not documented. Mukungu, who worked at UCU for over 20 years, passed away on January 1, 2021. He had since retired from UCU and was the librarian at Muni University at the time of his death.
Two fairly recent documents, a 20th anniversary magazine in 2017 and a university prospectus in 2020, capture some of this history but not in depth.
Last but not least is a memoir. Senyonyi started his autobiography before retirement. He said he has been approached by many people who offered to write his life story. But Senyonyi believes that many biography writers do not do justice to biographies of the people they are writing about. That is why he is only confident in himself executing the task. He says the first chapter is a work in progress.
Clearly, Senyonyi’s plate looks full, but to him, there is still space for evangelization. As recently as January 31, he preached at the Nkoyoyo Hall, during the Sunday services. He said preaching is something he loves to do and he says he will comfortably do it along with writing.
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When people have faith, God makes a way where there seems to be no way.
That is what He has done for the Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity at Uganda Christian University (UCU) during the ever-present Covid-19 period.
The Dean of Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology, Rev. Prof. Dr. Christopher Byaruhanga, in office.
While most academic institutions in the country struggle to find funds because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic to the education sector, the School has continued to receive providence in form of multiple grants for capacity building of its staff and refurbishment.
According to the Rev. Prof. Dr. Christopher Byaruhanga, the Dean of School, four of the UCU theology/divinity lecturers – Rev. Andrew Nalumenya, Rev. Rose Ekirunga, Rev. Hope George and Mr. Denis Ruhama are pursuing their Ph.D. studies in South Africa using grant funds.
Byaruhanga said the grant from the Oversees Council Australia is a two-in-one.
“They agreed to partner with us in terms of staff development at the Ph.D. level for the next 15 years and also granted us sh20m (just over $5,000) for purchasing laptops for the lecturers at the regional campuses to help with the on-line teaching during the Covid-19 period,” he said.
Overseas Council Australia is an Australian-based Organization that matches the interests of Australian donors and the need of their partner Bible colleges by educating and encouraging Australian Christians to understand the mission scene in the 21st Century.
Byaruhanga said that the sh123m ($33,000) from the Cornerstone Foundation USA is for the refurbishment of the Department of Theology at the Mbale Campus (Mbale University College). Cornerstone Foundation Australia Inc. is a Christian, interdenominational, non-profit organization registered as an incorporated body in Adelaide, and is affiliated to Cornerstone Foundation USA.
He revealed that the School bought space from a Primary School near the Mbale Campus for the Department of Theology. The Cornerstone Foundation money was directed towards renovating the block.
“The face-lifting of the block is going on very well, and the first phase is done,” he said.
Similarly, the sh69m ($19,000) grant from St. Augustine Foundation is intended to support the School’s Online Theological Education during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Byaruhanga noted that with the grant, they were able to procure other laptops for seven of the lecturers at the UCU Main Campus and fund on-line teacher trainings for the staff.
The St. Augustine Foundation is an international organization that supports the needs of individuals and communities that advance the Kingdom of God. It is an expression of St. Augustine’s directive “to hold all things in common.”
“The grants have not only impacted the School but the University at large,” Byaruhanga said.
During the 21st graduation ceremony on December 18, the Vice Chancellor, Assoc. Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi commended Faculty heads, including Prof. Byaruhanga, for securing the grants.
The Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity is Uganda’s oldest theological School affiliated with the Church of Uganda. The school offers both undergraduate and postgraduate levels training in Theology, Divinity and Child Ministry.
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When Penelope Nankunda joined UCU in 2017, she attended an overnight prayer service at a hill about a kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the Mukono Campus. Penelope, ending her three-year program in 2021, shares this account to warn first-year students about religious activities outside UCU.
By Penelope Nankunda
The year before I joined the Uganda Christian University (UCU) main campus in Mukono in 2017, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. My hunger to know God was at its peak. I was willing to satisfy this hunger at any cost. That is when I met a person I will call Alex.
