International students from the United States, Nigeria and Rwanda
By Gloria Katya
Joining Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2019, Garcia Bwale’s major challenge was the language barrier. Since she is from a French-speaking country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), she was not fluent in English. Contributing during class discussions was one of her major challenges.
International students pose for photo after a 2020 food gala at UCU
With the little English she knew, and spoken with a French accent, most of the Ugandan students found it funny whenever she raised her hand to contribute in class. This lowered her self-esteem.
“Whenever I was contributing in class, I noticed students laughing silently and the lecturers, too, found it hard to interpret what I was saying,” Bwale says.
However, from the UCU International students’ desk, Bwale discovered a solution. The desk provided her with a language mentor as she journeyed in her academics.
Once she solved the language issue, her fears were greatly diminished. She is now a confident journalist in the making who also has served as Minister on the International Students Association.
Another student, George Caleb from Nigeria and who is in his second year studying law, faced a similar obstacle. Interacting with locals especially when buying food and talking to transporters in case he had to move around had become a serious challenge for Caleb because he didn’t speak any of the Uganda local languages.
He, too, was helped by the International students’ desk to get Ugandan friends who gradually taught him survival skills.
“The desk linked me to some Ugandan students who helped me and life became easier,” he says.
The International students desk, headed by Mr. Edgar Kabahizi, was established in 2011 by the university management to help mainly with international students’ welfare. This desk serves students from the time they step in to the time they exit.
Usually a friendly and welcoming face, Kabahizi awaits to be of service to fresh international students from the time they arrive in Uganda for their studies at UCU.
“Studying away from one’s home country and family is always challenging and at times creates a lot of anxiety not knowing what to expect,” Kabahizi said. “Most times, it’s the local culture and language that is most perplexing for the foreigners so students need help.”
To simplify life for an international student, Kabahizi does a lot of things for them.
“I follow up on the students from the time they are admitted by the University until they are settled and begin to progress academically,” he says. “Students that face linguistic problems are incorporated in mentorship classes under the Uganda Studies Program where they learn English.”
Kabahizi’s office also makes sure that international students have the necessary paperwork that enables them access to living in the country.
“We are there, when the students are sick, struggling academically and when facing any challenge,” he said, “This office is their first reporting point.”
With 7% of the UCU student population from outside Uganda, the Director of Students Affairs Bridget Mugume K. Mugasira says the university created the desk to better serve those students. International students at UCU come from such countries as Nigeria, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and the USA.
When an international student arrives at UCU, he/she is led to their place of accommodation that is already organised for them by the International Students’ Desk. The students are then oriented the next day by introducing them to other international students. They are also given class timetables and briefed about the Ugandan currency and its exchange rate.
The students also are informed about the dos and don’ts in Uganda, Ugandan culture, and UCU norms.
“The International Students Desk is a serious relief to foreign students as it brings them together such that they don’t feel lonely on campus,” Kabahizi said.
International students are not left out in the different co-curricular activities on campus such as the cultural galas, food galas and politics. International students are engaged in many fun activities on campus including dinners, picnics, trips, food galas, celebrating their country’s days of Independence, among others. The students also are represented with the guild government.
“Our last trip last year with the International students was in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese and Bundibugyo before the Coronavirus pandemic struck,” Kabahizi said.
Covid-19 that has affected education across the globe has interfered with the desk, but UCU is not ready to compromise any of its services. Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown in Uganda, the University took full care of the international students without asking them for additional financial contributions.
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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
(The election for the 2020-2021 top Student Guild president at the Uganda Christian University Mukono (main) campus occurred virtually in November. Campaigns were conducted through social media. Of 8,086 possible voters, 1,959 students cast ballots using their phones and computers. This is an interview with the new guild president, Agaba Kenneth Amponda, age 24, and studying in the Faculty of Law.)
By Winnie Laker
What is your family background? I am a Mukiga from Kabaale district (Western Uganda), born and raised from the Ihanga trading center under Bubaale sub-county. I am the second born in a family of seven children, and my parents are Jackson Bitama and Jackline Akankwasa Kibingo.
What is your educational background? I attended my primary level in Kabaale Universal Nursery and Primary School. I then joined Mbarara High School for three years and completed my Ordinary-level from Standard High Zana. I later went to Gombe secondary School for my Advanced level. Currently, I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in law at Uganda Christian University (UCU).
