By Kefa Senoga Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Arua Campus has won a prestigious regional award as the best higher institution of learning in West Nile for 2022. The West Nile Quality Brands Awards are given to entities that operate in the northwestern part of Uganda.
The criteria for selecting the awardees involved assessing their economic sustainability, operational effectiveness, level of technology adoption, progressive leadership and culture, as well as social and community contribution, commitment and perseverance.
While receiving the award at a hotel in the northwestern district of Arua on December 9, 2022, the UCU Arua Campus Director, the Rev. Julius Tabbi Izza, said it represents the voice of the community about what they know regarding UCU and that it tasks the administration of the university with continuing to offer quality services to the community.
“Four institutions were nominated alongside UCU and it was upon the public to vote, so this is a testimony regarding what the public knows about UCU and, it gives us confidence that the community loves what we do and that they trust us,” Tabbi said.
The nomination and voting processes constituted 70% of the brand score, while the results from the judging panel constituted 30%. The university campus garnered 63.32% out of 70% of the votes from the public.
The West Nile Quality Brands Awards was set up to recognize excellence among companies, businesses, start-ups and individuals who have made a positive contribution to the region. The awardees must demonstrate excellence in the service they offer, show evidence of innovation and customer service, as well as professionalism and inclusiveness in the work they engage in.
The awards organizers said the UCU Arua Campus was awarded for demonstrating its ability to equip students with quality, innovative skills, as well as providing hands-on skills courses that meet the market demands of professionals.
Taking advantage of its state-of-the-art online technology, the awards committee said UCU was the first university to embrace online learning for students prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that this helped many complete studies within the stipulated time. It added that all the achievements were possible because “UCU’s transformational leadership has enabled organizational learning.”
Albe Akasa, the president of the West Nile Quality Brands, said: “Winning portrays the trust that people have in UCU since these are largely people-centered competitions; it, therefore, shows that UCU is performing well, from the perspective of the people it serves.”
As part of the benefits that UCU is entitled to as a winner, the university’s profile and advertisement will be published in the awards Winners Directory Book. Also to be profiled will be a documentary showcasing UCU’s activities.
The UCU Arua Campus was established in August 2003. Formerly, it was St. Paul’s Regional Theological College, offering diploma and certificate courses in Theology, as well as training of Lay Readers.
The campus, which started with 80 students and 27 academic and non-academic staff now boasts a student enrolment of over 600 and about 100 staff.
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.
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.
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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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
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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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.
Aisha Nabukeera (upper left), a survivor of child abuse, is shown in the field educating children and others about abuse and their rights as part of her foundation’s work. The 26-year-old UCU graduate was purposely burned over 80% of her body at age 13.
By Joseph Ssemutooke
In 2006, Aisha Nabukeera drew national attention after suffering child abuse that nearly claimed her life. Age 13 and in Primary Six at Nyendo Primary School in the southern Uganda town of Masaka, Nabukeera suffered third-degree burns on 80% of her body after her step-mother forced the young girl to wear a petro-soaked dress while lighting a kerosene lamp. A neighbor who came with a bucket of water saved her life but not the physical scars she still wears.
Today, the 26-year-old Nabukeera is one of Africa’s foremost youth champions of the fight against child abuse and, despite the scars and horrific memory, was a finalist and named Miss Popularity in the 2015-2016 Miss Uganda beauty pageant.
Aisha Nabukeera poses with her foster father, Frank Gashumba, on her graduation day at UCU.
A 2018 Uganda Christian University (UCU) graduate with a Bachelor of Social Works and Social Administrative degree, she is the founder and director of a fast-growing, anti-child-abuse initiative, the Aisha Nabukeera Foundation (ANF), which was started in 2017. In 2019, Nabukeera was named one of Africa’s 12 beneficiaries of the Generation Africa programme.
The ANF advocates for children’s rights and assists abuse survivors. Representatives of the foundation visit schools to promote awareness and prevention about child abuse. The Generation Africa programme, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks “to help young Africans whose personal experiences have shaped their determination to help others facing challenges across the continent through telling their stories globally.” The dozen selected each year receive training in global development skills to further inspire change.
Aisha Nabukeera, left, with burns shortly after her abuse at age 13; and, at right, wearing her UCU graduation cap and gown.
“When you tell someone your story, they get hopeful about life,” said Nabukeera, who received the Generation Africa training in Johannesburg, South Africa, in mid-2019. “For many children facing tough conditions that have seen them go through abuse, seeing me and hearing my story gives them hope.”
Nabukeera uses her experience of excruciating agony and pain from her abuse as well as the pain still with her today in her passionate fight against child abuse.
“My mother told me many years after the incident that she even thought of poisoning me and killing herself because she couldn’t bear to see me in pain and having no money to fund the treatment,” Nabukeera said, pointing out the added psychological damage of bullying because of her bodily scars. “At school some called me things like ‘roast chicken.’ When I contested in Miss Uganda, some said I wasn’t beautiful enough to be there.”