Alex (not his real name) had been coming to our first-year classroom at the University for close to three weeks. He came off as someone eager to spread the good news of the Lord. He did this through sharing his personal testimonies, scripture readings, praying and inviting my class to his Friday overnight prayers on a nearby hill with many names – Monkey Mountain, Prayer Mountain, etc.
I was captivated.
Alex was a very powerful speaker, seemingly well conversant with the word of God and very charming in an unsettling, Gothic manner. I desired to spend more time in the presence of God as well as seek a strong spiritual family to sustain me through my three-year academic journey at UCU. An overnight prayer event appeared to be a good opportunity to make that happen. After weeks of contemplating, and with a combination of excitement and guilt for this delay in what I perceived as my new-found journey in Christ, I prepared for the Friday overnight on the hill.
It was a decision I later regretted.
Author Penelope Nankunda
On that Friday evening after my dinner at 8 p.m., I rushed back to my bedroom to gather some things. At 9 p.m. I grabbed my black leather jacket in which I stuffed a handkerchief and my student passbook and ran for the door.
By 11 p.m., I was at the venue – a heavily dense forest with close to 30 meters (98 feet) of cleared trees with a cut-out tree trunk at the center. The weather had changed at the top of the hill and the atmosphere was now chilly with the moon as the only source of light. Slowly analyzing the scene, panic began to set in.
I was then informed that the overnight did not only consist of students from UCU, but also Kyambogo and Makerere University, and so we were to wait until they arrived.
At 11:30 p.m., the headlights of two vehicles slowly emerged up the hill pointing towards my direction, before parking nearby. Out of the vehicles, which were taxis, hopped out two dozen university students.
Amidst all the chatting and laughing, a male voice called out to all the students to form a circle. However, before forming the circle, we were told to place our bags, phones and coats onto the cut bark of the tree.
Once the circle was formed, a short man walked to the middle of the circle and began to sing some familiar songs of praise. He clapped his hands and sang as the rest of us followed. The sky grew darker. Now, I could only see people’s eyes.
Thirty minutes into the singing, I suddenly noticed a white Toyota Ipsum drive up the hill and park under a tree near our circle. Out of the vehicle came a tall, thin man dressed in a long dark overcoat (as though a tuxedo), a cap and what seemed to be gum boots. He walked towards the circle and stepped into the center, standing with a strong presence of command, hands held behind his back.
The singing was immediately brought to a halt as the song leader requested that we welcome our pastor with a thunderous clap.
“You are welcome to another mighty overnight; I am happy to see you all here,” said the pastor with a loud husky voice. “God loves you all, and it is because of this God that we are all here today. Therefore, open your hearts and receive his spirit today.”
As we resumed singing, the pastor pointed at me. Two young men walked towards me and instructed that I approach the pastor. I slowly walked up to where the pastor stood, right at the center of the circle. He took hold of me. He began to pray in tongues placing his hand on my chest, while bending me backward as though wishing for me to fall, but I did not. In less than a minute, he released me to return to where I was standing in the circle.
I resumed singing as I watched him call my neighbors. I saw students fall to the ground while others screamed, as the pastor placed his hand on their chests while praying, just as he had done to me.
Once he had finished praying for all the students, the pastor pointed at me again. I walked towards him. This time, the pastor whispered in my ear “open up your heart and let the spirit in. You are not opening your heart.”
I remained silent as he began to pray again, placing his hand on my chest and pushing me backwards, but again I did not fall. He released me.
At past Midnight, the pastor preached to us about a new way in which we were going to worship God. He explained to us that this way of worship was directed at calling the Holy Spirit, that it was new to most believers and three-dimensional. He then instructed us to make a circle around the incompletely cut tree bark where our properties sat and begin to rotate around the tree bark until he told us to stop.
As we rotated around the tree bark, the pastor told us to begin imitating how leopards roar in order to invite Jesus the lion of Judah. Everybody, it seemed, except for me began to roar loudly as they rotated around the tree bark.