Kenneth Amponda, the current Guild President, with Timothy Kadaga, the former Guild President
Apart from your current position as guild president, what other leadership roles have you played? My leadership list is quite long, but allow me to brief you on a few of them. In my primary six, I was elected sports prefect, and this was a stepping stone to my servanthood. I then became a class coordinator in Mbarara High School, the chairperson of school council in Gombe Secondary School, a residential assistant for two years in UCU, and I am the treasurer of Kigezi Community fellowship (a students’ fellowship group in UCU).
What has been your inspiration in serving as a leader? First and foremost, I am proud to say the holy word of God has been my inspiration from day one. And although I did not mention it earlier, I have always served in church up until now, being a member of Mustard Seed Choir. It is because of this acquaintance with the Bible that I learnt how to handle and solve different kinds of problems within my environment, and in the end I realized that many have appreciated my decisions making role.
What nudged you to be guild president?
Of course I knew my capabilities, but that alone couldn’t push me to stand as a University’s guild. During my services as a residential assistant, I was consistent in addressing the students’ problems, especially during consultation meetings with the administration. I always made sure most of the complaints were addressed to suit my brothers in the halls of residence, and it is these very students that pushed me to this position as their guild president today. Because they loved how I served in a lower position, they saw it best if the entire student’s body gained from my leadership.
How did you campaign within the campus COVID-19 guidelines? I put everyone’s health first. I have a foundation called AMPONDA CARES, which I opened up way back, but activated it during the lockdown in March. Ever since its activation, it has been distributing food, masks, and some financial help where necessary to especially students. So when it came to campaigns, both the foundation and my campaign team, decided to distribute over 2,000 masks to the student’s fraternity. And unlike my opponent who had already released his posters, I decided to invest my finances in the manufacturing of masks, which I distributed (carefully and safely) to quite a good number of students.
How do you see your role in the pandemic? Surely, my government has a very big role to play, but allow me to first of all to express appreciation to the University and the outgoing government for introducing e-learning such that no one (especially non finalists) was left behind. Today, we can see the effort these people have put in due to the unprecedented pandemic. We are all studying which is a good thing for everyone. My government will therefore, endeavor to work with mostly the grassroot leaders that is, the residential assistants, class coordinators and members of parliament, who can best explain the issues to be addressed in relationship to students. We will work hand in hand with the administration and I can promise you that, all our services will be under the goal of building a bridge to the new normal.
Where do you see yourself after your term is finalized in 2021? I will humbly respond to you that I did not see myself as a guild president in the first place. Rather, I have always viewed myself in the image of a leader. It is those around me that boosted my popularity to the rest of the student’s fraternity, who later positioned me where I am now. So being a strong Christian believer, I will not predetermine my future. Only God will give me what I deserve after all this.
Away from leadership, are you in a relationship? No, I am neither in a relationship nor am I searching at the moment. All I want is to serve my brothers and sisters at UCU as best as I can.
Any last words you would like to say? I want to thank all the students that entrusted me with their votes. All I can say is that “Amponda will serve you with all his strength and might,” to the end that a bridge to the new normal is built.
Sheila, center, is shown with some faculty at Bishop Barham University, Kabale, where she assisted in her role as an intern with the fifth annual dissertation writing and research clinic in 2019. (UCU Partners photo)
(LAST OF FOUR PARTS: This article features one of 10 interns hired to assist with the five-year-old Uganda Christian University dissertation research and writing training. She was selected from among 200 applicants. In addition to serving post-graduate students through the clinic, interns build their own resumes and obtain jobs or further education opportunities. Parts I,II and III can be accessed at those links. A video is here.)
By Patty Huston-Holm
When Sheila was born in 1996, she was given the Ugandan name Ainembabazi, which in her Runyankole mother tongue language means “God has grace.” She was the first born of Frank Kamukama, a vocational agricultural teacher, and Grace Kiconco, a housewife and part-time shop owner who sells basic household items in their Western Uganda Mbarara District.
Her younger sister, Franklin, got the name Ainomugisha, which means “God has blessings.” Her two brothers, Kelvin Ainamaani and Alvin Ainebyoona, have Ugandan names translated to “God has power” and “God is everything,” respectively.
God, obviously, is central to the family.
