“Mwami ssuuna, mbadde nsaba kwogerako nawe.” 

A tall woman I’d never seen spoke Luganda.  Translated to English, the message was: “Mr. Ssuuna, I would like to talk to you.”

In the summer of 2022, a team of three students from Dartmouth College in the USA state of New Hampshire were in Mukono, home of the main campus of Uganda Christian University (UCU), to actualize a solar water heater project designed to help the users save money, improve the health of the kitchen staff and reduce the amount of carbon output to the environment. 

The media ecosystem thrives in Kampala, Uganda, with a myriad of channels, both online and offline, that try to inform, educate, entertain, and campaign for democracy. The media plays an important part in the lives of ordinary Ugandans, with over 200 radio stations, 30 TV channels, and a handful of newspapers. Appreciation for their work, on the other hand, remains a complex and multidimensional subject.

When students in the Uganda Studies Program (USP) at Uganda Christian University (UCU) depart for their homes and colleges in North America, they leave memories, experiences and some of their gently used items. 

“People are lonely because they build walls, instead of bridges.” That timeless quote, by Joseph Fort Newton, an American 20th Century priest and author, is relevant today and fitting to social and networking opportunities at universities.  

In August 2018, he joined the institution as a full-time staff member. Just four months later, the UCU Vice Chancellor at the time, Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, shocked Kigenyi by appointing him the acting principal of the college. The position holder at the time had retired.