By Irene Best Nyapendi
Mary Chowenhill came to Uganda Christian University (UCU) to teach children about the love of God. She did that and more. Now, Mary, an American missionary with the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS), is leaving UCU after a decade of ministry.
In 2012, SAMS sent Mary to UCU on a mission to teach the Mukono campus Sunday school pupils about God. Seeing the need at a larger scale, Mary expanded the ministry to their teachers and to the Sunday School teachers of the diocese in Mukono.
“I won’t trade my time with the children for anything because I love children, and the children love me,” Mary says confidently about her work.
Sunday School
One Sunday in the same year, while Mary was attending Sunday school at UCU, she was bothered by the lack of enough teachers to cover all the classes. The classes are in age groups of 0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 plus 13 and above. She chose 7-9 which had the greatest need. Since then, Mary has been part of the Sunday school ministry at UCU which hosts over 300 staff and local community children, ranging from babies to young adults, especially during the holidays on Sunday mornings.
The 70-year-old has been a spiritual mother to scores of children that have gone through her hands.
“It is precious to be able to be part of their lives, and it was exciting watching my Sunday school children getting confirmation,” Mary recalls with joy and satisfaction of a mother witnessing their son or daughter blossom into an adult.
Student entrepreneurship
Mary was soon quickly moved to skilling adult School of Business students for their life after the university. “I had a conversation with school of business lecturers in 2013, and they told me they were having a problem with parents calling to say their children were not getting jobs,” she says.
The school then embarked on looking for ways to bridge the skills gap of its graduates.
She proposed embedding an hour of practical lessons into the entrepreneurship class, an idea that was bought by the school. Mary has a masters degree in economics and entrepreneurship education besides a degree in International Relations.
Florence Gimadu, a lecturer at the school of business, says Mary is passionate about entrepreneurship. She admires her dedication to reducing the levels of graduate unemployment.
With Mary’s help, over 450 students have learned how to apply their School of Business knowledge with real-world skills. She has trained students to generate ideas of their own and helped them build startups and entrepreneurial enterprises such as making jewelry.
“Through practical lessons, the students learned what worked and what didn’t,” she says.
Mary is optimistic that the UCU School of Business can be the best in the country. Her dream is seeing people refer to the School of Business as the star school at the top of the hill (UCU is built on a hill) and realizing many opportunities of scholarships for the students at UCU.
She recently played a pivotal role in launching a business incubation hub. The hub under the School of Business also services students from other courses.
“In 2019, the Hanze Foundation in the Netherlands gave us money to start an incubation hub where young people can come and work on developing their business ideas,” says Mary, who is an administrator at the hub.
The hub gives aspirational students an opportunity to bring their ideas to life, according to Gimadu, who adds: “Mary has helped us get funders. She has taught and mentored students at the hub without expecting any salary for it.”
Aston Aryamanya, a lecturer and trainer at the incubation hub, describes Mary as a determined person who makes things happen.
“Most of the things at the hub are from her dedicated effort, right from the tiles in the main room of the incubation hub, to the walkway that leads to the hub,” he says.
Two cohorts of students have so far been trained at the hub and 18 successful businesses have been hatched.
Mary approves of the way UCU has been a good steward of the environment in that the development on the beautiful campus on the hill has not tampered with the natural beauty.
“I am pleased with the way the campus is being transformed into a much more pedestrian and ecologically friendly place,” she says.
She dreamed of adding to the beautiful scenery when she gave birth to the idea of a mural that happened in 2022 with the support of Jack Klenk, a board member of the Uganda Partners NGO. The mural, which is located near Thelma students hall in the middle of the Mukono campus, creates a serene atmosphere for the UCU community. The designs and themes painted on the mural reflect the university’s Christian values with many stories hidden in the pictures.
After UCU
In late April, Mary will return to live in Florida, USA.
The thought of bidding farewell to her UCU home and friends makes Mary teary-eyed but as a missionary, that is part of the life she chose – moving on to the next destination where God is calling her. According to her, everything happens solely because God opens doors and closes others.
Mary says her greatest role as a teacher is to help others understand that our labor on earth should be for God’s glory.
“We must always place the needs of others before our own,” she says, revealing the inspiration behind her missionary work at UCU.
She believes UCU is on the right path of awakening students to be missionaries with programs such as Mission week.
Even in her retirement, she will continue serving God’s kingdom as she plans to start a ministry teaching churches the importance of mission in the lives of building God’s church.
Her final thought and challenge for the church today?
“A church that has no one going out should ask themselves where the great commission is,” she said.