Sheila Ainembazi, intern
Thus, on the September 2, 2019, morning of this interview, Sheila praised the Lord for placing her in the next phase of her studies to be an attorney. While disappointed that she would be in a nine-month Law Development Centre (LDC) program in Mbarara and not alongside her best friend, Ruth, chosen to study in Kampala (269 kilometers or 167 miles away), she was grateful. Sheila and Ruth, who graduated in July 2019 with Bachelors of Law degrees from Uganda Christian University, received entry into the country’s LDC program with classes starting September 23. Due to some Ministry of Justice disagreement, this cohort of students was not required to take the usual pre-entry exam to qualify for this phase.
Coming from humble beginnings, Sheila has been able to find blessings and patience wherever she has been placed.
At UCU, she was a work study student who rose early each morning to clean offices, dust library books, prepare tea and make deliveries before her classes as part of her tuition reimbursement. She learned the value of being “the least of these” and appreciation to those who noticed and thanked her for her work, including Dr. Joseph Owor in the School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies (SRPGS).
While studying law on the UCU Mukono campus, she became especially concerned with Ugandans who were mistreated due largely to their literacy levels. Her final research paper focused in the inequalities and legal violations related to land ownership and transfer rights, especially as it pertains to women.
“Most Ugandans are illiterate,” the 23-year-old said. “They go in and buy a two-page book and write sale agreements and think they are done until they save money and go further to register their land. Then a richer, more literate person comes in and agrees to pay more and gets a title. For women, a husband dies or leaves, and the clan pushes her and the children out even though she legally has ownership. These are some of the issues I want to help with.”
Noticing injustices, Sheila reflected, has been part of her life for quite some time. A leader in her high school, she often noticed student issues and brought them to the attention of administrators.
“I remember we were being served old food at the canteen,” she said. “The mandazi (fried doughnuts) were molded. We broke them open and saw it. I brought that to the attention of our school leaders, and it was resolved.”
Sheila understands being shunned and humbled. Not all around her at UCU understood or valued her janitorial work.
“One student (in Law) told me that doing a maid’s work was not good for my career,” she recalled. “He said people don’t trust a cleaner.”
But one such person who did trust her was the Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, UCU’s vice chancellor. He observed her diligence and hard work and, along with his wife, Ruth, decided to provide Sheila with lodging at their house as part of their support of her scholarship in her final two years. Being able to work and live on campus and have her housing and some food provided enabled Sheila to focus more and excel higher in her studies.
For this, she is grateful, along with being chosen as a 2019 intern for the UCU Partners and SRPGS co-sponsored clinic to help post-graduate students. She learned a lot about technology, organization, time lines and service.
Today, she is concerned about paying fees for her next nine-month law study program. Some of her payment of $400 for three months work in the internship will help. She is praying for more support.
“God will make a way,” she said. “God has made a way.”
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To support Uganda Christian University programs, including the post-graduate literacy program, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.
Attendees listen to professional counsel during the legal aid clinic at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero.
By Constantine Odongo
Kafumbe Kiiza is a taxi driver in Kampala, Uganda. Although his dream was to earn a living off of cars, he never saw himself as a driver. His first love was repairing cars.
As such, six years ago, he enrolled into an institute in Kampala to pursue a course in motor vehicle mechanics. Kiiza had a steady flow of income to pay tuition for his course. The now 30-year-old was a salesman at a shop in the city suburb of Nsambya, opposite the St. Francis Hospital gate and about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the city centre. His widowed mother, Petrolina Nakalema, and one of Kiiza’s brothers operated adjacent shops – all on land owned by and supporting the family of 12.
Solomon Byamukama, left, a fourth-year law student at UCU, is interviewed by a reporter from The Standard newspaper.
Darkness One Monday morning in 2014, Kiiza and his family woke up to a rude shock. Five shops, including the ones where Kiiza, his brother and his mother worked, were razed and the plot of land fenced off with iron sheets.
They were alarmed and questioned who might do this when they still had 23 three years on the lease. Never did it ever cross their minds that some other people also claimed ownership of the same plot of land. When they sought answers from authorities, Kiiza says the family was informed that a neighbouring school was responsible for fencing off the land.
In the process of seeking justice, Kiiza’s family changed lawyers three times, due mostly to high legal costs.
Light Such is one case brought to light during a legal aid clinic conducted by Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) law fraternity on Saturday, September 21, 2019, at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero. Kiiza did not plan to attend the clinic. In fact, he did not even intend to be at All Saints Cathedral that Saturday.