The whole night was full of such strange activity as different groups of people performed different rituals. This was not the Jesus I knew from worship on the UCU campus. At one point, a few other students and I attempted to leave the hill but failed, because Alex followed us and nudged our return. I could only leave at sunlight.
Needless to say, this is not an experience I repeated. While I realize there are different ways that different people come to Christ, this is not the means endorsed and provided by UCU. In fairness, there is much good on that hill, including tent housing for the homeless.
I am narrating this account to advise other students to be more discerning to avoid falling prey to religious activities outside the University.
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Bishop Joel Obetia and his wife, Joy, at their home, a week after being discharged from hospital
By Jimmy Siyasa
After recovering from Covid-19, retired Bishop Joel Obetia of the Madi and West Nile diocese in northwestern Uganda has stopped taking certain things in life for granted.
Bishop Joel Obetia drinking a concoction of Vitamin C to boost his body immunity.
“Many times, we forget to thank God for the free oxygen,” he said. “A disease like Covid-19 clogs your lungs and you are asked to pay millions of shillings for oxygen to support your breathing.”
Bishop Obetia, together with his wife, the Rev. Canon Joy Obetia, was in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Mulago Hospital in Kampala for around two weeks. Their health deteriorated from contraction of Covid-19.
On the evening of Monday, January 11, 2021, the twosome arrived back at their home on the Uganda Christian University, Mukono Campus. Their return from hospitalization replaced long-held anxiety with bursts of irrepressible joy among their family members.
Besides running a busy pastoral life, Obetia, 64, an academic, also doubles as a lecturer at Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity at the main campus in Mukono. His wife, Joy, 62, is the Assistant Chaplain at St. Kakumba Chapel, located in Kyambogo, a suburb of Kampala. At St. Kakumba, she heads the weddings, welfare, women and prayer/ intercession ministries.
The two had been in ICU since December 27, 2020. Still frail and fragile by the time of this interview, they were under close medical monitoring. They can only resume their clerical and other activities when doctors say so.
Bishop Obetia and his wife, Joy, arrive at All Saints’ Cathedral Kampala in January 2020 before being diagnosed with Covid. He had gone to confirm new converts. (Internet photo)
“Their return is an answered prayer,” exclaimed Gloria Obetia, the couple’s oldest daughter and a health care worker 500 miles from Kampala, at Kuluva Hospital, Arua. “Such a relief! At first, we felt that they were going to die because they were badly off. But God has worked a miracle.”
She delivered healthy food daily to her parents ever since they got admitted. Gloria and other family members last saw the couple, looking lifeless, three days after the 2020 Christmas holiday. They were being whisked away to Mulago National Referral Hospital, dangling between the hands of the emergency team and death.
“It has been God since day one,” said a jolly, 22-year-old Miriam Litany Pakrwoth, another one of the couple’s daughters. “They could’ve lost their lives in the process of being transferred from Mukono to Mulago because their oxygen intake was so low.”
The Obetias’ initial arrival at the Mulago hospital was marred with tension, suspense and anxiety. One of the voices of fear and doubt that contributed to this unease was reportedly a nurse in whose hands the patients had been cast.
Mercy Dokini, 16, the couple’s youngest daughter, recalled the nurse saying, “5 to 8 people in your parents’ condition die every day. You better pray and fast for them.”
Triggered by the nurse’s pessimism, Mercy and her older siblings took to persistent prayer and fasting. Not only family but also friends and the faithful to whom the Obetias minister were constantly on bended knees and gave generously. Not on any single day were prayers and goodwill in short supply.
“I want to thank God for the faith he has allowed us to plant in our children,” said a contemplative Joy Obetia. “They have been praying and fasting for us ever since.”
She recalls pocketing about $100 as contingency cash, on their way to the hospital. But it stayed untouched throughout their admission. Their God through friends “supplied all their needs according to his riches in Glory.”
