Adventures of the Visitors

Adventurers, Diane Reader Jones (far left) and Julie Moran (far right) are pictured with Save the Mothers’ Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese (second from left) and Dr. Eve Nakabembe (second from right) in front of the Save the Mothers building on the campus of Uganda Christian University. In the fall of 2016, Diane and Julie visited the Save the Mothers program in East Africa for the first time. 

Diane and Julie report:

As planned, we arrived in Mukono just in time to celebrate with the most recent graduates of the Save the Mothers (STM) Masters of Public Health Leadership (MPHL) program. Starting with a dinner celebration at Dr. Jean’s home on Thursday evening, we were up again early Friday morning for the large Fall Convocation Ceremony, which was held on the lawn of Uganda Christian University (UCU), followed by a congratulatory lunch for the new Grads and their families. This gave us the opportunity to visit with – and learn more about – some of the newest Game Changers.

Our first conversation was with Resty, from the Namayingo District in Eastern Uganda. Like many other STM students, her career has already advanced, due in part to her MPHL training. Resty told us she joined the program in 2012 while working with the Straight Talk Foundation on adolescent health, determining what services were available in secondary schools. For example, she found there were no contraceptives available and utilization low, but a little support made it better. She is now working for the Alliance of Mayors on HIV and Health.

Next we met Florence, whose husband works at UCU and encouraged her to apply for the MPHL program. She expressed her gratitude for God’s leading to this program, and found both the lectures and colleagues very interesting and helpful. She thanked them for the excellent teamwork. She said the students were challenged to think about what their own mother has meant to them, and she now attaches a lot more value to mothers. When Florence joined the program, she was a Radio Communications Teacher in Central Uganda, and is now pleased to be in women’s ministry with the Kampala Diocese.