Kiiza was going about his usual duties of driving a commuter taxi that day. He received a call to transport people to and from a wedding at the cathedral. While waiting on his passengers for the return trip, he roamed the cathedral. He wandered pass UCU’s tear drop banners into a white tent for the free legal aid clinic conducted by UCU.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard ‘pro bono’,” Kiiza said of the term that means legal work without cost.
Lazaka Tibakuno, a development assistant at UCU, said the team that day was comprised of five lecturers (with four practicing lawyers) in the university’s faculty of law, 15 law students and representatives from the university’s law society. The clinic was timed to promote the Sept. 29, 2019, “UCU Sunday.” The third annual UCU Sunday is set aside by the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda, marked on the last Sunday of September every year. The purpose is to support UCU as the Anglican Church joins in solidarity to support her provincial university in prayer, to increase awareness of UCU value and accountability and offer UCU financial support.
Tibakuno says the university asked faculties to submit proposals about a corporate social responsibility event. From the submissions, he says, the law faculty’s legal aid clinic proposal was found to be the most cost-effective while also touching a core of community need. Two clinics were held on September 21 in Nakasero and on September 22 at St. Philip & Andrew’s Cathedral, Mukono.
Last year’s collection was $52,000, which was earmarked for two projects – 90% towards equipping the laboratories of the UCU School of Medicine and the remainder for scholarships for the clergy and their children under the Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology. Tibakuno says the collections this year will benefit the same purposes.
Solomon Byamukama, a fourth-year law student at the university who has participated in several legal aid clinics before, said Saturday’s event had topics similar to other he has attended with questions involving custody of children and maintenance of the state of a deceased; land matters; the dos and don’ts in writing and executing wills; and issues pertaining to domestic violence.
While most at the clinic were seeking advice on the regular, expected issues like Kiiza’s land dispute, a security officer at a checkpoint asked for help for a brother wrongfully imprisoned on a murder charge.
“Someone had convinced us that we could bribe the prisons staff with some money, so they can release my brother,” he said. “However, I have been advised that we should instead look for ways of supporting the defense team so that they can better represent my brother in court, and, if possible, also secure bail for him.”
For Kiiza, he came, consulted, and left the clinic tent feeling optimistic about a nearly six-year-old land case. As his wedding passengers entered his taxi, he held a piece of paper with contacts of people and organizations that the lawyers advised could be of help to his family, and for free.
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Individuals can be part of the UCU Sunday by contributing towards the special collection in all Anglican churches in Uganda on September 29. Money also can be deposited in Uganda on the UCU Sunday collection account number 16300370000131, in PostBank Uganda or deposited as mobile money on 0772770852. For Americans and others wishing to contribute, go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/ and indicate “UCU Sunday” in the special instructions/comment box or send a check in the mail payable to UCU Partners with instructions for the UCU Sunday designation and to Uganda Partners, P.O. Box 114, Sewickley, Pa. 15143.
Uganda Christian University Law alumnus and International Justice Mission advocate, Conrad Oroya Obol (third right), shakes hand with Uganda’s Chief Justice, Bart Katurebe (left), during the launch of a plea-bargaining week in Gulu, Uganda, in June.
By Olum Douglas
In August 2016, a court sitting in Kampala, presided over by high-court judge, Wilson Masalu Musene, sent Stephen Kato, a 26-year-old married man, to a 10-year jail term for raping a 60-year-old woman.
Many Ugandans thought the sentence was too lenient. They went wild over the social media, condemning the judge for what they termed “bias,” given the fact that the country’s Penal Code Act (Section 124) prescribes a death sentence for a convicted rapist.
But the sentence was a product of an initiative by the judiciary, the plea bargain, through which the convict pleaded guilty instead of going through a trial, thus saving the court time and resources.
Plea bargain is an initiative in the criminal justice system where the defendant enters an agreement with the prosecution to plead guilty in exchange for the prosecutor to drop one or more charges, reduce a charge to a less serious offense, or recommend to the judge a specific sentence without going through normal court procedures. Once a deal is struck, the prosecutor, together with the advocate, presents the signed agreement with proposed punishment before the magistrate who either approves or rejects it.
In Uganda, the judiciary adopted the plea bargain initiative in 2015 to try and reduce the challenge of case backlogs that have proven a great menace to the justice system in the country. The problem is mostly attributed to inadequate human and financial resources in the judiciary.
A Justice Law and Order Sector January 2018 report revealed that many people continued to languish in the prisons with case files unattended. In one of the worst case scenarios, three suspects facing capital offences were forgotten in prison, after a judge adjourned their cases to the next convenient session, which only came after a decade of waiting.