“God used so many people to support us,” said Bishop Obetia. “People were calling in from the USA, UK and all around the world. The support was overwhelming. UCU had close contacts who kept a close watch of us, to keep the community updated.”
Obetia and his wife believe that their place in the church somehow opened doors to the “overwhelming support and respect” they received while at the hospital. Another plus is that their admission caused a dramatic turn in not only meal scheduling, but also quality of the meals.
“Breakfast would be served late, at about noon and then lunch would come like at 3:00 p.m.,” said Joy Obetia. “I sympathize with those only depending on hospital meals.”
However, the tardiness in the hospital’s welfare department stopped at the intervention of State Minister for Northern Uganda in the Uganda cabinet, Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny, a sister to Joy Obetia. This was to the advantage of the majority of more economically challenged, less high-profile patients who often endure helplessly within the healthcare system.
When asked where and how they may have contracted coronavirus, the two pointed to some of the congregations unto whom they had last-ministered before their health deteriorated on December 27, 2020.
“I personally officiated so many weddings – two of them on November 29,2020,” Bishop Obetia recalled. “And on December 12, 2020, my family attended a wedding of my niece at St. Johns Church, Kamwokya. Thereafter, I travelled from Kampala to Arua, where I officiated another wedding on December 19, 2020. Then, I began to show Covid-19 signs like an intense cough.”
Obetia confessed that by the time he travelled to Arua, his wife, Joy, was already severely sick. Hence, on return to their home on the UCU campus, they tasked themselves to test for the virus, only to realize that that the potential “angel of death” had visited their household. On February 5, 2021, they are grateful that it didn’t remain.
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Rev. Canon Moses Stephen Isabirye at the veranda of his house where he sometimes works
By Penelope Nankunda
When Jacob in Genesis (Chapter 47:1-10) is brought before the pharaoh of Israel and asked to identify himself, he says, “My years have been difficult.” Canon Moses Stephen Isabirye, an undergraduate degree alum from Uganda Christian University (UCU), has a similar story is as it pertains to his academic life.
“My years have not been easy, and some of the people that I studied with especially in primary school and secondary school would wonder why I have taken so long to get this Ph.D.,” he said. “I should have gotten it about 20 years ago.”
Isabirye’s story is one of triumph amidst challenges with his latest success in attaining his Ph.D. in theology from Kenyatta University (Kenya) on December 18, 2020.
With a narrow, stretched-out smile, and eyes glowing brightly with joy and humility, Isabirye spoke in early January 2021 from his home in Mukono. Dressed in a black coat, a deep-dark grey shirt accompanied by a clerical collar and an ashy grey trouser, at 8:09 a.m., he gently emerged from the right-hand corner of his long rectangular house just above the University Chapel.
“You are welcome,” he begins pausing briefly in his steps before resuming his gentle walk to the back of the house. He quickly lifts two bright green plastic chairs – one for himself and one for this student reporter – and a small squared, long-legged wooden table and places them in the center of the compound.
He sits comfortably under the one-sided leaning Jacaranda tree in the midst of a colorful green garden covered with peaceful grass and a short jasmine tree. Next to it is a row of striking yellow lily flowers and several banana trees within the fenced compound.
Canon Isabirye told his story.
He was born on October 23, 1962, to Agnes Namboira and the late Sudulaki Ibanda of Iwololo village, Butagaya, in Jinja District, eastern Uganda. His names – Moses and Stephen – are renowned for heroism in the Bible. The biblical stories depict Moses as the leader of the Israelites, while Stephen was the first Christian martyr whose martyrdom is reflected through the bravery and persistence of Isabirye in his pursuit for a Ph.D. despite numerous challenges and persecution. His third name, Isabirye, means “father of twins” a name that was derived from his grandfather who had had twins three times.
