Visit by Drake University

We have a collaboration with Drake university and every year we staff and students of Drake coming over to Uganda for a study visit as part of their internationalization program. This year, we are marking ten years of the collaboration. I normally host the group for lunch at my residence in Entebbe, however, on this occasion, it so happens that I had a program in Iganga and I requested they were visiting the source of the Nile; I therefore requested that instead of rushing through the traffic back to Kampala and back to Entebbe, why not have lunch at Iganga in our ancestral home. 

It so happened that there was an ongoing activity in our family compound and at the same time, we are hosting a group of Aiesec interns. Weekends are also occasions for the women group under the Balunywa foundation to meet. So we invited all these group to have lunch with the Drake people. It was an exciting afternoon.

Led by their PROVOST, Prof. Sue Mattison, the team arrived at 2PM and in his characteristic way, Ronald Kamweya aka Tush welcomed them and made them comfortable. We were had short reports from different people, the YPMA group, the Aiesec group, the women group and we were entertained by the +256 rappers.

After lunch, the group inspected the ongoing maternity project in memory of the Late Hajat Azena Kitimbo Balunywa and also planted some trees on the hospital project site. The closing function involved watching the maverick Jurncture walk his wire and YPMA offered cake that was distributed among the local community who attended the function.

There were some defining moments as the PROVOST went down in the Kisoga culture to greet old women in the home. The Drake international program has full meaning when somebody of that stature in the Drake hierarchy appreciates a culture and practices it as part of building the good will.