Eliminating backlogs like these is where Uganda Christian University (UCU) Law students come in.
Students of UCU, through a partnership with the Christian-based Pepperdine University in California, help bridge the gap. Since the adoption of the initiative four years ago, students pursuing the Bachelor of Laws at UCU have been participating in the processes that include: studying files of accused persons, especially those facing charges of capital offences; examining accused persons; counselling prisoners; and bargaining for them.
Mirriam Achieng, a lecturer at the UCU Faculty of Law, said the students’ participation is part of a requirement for a course, Clinical Legal Education, where students must carry out projects and have hands-on experience of justice delivery.
In 2018, the initiative saw at least 600 cases disposed within five working days. This year, a report published by PML Daily Correspondent, a Uganda-based, online publication, revealed that at least 300 cases were disposed of in Northern Uganda’s Gulu area alone during a week-long, Plea-Bargaining Prison Camp held in the district in June.
The Uganda Judiciary Services body organizes the camp. Accused persons in prisons are sensitized, registered for the process, and their files are shared with the students for assessment and prior preparations. The students then meet the accused persons, listen to their issues and counsel them about the rights they will forego should they opt for a plea bargain. They also prepare the accused persons for the process, and participate in the negotiations until a final agreement is reached.
The down side is that sometimes prisoners plead guilty and serve their sentences in order to end anxiety and the uncertainly of whether they will be tried or not, even when they are sure that they did not commit the crime for which they are being accused.
Achieng says the students’ participation in the program has not only helped future lawyers in research and dissertation writing, but also gained for them connections with their colleagues from Pepperdine as well as attorneys and other legal minds from the United States of America.
Through this participation, UCU students have contributed towards reducing case backlogs, decongesting prisons, reducing anxiety among prisoners and enabling the accused persons to participate in determining their own punishments.
Mugero in his office at the Refugee Law Project (UgandaPartners photo)
By Brendah Ndagire
As of November 2018, precisely 1,181,322 refugees are within the borders of Uganda. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, most of these are from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also come from Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries. Uganda Christian University Law alumnus, Jesse Mugero, works as a legal officer with the Refugee Law Project (RLP), located in the Old Kampala area. He provides legal aid to refugees, asylum seekers and deportees and field training with the State Government’s Office of the Prime Minister. He also engages with non-governmental affiliates such as those associated with international criminal law who fight against sexual violence. Uganda Christian University Partners recently caught up with Mugero to learn more about his work with RLP. This interview follows a series of blogs on UCU graduates who are accompanying refugees in Uganda. The interview is edited for clarity.
Briefly, describe what you do
I work as legal officer with the Refugee Law Project, a Makerere University project started in the 1999 as an outreach project of the School of Law, to examine issues related to justice, conflict, migration and human rights. The Refugee Law Project is not a non-government organization nor a purely a government agency. Even though are we are part of the university, we do most of our work independently. In my role, I provide legal assistance to refugees, asylum seekers from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and few coming from Pakistan and Syria. I also work with people facing deportation and conduct capacity building. I mainly train state employees, such as the Uganda Police Force and the Military, basically sharing with them about international criminal law, because our (armed) forces are the people who for the most part have the first interaction with the refugees in places where they are assigned to keep peace, or at the border. It helps to train and support them to understand who a refugee, or an asylum seeker is, such that they know what to do, and how to protect them once they encounter them.
Explain more what capacity building looks like with RLP.
Depending on the training, it is meant to improve the knowledge of participants in a certain area. For example, we can have a conversation on sexual violence. The common understanding is that sexual violence only affects women, but from our Uganda experience especially in Northern Uganda, which suffered a two-decade war led by the Lord’s Resistance Army, we learned that sexual violence also affects men. Capacity building is then geared towards helping participants to understand the different ways in which this crime (sexual violence) occurs. This would then help them in documentation and collection of sufficient evidence of what has happened for possibly future trials. Capacity building broadens the knowledge base, and improves the ability to counter certain aspects of crimes committed against vulnerable groups. For example, this year, we have trained over 500 soldiers of the UGABAG (Uganda Battle group who go to Somalia), and over 300 members of the police force in the districts of Kitgum, Adjumani, Gulu, Arua, Kiryandongo, Hoima, and Mbarara. We train them about refugee rights, including their freedom from torture, freedom of movement, and right to life as well as how they own property, obtain legal representation, and apply for employment. We also help them understand sexual violence in international law, and torture, and abuse of human rights, which unfortunately is on the rise but people need to understand that it is wrong to commit torture. When people (policemen and army personnel) understand that, hopefully they will be part of the solution.