Rev. Canon Moses Stephen Isabirye and wife, Ruth
Married to Ruth who, like Canon Isabirye, is a teacher by profession, the couple has three children. The first born is Rachael Kyobula, a graduate with a Bachelor of Computer Science from UCU and currently employed at Equity Bank in Entebbe. The second born is Paul Mwesigwa Ibanda, a senior six candidate at Hillside Namirembe SS, and Paula Mwebaze Mukyala is the youngest.
Canon Isabirye’s journey at UCU began in September 1991 when he joined the Bishop Tucker Theological College to study a Bachelor of Divinity course offered by Makerere University through the college; he successfully completed that undergraduate degree in 1994 and graduated with first-class honors in January 1995. While at Bishop Tucker, he pursued several other short courses in youth ministry and chaplaincy at Daystar University Nairobi, which helped him attain advanced certificates from that University.
Owing to Canon Isabirye’s academic excellence during his undergraduate studies, his lecturer, Dr. Tudor Griffith, helped Isabirye secure a master’s level scholarship in the United Kingdom. Dr. Tudor Griffith also had just returned to Uganda with a Ph.D. from Bristol University and was eager to see Ugandans acquire similar qualifications.
“There was a requirement for my diocesan bishop who was a very good friend of mine to sign but he refused,” recalls Canon Isabirye about the forms that Dr. Tudor provided for the University of Leeds. “He said it was a good opportunity, but that I had just graduated and started working at the diocese, insisting that he would only sign the forms after I had spent three years at the diocese.”
The opportunity at Leeds was for a Masters in Theology, majoring in Christology. The decision not to sign his forms left Isabirye bitter but determined to pursue further studies. In 1997, he joined Makerere University to pursue an MA in Religious Studies, graduating on November 23, 2003. It was while he was pursuing his MA studies that Canon Isabirye was invited to work at UCU as a part-time lecturer.
In 2006, he was again invited from his Parish in Jinja, St. Andrews Cathedral, by UCU to teach full-time at Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology. Canon Isabirye, who now teaches church history, pastoral care and counselling as well as related subjects also heads practical studies and history in the School.
Although Isabirye enrolled for a Ph.D. in 2010, which he applied for in 2008, and was admitted in 2009, it took him 10 years to graduate. He attributes his delay to several challenges, one of them being having changed supervisors.
“When one’s supervisor is changed, definitely there is a delay, which forces one to go back to the drawing board,” he said.
Canon Isabirye’s Ph.D. is in the area of Theology called Church History, specifically African church history. For his thesis, he examined the Phenomena of African Indigenous Pentecostal Christianity in Busoga and Buganda regions in Uganda using the Deliverance Church as a case study. His comprehensive exploration includes how those churches emerged, and the reasons and the factors their founders had.
His desire now is to continue teaching and also do ministry work.
Reflecting back on his journey to accomplishing this great attainment, he acknowledges the difficulty. He attributes two stingingly memorable and important days in his life which brought a large wave of change that never left him the same again, as well as helped him remain firm, faithful and confident in God, preparing him for these challenges.
The first day was in 1974 when the late Rt. Rev. Cyprian Bamwoze (the former Bishop of Busoga Diocese) visited his church while he was in primary school and identified him out of many other pupils, prophesying “this boy will be a reverend.” The second memorable day on April 17, 1981, was when he came to the Lord (became born again).
“On that day, the preacher spoke of when Jesus had died the curtain tore into two, and as I was getting saved, I saw something get torn into two in my life,” he said.
Canon Isabirye urges the youth to depend on the Lord.
“My journey has been long, tedious and at times painful, but I do not regret anything because God has been in it,” he said with a reminder that regardless of age, people are in a pilgrimage for Christ. “I always ask God to lead me until the end.”
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BEFORE KNOWING CHRIST In the morning hour of about 8:45 a.m. on March 2 of the year of our Lord 1992, my mum gave birth to me. Like any other baby, I cried at my first arrival into the world, which was going to be my home for some years as the Lord so wished. My mum later told me that I was born during an insurgency – various Ugandan civil wars.
