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Namutebi credits her internship for sharpening her time management and storytelling skills. “I learned how to package stories under tight timelines and how to interact with professionals in the field. It’s an experience that gave me confidence and clarity about my career goals,” she says.

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In her speech at the 2024 National Safe Motherhood Conference, Dr Chamberlain-Froese said that most efforts at communication on maternal health were targeted towards adults. Speaking on the importance of individuals, she noted that adolescents are a large part of Uganda’s population and are often most likely affected by the issues STM seeks to solve. For messaging to ignore them is a huge disservice. 

“We learned early that relationships would be the key to the success of the program,” said Mark Bartels, now executive director of a USA-based nonprofit, Uganda Partners. “Beyond the essential rapport with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) and UCU was that the program provided relationships with other students, host families, faculty members and supervisors – primarily Ugandans.”

At six months, my mother noticed a peculiar swelling on the lower part of my tiny back. It quickly grew into a huge sac and prompted a rush to the hospital. Following tests, the doctor determined I had spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly.  The National Institutes of Health reports up to 10 of every 1,000 babies have it. An estimated 1,400 children are born with spina bifida annually in Uganda.