Article about Jesses’ father who inspired him to work with refugees
Apart from the Office of the Prime Minister, and its refugee department, who else do you partner with?
We partner with other refugee agencies such as the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and other partners in Adjumani District. We basically compliment each other. For example, DRC may refer clients to us for legal assistance, and we do the same in situations where they have more experience supporting refugees. We also partner with Inter-Aid in Kampala, which works with urban refugees, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for protection and resettlement in other countries especially for refugees from Rwanda and Congo who are usually hunted for political reasons here.
How does the legal process of representation look like in your experience?
There are two kinds of legal representation. One of them is helping an asylum seeker, someone who has just come into the country, and wants assistance in obtaining asylum. In Kampala, we help them to go to the Old Kampala Police Station to apply for asylum after which their application will be taken to the refugee eligibility committee which would grant or not grant refugee status. If not granted, they can appeal to the decision to the Refugee Appeals Board.
The other part of legal representation is the traditional one where a refugee can come for support in courts of law in case one of their relatives is legally in trouble. It is important to highlight that our services are free of charge, so we work with refugees because in most cases these are people of a lower economic status, and we help them to, for instance, secure police bond and bail. Sometimes language barrier is a big issue, and sometimes it is understanding what is considered a crime in Uganda and what is not. There may be a conflict of laws. For example, in South Sudan girls are married off when they are 16 years old, and in Uganda that is considered defilement. In this case, it is important to explain to a South Sudanese man that it is both illegal to marry and have sex with a 16-year-old in Uganda.
Why work with RLP?
I have always been inspired by the example of my father. He was a student in China in 1978. A Chinese journalist wrote an article at that time about a black medical student working with Vietnamese refugees in China. That black student was my father. My mother kept the article somewhere in our home, and when I found it, I was particularly inspired by him. I have wanted to be part of and living for a cause that is bigger than myself. And creating an impact that will last for generations to come.
What do you think was the most positive aspect of getting an education at UCU?
The education at UCU helped me to understand that life is one indivisible whole. I learned to integrate my faith into my career interests. When I joined the Honors College , I was exposed to brilliant students who challenged me to grow in different ways. I was challenged to strive for excellence. I also grew in my leadership and found many opportunities to serve within the Honors College and UCU community generally.
What classes stood out for you that currently have a huge impact on your career with RLP?
My best class was the Christian Legal Political Thought. It was very interesting because it helped me to appreciate the wide perspectives of law and justice within a Christian lens. To recognize that as a Christian, we live in a pluralist society/world, that there will always be different opinions on particular policy issues outside of the Christian perspectives and how to respectively engage with them is important.
Where do you see God’s work in the lives of the refugees you are accompanying?
I see God in His being sovereign. When I think about the challenging experiences of refugees, very few (1% of refugees world wide) get an opportunity to be resettled in (economically) rich nations, and it can be a daunting thought for many of them. I see God working in the refugees who are happily living here in Uganda with little/limited economic resources, and becoming very creative with the little they have. For example, many refugees from the Congo have succeeded in the clothing industry. They make their own fabrics, sell them and are able to pay for school fees for their children.
Jesse conducting legal training in Moyo District
What are your most proud moments working with refugees?
On a teenager who allegedly stole a phone: One of the most profound experience working with the refugees has been working with refugee mothers. One time there was a woman whose son had been arrested for allegedly stealing a phone. When the woman came to me, she was both very disappointed and sad for her son. I spoke with her, and gave her some advice such as securing a police bond, and how to cooperate with the police. And I will never forget the smile she had when she came back to me the following week. She was so happy and grateful for her freed son. And she makes these really beautiful African and Congolese fabrics, and she offered that if I ever need any fabric, she would make it for me at a discount.
On a single mother who faced eviction: Another time I felt proud was when I helped to accompany a refugee woman whose husband was killed on the way from DRC. She has six children to raise on her own. She was getting evicted by her landlord who had given her only two days to leave his premises. I intervened and spoke with the landlord and she was later given a one-month grace period to look for a new apartment. Knowing that she had another month with a roof over her family, it gave me satisfaction in ways financial achievements cannot.