Though, what was worse than my country’s rebellion against government is the fact that I was borne into non-Christian family. This meant that my life and growth were somewhat controlled by the traditional ancestral deities. For example, when I was a four-year-old, I fell sick and my parents consulted a traditional healer, who said that “the god wanted my name to be changed from Okot Walter Onen to Ocen Walter Onen.” This practice of listening to witch doctors was inherited from our great-great ancestors and continued until 2005, when Jesus Christ interrupted this evil chain – starting with me and then with all my family by 2014.
KNOWING CHRIST On May 5, 2005, I welcomed Jesus Christ into my life. The burdens accruing from my countless sins had suffocated me and sincerely speaking, “I was dead pretending to be alive.” So, when a preacher quoted Matthew 11:28 (Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.), I realized my vulnerabilities and the need to accept the free mercy of God to redeem me from my state of hopelessness.
I could say much more about this wonderful day, but let me turn your attention to what happened after I got saved.Immediately, I felt my heart lightened, and my fears of guilt disappeared. In fact, the spirit of God filled me and I began going to church, sharing with brethren through fellowship and Bible study.
I began to question where God was leading me. What was my purpose? What does He exactly want me do? Why did He create us in his image instead of animals, trees, mountains and other non-human creations? Why does He cherish us so much to the extent of giving us His only Son? These questions shaped my thinking and ignited my quest for a philosophical understanding of the church’s doctrines. It was also one of the key reasons that compelled me to pursue a degree in Theology and Divinity at Uganda Christian University.
AT UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (2016-2019) At UCU, I met distinguished scholars, especially from the faculty of Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity who encouraged me to wrestle with new theories and concepts about Christianity and its mission in the world. For example, Rev. Can. Prof. Byaruhanga Christopher challenged us to think outside the box and avoid the temptation of spiritualizing Jesus’ proclamation in Luke 4:16-18, but apply it to fight multidimensional poverty, injustices and the all forms of ungodliness in our vocational context.
According to him, “a pastor is the fifth gospel” meaning that people will always look up to you for the meaning of righteousness. Another professor, Rt. Rev. Prof. Alfred Olwa, who was our dean then, also would reinforce the message that the centre of Christianity is shifting from the global north to the global south. The theologians in the global south, including Africa, should be more prepared than ever to shape the discussion revolving around the orthodoxy of the unchanging gospel truth in the dynamic world.
I wondered how we might do this if most of the biblical scholarship is still being done in the western world. The urgency of theologians in the south to participate in sharing the Word became more apparent.
AT EASTERN COLLEGE AUSTRALIA (2019-CURRENT) In 2019, the words of the “Amazing Grace” hymn became ever more real.I received my degree from UCU on July 5 that year.Just the day before, I learned that I had been awarded a scholarship to pursue a Master in Transformational Development at Eastern College Australia. What a blessing! In fact, I felt like God’s exhortation to prosper us had just visited my door. Glory be to him, our rock and our redeemer.
In November 2020, my post-graduate studies are deconstructing, reconstructing and restructuring the worldview I had built from UCU. Indeed, it has created a platform for me to amalgamate both theology and development in one single unit of “integral mission.”
CHRIST IN EDUCATION The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges throughout the world, including in Uganda and specifically with education.A shift to on-line learning has been difficult for many.
Despite obstacles, I encourage current students of Uganda Christian University to appreciate the fact that a university education produces thinkers who can derive solutions for the mantra of prevailing problems in our communities. Individuals with university degrees are best positioned to creatively engage in rigorous research and innovation.
Scholars will play a key role in unleashing the United Nations sustainable development goals for 2030, the vision 2063 of the African Union, the vision 2040 of the republic of Uganda, and/or the vision of their own communities, or their own vision. At that, this is only possible if we permit Jesus Christ to reign in our lives, thoughts, words and actions.
