Gulu University opened in October 2002 amidst a long-running civil war between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
This was not an ‘enabling environment’ for education.
Headlines such as this one from September 19, 2002 make this point clear: “Rebels in northern Uganda raided a village in the district of Gulu early Thursday and hacked 14 people to death.”
Since then, life in Gulu has regained a sense of normalcy as the fighting has subsided. There are new signs of development and recovery every month. Last weekend, Gulu University reached an important milestone: the first graduates in medicine and surgery.
According to Uganda’s New Vision:
GULU University over the weekend passed out the first graduates in medicine and surgery. The 40 pioneers, who received bachelors degrees, were part of the 1,050 students who passed out on Saturday at the 5th graduation at the first public university in northern Uganda…
The vice-chancellor, Prof. Jack Nyeko Pen-Mogi, said the 40 graduates of medicine and surgery had five years of intensive and extensive training at the university. “These fresh doctors interacted with the local communities in extremely remote dispensaries and health centers.” He added that the doctors and surgeons participated in the massive vaccination of children living in camps for the internally displaced. “They took part in the control of the hepatitis E outbreak in Kitgum and Pader districts. We are confident the doctors are ready to provide efficient and effective medical services in remote areas where city- trained doctors may not accept to work,” Pen-Mogi pointed out.
This is a very encouraging development that will be overlooked by most eyes that once focused on the destruction in northern Uganda.
What words of wisdom are appropriate for such an occasion? As reported in the New Vision, the Vice Chancellor had a few nuggets for the departing class:
[He] cautioned the graduates against indulging in vices such as corruption, nepotism, over- drinking and prostitution. He instead urged them to promote good governance in order to industrialise and transform the rural areas.
Yes, medical graduates, avoid corruption and prostitution. And congratulations!