On training armed officers: Sometimes when we are training military or police officers on the need to respect human rights and stop the habit of torture, one of the officers said to me, “I am going to implement what you have taught me today because torture is not something I personally want to commit, but I do it because I want to follow directions from our leaders.” It is promising and transformative to hear someone committing to engaging more humanly with the perceived other/enemy.
One of the key messages we put forward is that refugees are human beings just as any other human beings. That forced migrants also have rights, and have entitlements under Uganda’s laws. We also need to emphasize that Uganda has been hosting forced migrants since world II and that this is not something new to our society.
This story is just one of many examples of how Uganda Christian University graduates are making a difference in their country. If you would like to assist a current student or otherwise support the university, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/.
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Timothy Kakuru, BFL Program Director (BarefootLaw Photo)
This second of two segments follows last week’s story of how UCU Law graduates are making a difference in the lives of Ugandans with the non-profit BarefootLaw (BFL) organization. This week features an interview with BarefootLaw’s Program Director, Timothy Kakuru, to understand why BFL is doing the type of legal work across Ugandan communities. This interview is edited for clarification purposes.
What attracted you to Uganda Christian University Law School? When I applied for the law program at UCU, it had a very good reputation among legal practitioners in Uganda. Before I came to UCU, all I knew about (studying) law is that you were in the program to graduate and make money. That I would become a lawyer, go to court, (argue a specific case) and get money – to somehow become rich. After I got to UCU, I learned that they were other ways to use my law degree. Primarily, UCU School of Law put a Christian aspect to legal practice, which changed the dynamics (of practice) for many of us (law students and graduates). I know many UCU graduates who are working within the non-profit field, because for the most part, the law program at UCU was about service, doing work for the greater good of the community, than serving to gain some sort of financial gain. Most other law schools in Uganda teach law in (the lens) of justice, but in UCU, it was not only through (the perspective of) justice but also in terms of Christian ethics.
How is the Christian ethic approach different? Justice is what is right, according to the law. The difference lies in how a crime is prosecuted. For example, if someone burns your house, justice for you would be in terms of (monetary) compensation. To put a Christian aspect to that example, then one seeks to understand why the other person burnt your house, and seek to reconcile the two parties. The big gap is that often time in the legal system, there is no element of reconciliation, where as at UCU we were taught to try to reconcile the two parties by looking at the whys and the hows of a specific wrong action, and then solve the issue amicably.
How did BarefootLaw evolve? The BarefootLaw was incorporated in 2013 as non-profit legal agency. The idea of BarefootLaw came from Gerald Abila in 2012 who begun a Facebook Page to share legal information. I met him at Law Development Centre in 2013 and he shared the idea with me, I liked it and agreed to join him and slowly the team grew from there. The grand idea was to make justice available to people through giving them legal information. The crux of it was that if people knew their rights, then they would be able to enforce them. They would not really need legal representation because they would be able to avoid (potential) conflicts. For example, if that businessman knew that defilement was a crime, he would avoid having relationships with young girls. Many people are not aware that certain actions are legal offenses. The idea was to provide as much legal information that people would know that they would avoid engaging in crimes.
Left to right, Isaac, Timothy and Gerald, Co-founders of Barefoot Law. (BarefootLaw Photo)
What did the implementation process of the idea look like? We thought using technology would be our best strategy. Gerald (CEO) had already opened up a FaceBook page and I came on board to partner in writing content and publishing. Later, we came up with the an idea of doing sms, small call centers, website platforms and other mechanisms including community outreach and legal training with people in rural communities. We thought this would be our way of empowering people with legal information so that they may be able to avoid crime, or know what to do in case of a criminal offense.
But why BarefootLaw as a non profit legal agency and not as a profit-making law firm? I had worked with the Uganda Law Council during my time at LDC, and had witnessed how many people had been taken advantage of. The Uganda Law Council disciplines lawyers. There were cases where lawyers were accused of taking someone’s property such as land, and in other cases a son of an elderly man working with corrupt lawyers to take away his father’s land. I thought I was already in a toxic law field. There were backlog of cases dating to 1994, and just so many unethical issues that was disillusioning, and I was not ready to jump into such a legal (justice) system.
I had always wanted to do something more meaningful and impactful to the ordinary person with my law degree. BarefootLaw to me was an opportunity for us to have every individual be ‘their own lawyer’ – we thought if people knew just enough information about law or human rights, they would be able to know if, for instance, you are entitled to bail once you have been arrested and detained for more than 48 hours. BarefootLaw is about making sure that ordinary people are empowered by understanding their human rights.