When Nabukeera’s biological mother reported the case to the local authorities to try and get justice for her daughter, the step-mother insisted that Nabukeera had simply tried to self-immolate herself. Her biological father sided with the step-mother.
As part of her child abuse battle today, Nabukeera urges the government to strengthen penalties on persons who hurt children. She says oftentimes when children’s rights are abused, responsible authorities don’t take serious action, which widens the door for other perpetrators.
“Stop telling abused children that their pain is not a big deal and that there are people worse off than they are,” she said. “No one should ever belittle someone else’s suffering, instead people should work to heal those who are suffering by bettering their conditions and helping them get justice where they have been served injustice.”
She also advises children to speak out. She says that if one fails to get assistance from close relatives, the child should talk to neighbors or nearby authorities. To parents, she calls for equal attention to their children, whether they live in polygamous or monogamous families.
She credits several adults for her ability to pull away from her childhood incident. Among these is Ugandan socio-political commentator Frank Gashumba who pledged to unofficially adopt the “burnt girl” and become her “father.” He helped her through school. In 2009, the late founder and director of the St. Lawrence schools, Prof. Lawrence Mukiibi, gave her a six-year scholarship at St Lawrence School, Horizon campus. And after passing her UACE exams in 2014, she joined Uganda Christian University.
“Most of my (biological) family abandoned me,” Nabukeera reminisces. “Going to school was just out of question for me. I was treated as a hopeless case, and so I lost all hope. I thought it was the end of my life, which made me so bitter and angry at the world.”
Acts of kindness from Frank and Lawrence – two one-time strangers – turned that around. She has since found forgiveness and grace for her step-mother and others.
“Now, I believe her act of malice might have been the greatest gift of my life,” Nabukeera said. “I have moved on.”
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To support Uganda Christian University students, programs and facilities, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.
Conrad Oroya displays some accolades at his office in Gulu
By Douglas Olum
In today’s Uganda, the pursuit of a law degree is a top choice of school children and their parents, largely because of the career path’s reputation for securing private and public jobs that yield money. Most law schools receive overwhelming applications. For the 2019 intake, for instance, Uganda Christian University (UCU) received more than 1,000 applications, but only admitted about 400 due to capacity limitations.
For many, it’s about the money.
UCU graduate Conrad Obol Oroya
For Conrad Obol Oroya, a 2011 UCU Bachelor of Laws graduate, it isn’t. He channels his knowledge to pro bono (free legal) services. His journey along this path started from UCU where one of his professors, Brian Dennison (now living and working in Georgia, USA), included community legal support training. During his legal profession preparation, Oroya says he participated in land conflicts mediation and helped people to write their wills, among other free services.
His passion to help the less fortunate continued as he received his postgraduate certificate in legal practice in 2012 from the Law Development Centre, where he took a job at the institution’s Legal Aid Clinic. He was soon employed as the Court Reconciliator. He later joined Legal Aid, a pro bono legal service provider in Uganda where he served as the Assistant Legal Officer before he was promoted to Legal Officer. After that, he worked for the International Justice Mission, another pro bono legal service provider.
Oroya says he is passionate about helping the economically disadvantaged get justice. He believes that poor communities like those in northern Uganda really need his services. A 2016-17 report by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics estimated that at least 10 million of the estimated 37.7 million Ugandans live in poverty. People in Eastern and Northern Uganda, depending largely on subsistence agriculture, are the poorest of the poor.
“It would be fancy to work in Kampala and make a lot of money but that would be serving personal desires without impact on the community,” Oroya says, “To me, a thank you note from a poor person is more worthy than driving a Mercedes-Benz.”
Oroya is a full-time lecturer at northern Uganda’s Gulu University. He also owns a law firm, Conrad Oroya Advocates in Gulu, and is a Regional Counsel Member of the Uganda Law Society, representing lawyers from northern Uganda. But he continues to offer free legal service both at a personal level and through his previous employer, Legal Aid.
Every Wednesday, he travels to a court in the neighboring Nwoya District as a lawyer on State brief (without pay) to defend individuals caught on the wrong side of the law. In his office, there are two huge piles of files – one for paid services and the other for free services. He says most of those pro bono files are for poor men and women who generally have only the clothes on their backs and a small piece of land being grabbed by wealthy individuals.
“I am happy to be serving in this community because I am making some impact,” Oroyo said. “I have won at least 300 cases and restored more than 400 families to their land after wealthy individuals grabbed them. My pro bono services also have greatly helped to decongest the Gulu Prison.”
A call to servant-hood was so strong that Oroyo turned down a prestigious opportunity to work in Europe. In 2016-2017, he got the Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue a Master in International Human Rights and Criminal Law at Bangor University in the United Kingdom (UK). Of 29 Ugandans that year, he was the only Ugandan legal scholar. And he emerged as the best Master of Law student. His dissertation was titled, “Law Reform Examination and Property Rights and Gender Equality: Women’s rights to property upon divorce and separation, a comparative legal study of Uganda, England and Wales,” also was voted as the best dissertation in 2017.