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The Rev. Ocen Walter Onen is a UCU Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Divinity alum who is pursuing a Master in Transformational Development from Eastern College Australia.
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Rev. Rebecca Nyegenye (second from left) is surrounded by UCU faculty women at a sendoff to her new position with All Saints Cathedral.
NOTE: Earlier this year, the All Saints’ Cathedral, Kampala, installed the Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye as its provost, making her the first woman to occupy the office in Uganda. Before assuming the office, she served as a chaplain at Uganda Christian University (UCU) for nearly 20 years. The UCU student newspaper, The Standard, recently published an interview by one of its reporters, Benezeri Wanjala Chibita. This interview, shared with UCU Partners, is edited and condensed.
What role do you think God has put you in this position to play? Some of the reasons are yet to be unveiled. There is a job description. (These include) serving as chief administrator of the cathedral, chief financial controller, being in charge of the ministries and the priests. But there is this uniqueness of a role that God himself knows. So I’m still praying and asking God for clear direction of what He wants. But as for now, my desire is that, as a Church in the city, how can we position ourselves to do mission? That’s the cry of my heart. To make sure that the cathedral thrives in being a missionary church so that we can reach out to the ends of the city, and eventually the country with the gospel.
How did your father (a priest) influence your desire to dedicate your life to Christ? My father was consistent, the same today and tomorrow, in his lifestyle. He also was a peacemaker. He loved God with all his heart. God was his consultant. He was a loving father, loving us equally. I wanted to be like him. He died two years ago but when I look around (at other people), I don’t see any comparison with daddy.
The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye
What are some of your fondest childhood memories? We grew up around the church because of daddy and we would run around, cleaning the church and beating the drums on Christmas. We also did business, carrying sugarcane from down in the river, selling pancakes and groundnuts at school. I didn’t even calculate profits. The needs weren’t so great. If you have a blanket, you don’t even think of a bedsheet.
What point did you decide you’d be a priest? I initially wanted to be a priest. It wasn’t an afterthought. Others discouraged me saying I can’t be a lady that’s a priest. I decided at nine, I told my dad, and he prayed for me. He had his fears but, it was God’s calling on my life. I’ve never regretted it.
At what point did you go to school to train to become a priest? I went after Secondary 4. My father didn’t have money so he educated all seven of us up to S4. He promised each of us a basic education, and he delivered. My two followers and I weren’t able to go to high school immediately, but eventually we went. I went to Bishop Usher Wilson, Buwalasi, in Mbale. Most Bishops went there. It’s now been merged with UCU Mbale Campus.
You now have a PhD. Who inspired you to venture into higher academics? Dr. Olivia Banja. She’s the director of teaching and learning at UCU. We met at a clergy meeting for women, at Makerere. The second time, we were at UCU, and I was serving at Busia Parish. She said that I should go for further studies. I left the parish, and she guided me through the steps I needed to get into theological education. I joined UCU. I got a diploma. After that, I realized I could do better. So, I started a Bachelor of Divinity program. From then on I was encouraged to go further by Bishop Eliphaz Maari, Canon Lusaniya Kasamba, and Dr. Edward Kalengyo. At UCU, I worked under Dr. John Senyonyi (now the Vice Chancellor),and he persuaded me to do a full masters degree. Ofcourse, I can’t forget Prof. Stephen Noll, the former vice-chancellor of UCU. He wrote and gave me recommendations for scholarships, and I was able to get them.
How did you get the masters scholarship? God has been faithful. There was a scholarship named after Bishop Stanway at Trinity School for Ministry. Prof. Noll worked through all the paperwork. I went to the USA and studied for one year, and then I returned to UCU where I wrote my dissertation and graduated. UCU gave me a partial scholarship for my PhD. I received another partial scholarship from World Council of Churches. So for both my Masters and PhD,I didn’t struggle financially. I graduated with my masters in 2006 and started on my doctoral degree in 2009.