How do you reach out to people? We have a very big social media presence. We have over 200,000 Facebook followers on our platforms, and in that sense most people do come to us for legal help. We do have community outreaches in some Districts, such as Soroti, Arua, Apach, Lira, and we try to get as many people as possible. We have an SMS and call center platform where most people can reach us. In a day, we can get about 50 cases. Some days are more others days less. Some cases are serious, others are not.
What has stood out for you working with BFL? Most of the lawyers who work with us at BFL are from UCU. They are UCU graduates. And this shows that we are attracting young lawyers to do things differently within the Uganda legal system. As you may know, money drives most people, including in Uganda. And at BFL we try to challenge that by providing our services at a free cost in most cases. The admirable thing about BFL is that people who work with us are aware that they are not doing it primarily for the money.
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Stories such as Timothy’s and the experiences of the people they have walked with to seek free legal support, are the reason why Uganda Partners supports law students so that they may have access to empowering and Christ centered education – a type of education that is making a huge difference in their communities. If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as Timothy Kakuru and the UCU graduates team at BarefootLaw, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.
Timothy and BFL colleagues in Belgium receiving the 2017 King Baudouin African Development Prize. (BarefootLaw Photo)
“What,” an anxious young man began, “does punishment for defilement mean?”
It was 2014. James (not his actual name) hopelessly asked the question to lawyers at BarefootLaw (BFL), a nonprofit legal organization founded in the Ntinda, greater Kampala area, Uganda.
The lawyers responded: “The maximum punishment for defilement is life in prison, and if it is aggravated defilement, someone may be subjected to capital punishment.”
The BFL legal team then received a message from James detailing what happened to his 12-year-old sister in Eastern Uganda’s Lganga District. A powerful businessman was accused of sexual abuse/defilement of the young girl. The man was caught in the act and taken to the police, but the offender negotiated with the police and was let go. He had paid the child’s mother some compensation to get the mother to drop the charges.
But the older brother couldn’t forget. He knew that his younger sister had been raped and deserved more than a monetary payoff by the perpetrator and a brush off by police. Despite the mother’s refusal to press on past her compensation and no help from Ugandan legal prosecutors, James reached out to BFL to reopen and proceed with the case.
According to BFL lawyers, no one should be able to compensate his way out of a rape/defilement charge. BFL took on the case of James and his sister. Two years later, there was a conviction of three year’s imprisonment for the perpetrator. Not enough, but some vindication.
“The news of the conviction made our year,” said UCU Law graduate Timothy Kakuru. “It made us realize that no matter how hopeless the case may be we have to keep encouraging the person we are helping to get justice.”
Timothy Kakuru leads a workshop with BFL beneficiaries. (BarefootLaw Photo)
Stories like James’ are part of many successful stories Timothy’s BFL creates every year. Timothy shared another story of a young woman who was working in a security company. She was sexually harassed by one of her male bosses. Many times she had reported the abuse but nothing happened to the culprits. In Uganda, oftentimes when the victims of sexual violence report such abuses they are met with such accusations as: “You invited it… it was your fault…the way you were dressed.” The victims of sexual violence are often blamed for what has happened to them.
Another young woman, working in the IT department of an organisation got a video recording of her being harassed by security officials. She hoped she could use the video to sue the company, but the company decided to fire her and tried to get her arrested for stealing their company video. By the time she came to BFL for justice, she was very terrified because officials were threatening her.
Barefoot Law guided her to notify her employers of her intention to sue, detailing all the laws broken by her bosses at the security company, and listing out how much (money) she could ask for in terms of compensation. The lawsuit according to Timothy, would have included sexual abuse, wrongful termination, and mental suffering/health. The letter got into the hands of the Human Resource Manager and later in the hands of the director of the company. To protect its image, after receiving a letter from her, a week later, the company m informed her that it would compensate her.
“In the end, she decided not to go ahead with the lawsuit because it was going to be a very long and tiring process, and she was happy with the decent financial compensation received. This helped to restore her dignity,” said Timothy.
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COMING UP: Next week, UCU Partners will share more of an interview with BarefootLaw co-founder Timothy Kakuru. Included will be more details how Barefoot Law got started and how more lives have been transformed by this non-profit organization.
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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as Timothy Kakuru and the UCU graduates’ team at Barefoot Law, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.
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