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news Friday, JUly 29, 2022 EbEnEzEr 19 The research... Graduate who never saw campus Okumu and his fiancée, Abbo, when she visited him at UCU He never scored below 4.00 GPA School of Social Sciences By Jimmy Siyasa (This article was edited from the April 2021 published version) Francis Okumu could be a modernday Mordecai, a biblical exile who saw God’s hand draw him from a pit of peril and hopelessness. For Okumu, age 37, his challenge and lack of hope were two-fold: visual impairment and lack of funds. He overcame these obstacles and graduated from Uganda Christian University (UCU) on December 18, 2020, with a Bachelor in Social Work and Social Administration (BSWSA) – even though his lack of transportation from Mudodo, a hamlet of Tororo district in eastern Uganda, meant he couldn’t be there in person. He had no funds to travel from his home to the UCU main campus 120 miles away. throughout his three years at UCU. He was one of the best students in his class of 82. Okumu enrolled at UCU in September 2017 with hopes for a scholarship that didn’t initially materialize and an understanding that his sight problems would be a challenge. “No other university or course of study was more ideal for me apart from (the social work program) at UCU,” he says. “I knew in UCU they would serve other students and me with that Christian heart. I also knew I would get more knowledge about God at UCU, as opposed to studying in a public university.” Okumu says he wanted to avoid non-Christian institutions where lecturers seeking bribes for marks, sexual harassment and other vices would be more prevalent. Keeping his focus on UCU, Okumu prayed. One morning in 2018 while he was in Tororo, he received a call from Kasule Kibirige, 2003 2003 was the year Okumu completely lost his sight. “I remember, I woke up one morning and my eyes were paining. I could not see anything,” he said, with no emotion. “I realized that only God could help me even if I had killed myself, it would not help.” the head of the School of Social Sciences. The purpose of the call was to tell Okumu that he could study at UCU for free. “I knew it was God who had given me the chance,” he says. “I was surprised that my lecturers had been discussing how to help me and how they could bring me back to my dream campus." Kasule had lobbied the UCU Directorate of Teaching and Learning into absolving Okumu of paying fees. They would later grant him the green light for free meals, accommodation and education. “I also knew the requirements of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) regarding people with disabilities,” Kasule said. " I can confidently say that Okumu was among the top 10 students in his program who deserved all the help he needed." Okumu is a Japadhola from Tororo. His mother, Alowo Angelina, died in 1991. He was survived by his father, Ochieng David, who later died in 1994. He was then left to the care of a paternal aunt. He lived in Bunya, one of the six traditional chiefdoms of Busoga kingdom in eastern Uganda. This was until 2001, when his grandmother succumbed to an unknown illness, while he was in primary five. He was then moved optical complications that To help disabled students seeking to study at UCU and other universities in the future, Okumu’s research topic was: Visual Impairment and Learning Capabilities of Students at the University. He hopes his undergraduate research will reveal some of the hurdles, which learners with visual impairments face in higher institutions of learning. Most importantly, to him, the findings of the study will guide lecturers on how to not only besthandle students with the kind of impairment Okumu suffers, but also to assess the latter based on their learning capabilities. back to Tororo where he would live until adulthood, in the custody of a paternal aunt. By infancy, Okumu already had only worsened as time passed. As a child, he could make out colours, shapes, and his environment. He often suffered severe eye ache that later escalated into monocular vision. Growing up from an impoverished family, Okumu’s father could only afford trivial treatment such as eye drops and only occasionally could he take the boy to a hospital in Busolwe, a town in Butaleja district. Mr. Ochieng’s shoestring budget could not warrant a proper oculistappointment. In 2003, Okumu completely lost his sight. “I remember, I woke up one morning and my eyes were paining. I could not see anything,” he said, with no emotion. “I realized that only God can help me even if I had killed myself, it would not help.” With UCU tuition fees, meals and accommodation sorted, Okumu still had other challenges. He needed a laptop with Braille and, at the end of his undergraduate studies, an aide to help him do research. For his research, he could not single-handedly execute the mundane task. He needed a seeing pair of eyes to support him. Blessedly his faculty permitted him a research assistant with whom he analyzed data and typed the work. But Okumu had to pay him $40 for the job. This was a fortune, considering the former’s financial inhibitions. Okumu says his desire after school is to serve the community and participate in charity works. While in Tororo, Okumu has always volunteered as a counselor for his home church. “There are many poor people with disabilities who feel discouraged and think it’s over,” he said. “I want to motivate them.” Main campus gets solar-powered lights By Ivan Tsebeni (This article was edited from the December 2021 published version) The Uganda Christian University (UCU) main campus has installed solar-powered lights as part of a movement to promote a green lifestyle. The solar-powered lights were bought with support from Uganda President Yoweri Museveni. In February 2020, Museveni donated sh30m (about $8,400) and pledged another sh50m (about $14,000) towards the activities of the UCU students’ guild government during the year’s UCU Guild Run. The President’s contribution was especially welcomed in 2021 as the guild’s plans to conduct a run virtually vs. inperson struggled in a Covid-restricted environment. “I’ll put in sh80m towards the cause, but I came with sh30m,” Museveni said. “I will pay the sh50m later.” The President also pledged to help UCU in installing security lights on the Bishop Tucker Road. During the university’s 22nd graduation ceremony on October 22, 2021, Vice Chancellor Aaron Mushengyezi announced that Museveni fulfilled his promise of sh50m in August 2021. Former UCU guild president Timothy Kadaga’s administration initiated the solar light project and dedicated part of the proceeds of the year’s guild run towards the cause. The annual UCU guild run is organized, in part, to raise funds for tuition support to needy students, and to set up security lights around hostels established near the university. At the guild run event on February 22, 2020, Kadaga also made a request to the Ugandan Government to tarmac the Bishop Tucker Road from Mukono town to the university campus. The President agreed to help with the road paving in his remarks at the UCU October 2015 graduation. In December 2020, people operating businesses on the Bishop Tucker Road issued a sigh of relief when Mukono Municipality’s local council started renovations on the road. The constructors placed fresh tarmac on the section of the Bishop Tucker Road from the Bus Stop on the Kampala-Jinja road to Wandegeya trading centre, just before the UCU small gate, a distance of about ½ mile. UCU director of projects Eng. David Kivumbi said that under phase one, 13 Fact An Anglican priest at Church of Uganda radio centre, where UCU’s The Standard newspaper is now located , religiously linked up daily at midnight with Radio Uganda, the sole national broadcast station in Uganda, to say the closing national prayer, until private radio stations were legalised in 1993. Technicians connect solar panels on Nsibambi Lane. solar-powered lights are installed in three Mukono campus locations: on five poles along Ankrah Rise; on four poles on Nsibambi Lane; and on four poles in the university’s new soccer pitch. Kivumbi said that after the guild government’s spearheaded first phase, a partnership with Mukono Municipal Council will enable phase two with solar lights fixed on Bishop Tucker Road from Mukono town to the main campus. The UCU Guild Vice President for 20192020, Ezra Ambasiize Rwashande, noted that the idea of installing solar lights by Kadaga’s government was something that should inspire future student leaders to think of projects that improve the image of the university.

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