Those achievements earned him two accolades and he immediately got an offer from a professor to work with him as a Research Assistant, a position that would have automatically earned him a teaching job – and more money – in the UK. But Oroya says beside honouring the terms of agreement he had with his then employer, International Justice Mission, he knew that the poor in northern Uganda needed him more. So he turned down the opportunity.
Upon his return to Uganda, Oroya embarked on a move to try and reform the systems in place. He trained fellow lawyers, prosecutors and police officers on best practices of investigation and the need to respect individual human rights during arrests and detention. Detention without trial, torture, and grabbing of land that deny individuals the right to own property are the most common forms of human rights abuses meted by law enforcers in Uganda.
Many times, suspects are arrested before investigations are done and they are held in custody for weeks or months beyond the mandatory 48 hours as police investigate. Besides, it is a common practice for the wealthy to buy favors and win cases against poor individuals who cannot afford the cost of legal representations.
For Oroya, there is much more to be done. And he feels led to help do it.
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Julius Mucunguzi, left, with the Honorable David Bahati, Uganda’s minister of state for finance and planning; and Jack and Linda Klenk in October 2019. Jack serves on the board for UCU Partners.
By Julius Mucunguzi, Communications Advisor to the Prime Minister
Those who have read my book, “Once Upon a Time – The Story of Keeping Hope Alive” (2014) may remember where I write about my first travel to the United States as a fresh young man in May 2000 – arriving at Dulles Airport, Washington, DC, with no luggage.
After waiting alongside the conveyor belt for the entire luggage to come through without seeing my bag, I walked out through the huge lounge unsure of what to do next. I only had on me $70 dollars, which I had planned to use to get a taxi to the Ellipse Apartment in Fairfax, Virginia, and wait for the stipend that would come from the Weatherspoon Fellowship at the Family Research Council, which admitted me for an internship.
My eyes were welling with tears of fear and anxiety. Here I was – in a foreign land for the first time in my entire life – with no luggage apart from the clothes I was wearing.
Unknown to me, a friend, Rev. Canon Geoffrey Byarugaba, aka Uncle Geoff, who recommended me to the fellowship, had informed this couple on the right hand side – Jack and Linda Klenk – about the details of my travels and they decided to come to pick me up from the airport.
As I stood staring at the different signposts, I saw my name written on some manila paper held high by two people with very warm and wide smiles. The sight of the name “Julius Mucunguzi” took me by surprise. I walked over and announced that I was the one.
“We are here to pick you and take you to your apartment,” Jack said.
“Where is your luggage?” Linda asked.
” I have no luggage. It did not come,” I replied, almost sobbing.
“Do not worry,” Jack told me. “It will come when it does. For now, let us first take you to buy some clothes.”
I had packed about 10kgs (22 pounds) of millet and sorghum floor so I would make ekisyanga, a special type of a traditional Ugandan beverage called bushera. It was common for those of us who went to boarding schools in those days.
I jumped into their vehicle, and off they drove me to a huge shopping mall.
Here, inside a large Wal-Mart store, they asked me to choose clothes of my choice, but I was timid, not knowing what to pick or leave and fearing to appear like someone abusing their generosity. Jack noticed it and simply picked several shirts, trousers, vests, boxers, a jacket, and shoes. He put all of them in a cart. Meanwhile Linda picked spaghetti, bread, milk, sugar and lots of tinned foods and added them to the metal cart. We walked over to the counter, and they paid the whole bill.
They took me to the Ellipse Apartments near the Government Centre in Fairfax, and I entered the house. After they had left, I quickly started fitting myself in the new clothes.
They fit me so well. They were the best clothes I had ever owned. Alone in the room, I jumped up and down, thanking God for the loss of my luggage. If my luggage had come, which contained some very old trousers and shirts I had been wearing at campus and a pair of old shoes that looked like dried fish, perhaps they would never have taken me to the shopping mall.
Jack and Linda would from that day become my family in DC. I later learned that they loved Ugandans with a passion. They had been picking up many Ugandans from the airport. They even had turned their huge house in Lorton, Virginia, into some sort of Uganda House where they would host students and elders alike.
In the years that followed, several other friends would benefit from their generosity, including Mike and Monica Chibita (Uganda’s chief prosecutor and Uganda Christian University dean of journalism and media studies, respectively), Ethan Musollinii (motivational speaker and human resource consultant based in Kampala), Enock Mayanja Kiyaga (journalist based in the United Kingdom), Aloysius Bisigirwa (residing and working in Washington, DC), David Bahati (Uganda’s minister of finance) and many more.
I would later learn that Jack’s love for Uganda started in the 1960s when he travelled to my country as a student teacher and taught at Sebei College in Kapchorwa.
The couple often visits Uganda. On their trip in October 2019, I was attempting “to revenge” – a Ugandan slang popularized by one of Uganda’s former Presidents. It means to return the favor. While seemingly inadequate, I humbly offer these words as part of the favor.
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