What do you miss about UCU? I miss my life with students. It was so interesting. I had really gotten used to my motherly role. Seeing students walk in, walking the talk with the students. Then seeing them graduate with a changed character and moral stability. But also, being there for 18 years, UCU had become my family. I also miss the women fellowships.
What is the biggest setback that you encountered in your life? I would mention two. One is someone I worked with when I had just entered ministry. My life was really tested. I didn’t know you could work with someone that would make life so difficult. You know there are times when someone…will frustrate you, even make allegations in public. I didn’t know that could happen in the church. What helped me get through it was to remember that I wasn’t called by man but by God. I eventually decided to release and forgive him. But that was after some time of prayer and telling God that I want to let this out of my heart. And indeed I did, I have no grudge. When we meet today, we greet.
How did you escape from this situation? Actually when it was so tense, God gave me a breakthrough by opening a door for me to go and study. I learnt that when you are faithful to God, He will always provide a way of escape. He will not leave the situation to burn you for long. Then, I was sick from July 2014 to January 2015; I was at UCU. I was very sick. I knew one thing: If I am going to live, the Lord will heal me. If I die, I’ll be with God in eternity. So that kept me going. Every day I was alive was God’s grace. I was so weak and in so much pain. The UCU community prayed, but it seemed like God wasn’t answering fast enough. At the right moment, God healed me.
You said that you were ready to join God in eternity, if it was His will? Certainly, I couldn’t talk about the sort of death. But my husband being a medical person, trusted that one day my pain would pass. He (took) time off from his work and moved with me to every doctor he thought would help me. He paid for me to go to Nairobi hospital where I was for two weeks, and he was by my side. The Hospital did everything they could. They put me on medication for diabetes and hypertension, because they thought that’s what I had. When God healed me, I was healed completely. There were times when the whole family was in tears because they didn’t know what to do or what the future held.
How did your faith sustain you? My faith never wavered because I was in it. There was no way I could run from it. I was on medication. I looked to God. I spent time and prayed. I didn’t want to miss both. I didn’t want to miss life here, and also in heaven, which is eternal. I kept my hopes high. Sometimes I was overwhelmed by pain. I’d ask God why He isn’t healing me. But in all, He was gracious.
Did those seven months change your outlook on life? I learnt to trust God more. I stopped taking things for granted. My zeal to serve the Lord increased. I lost all the fear I had. I cannot be easily threatened right now. I used to trust and put hope in people. But after getting through that it was a retreat for me to think about God in a fresh way. Right now when I preach, I preach like tomorrow I’m going. My level of ministry went higher. I’m now more focused, more committed to God and more prayerful.
How did people disappointment you during this trying time? There are people that I got to know better for who they are. There are those I had to be careful about after. It was a learning experience for me and there is something that God wanted to teach me. And there is a level God wanted me to rise to. Actually, shortly after that, I became a Canon. There are things that God takes you through for a reason.
What are your most important values? First: Faithfulness to God. Secondly, I love people. Thirdly: Passion for the gospel.
What advice would you give young women who want to go into ministry? Getting into ministry is a calling. If someone is genuinely sure that God is speaking to them, they should join. Someone coming to this ministry should not think about the high position. They should focus on serving the Lord. That, to me, is very pertinent. When I joined ministry, I started out in the rural areas. I never thought I’d work in town. I never prayed for an office. But I have waited on the Lord and I have served Him faithfully, that one I testify. And whenever I feel I’m going astray, I run back to the Lord. He is my only refuge. And even if you told me to compromise this position today, I’d be glad to walk out. Be willing to serve the Lord anywhere.
What will you remember about outgoing Archbishop Stanley Ntagali? (I learned) from the Archbishop that when you work together in church, you are teammates. And I always tell people, that much as he is leaving, we must remain a team. As the head of the team and as a team player, he has been able to understand people’s gifting and seasons. He acts when he is supposed to, of course with God’s guidance. He’s been close to us as individuals. He has been a father and a parent.
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