by Dené Marcello
Uganda’s geography always greets me long before I clear immigration. Descending toward the runway at Entebbe—its terminal perched on the northern shore of Lake Victoria—I’m reminded that this is a landlocked country whose life and color are nevertheless shaped by water. The lake’s vast blue surface merges with lush peninsulas and islands, while distant ridges hint at the highlands that moderate Uganda’s otherwise equatorial heat. Straddling the equator, most of the country enjoys pleasantly warm days and cool nights. I arrive in what is often a rainy season but I’m fortunate – the weather is beautiful.
Facts About Uganda
Although my flight landed at 2 a.m., the nearby city of Kampala never seems to sleep. Traffic abounds, boda boda drivers (motorcycle taxis) buzz throughout the streets, and music spills out from the open doorways of storefronts. I spend a few days in this bustling city to sightsee and rest from a very long flight. One of my stops is the Uganda National Mosque, which is best known as the Gadddafi Mosque, the largest mosque in all of East Africa. From atop this mosque, the hills of Rubaga, Namirembe, Kololo, Kibuli, Mulago, Makerere, and Old Kampala rise like green islands in a sea of tin roofs—one can easily see why the capital was once called the “City of Seven Hills.”
After a day of rest, our team sets off to the southwest to visit our first hospital. Soon, the city’s congestion subsides and the tarmac yields to earth roads. Moving slower, children begin to race barefoot alongside the safari vehicle, waving at the muzungu with smiles that make you forget every bump.
During the rains, the countryside turns from the muted gold of the dry season to a near neon green as banana leaves glisten and low clouds cling to terraced slopes. Upon this green palate, the people bring the greatest riot of color with their bright kitenge fabrics and smile greetings to us as warm as the midday sun.
My time in Uganda
As we come upon our first stop, Rwibaale Health Center, a crowd comes into view—women, children, students, nurses, the town’s traditional dancers, and the Banayatereza Sisters, who established and still run this vital Center today. There’s music and dancing, plus songs performed by the schoolchildren, all to welcome us to what we hope will one day expand beyond a health center into a full-service Hospital capable of treating not only women and children but also trauma, chronic disease, and broken bones.
Since its founding, African Mission Healthcare has worked in Uganda, primarily in partnership with the Banyatereza Sisters, an indigenous order of committed nuns who run health and educational institutions. In 2021, Dr. Sister Priscilla Busingye, Uganda’s leading urogynecologist, became the first African and the first woman to receive the African Mission Healthcare Gerson L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service. Dr. Busingye, known as “the nun who helps women,” cast a vision for a maternal health center of excellence. This dream has become the Ngonzi Nsa (Only Love) Initiative, a network of four hospitals in southwestern Uganda dedicated to reducing maternal mortality. I will be visiting these hospitals and talking with these women and their healthcare providers during my next few trips in Uganda.
The People of Uganda
During these trips, I’ve learned that in this country, family life reaches well beyond parents and siblings to include grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. And I’ve discovered that hospitality is a core value—offering guests tea or a meal is second nature. I definitely feel like part of their family here. Even more special, on my last visit, the Ugandans honored me with a Ugandan name: Abwooli, which among the Banyoro/Batooro culture is associated with gentleness—an apt reflection of the warmth and acceptance I experienced.
As we sat down for a delicious, traditional Ugandan meal of matoke (steamed bananas), posho (a dough made from maize flour), beans and groundnut sauce. Today’s meal is a family affair with cultural dances and vibrant music. The women dress in colorful gomesi and the men in kanzu.
We feel honored as the kind, loving Banyatereza Sisters sit down to dine with us. Their hard work and dedication are a bright beacon of hope to this region of nearly two million people.
African Mission Healthcare has enjoyed the privilege of partnering with the Sisters since 2011. We invest not only in infrastructure and clinical support but also in the vital component of training. Our sponsorship of 143 Ugandan healthcare workers bolsters the efforts of the Sisters and magnifies their ability to care for those in need.
Living in Uganda
Being near the Rwenzori Mountains means we have travelled far beyond Kampala’s crowded ring roads. Quickly, one discovers that access to care changes with every mile of red earth track. At Ibanda Hospital, one of the Ngonzi Nsa network facilities, a young mother told me how she had arrived: wedged behind a boda boda driver with her two-year-old on her lap and a friend gripping them both from the back. They bounced over rutted clay for nearly an hour because no car was affordable, and every contraction was stronger than the last. Twenty-four hours earlier, she had been turned away from another facility—no surgeon on duty.
At the mission hospital, this mother was assessed within minutes, fully sponsored through African Mission Healthcare’s Surgical Access For Everyone (SAFE) program and taken straight to the surgical theatre for the C-section that saved both her life and her baby’s. The cost of the C-Section—about $250—is less than 1% of what this surgery runs in the US, but for a Ugandan subsistence farmer or day laborer, it is far beyond reach.
Why? Because life here is shaped by subsistence farming. Three of every four Ugandans live in rural areas; 40% survive on less than $1.90 a day. Typical smallholders cultivate about 3 acres of land and earn about sixty-five cents a day. So, saving for an emergency surgery that costs $250 is simply out of reach.
The health consequences are stark. Nationally, only one in three women who need a Csection receives one, and the risk skyrockets the farther a mother lives from surgical care. African Mission Healthcare works with faith-based hospitals to narrow that gap—upgrading theatres, training midwives and surgeons, and sponsoring lifesaving operations.
Life Expectancy in Uganda
In rural Uganda, maternal mortality rates is estimated at over 220 deaths per 100,000 live births due in large part to complications such as postpartum hemorrhage, eclampsia, and obstructed labor. That’s 20 times the rate in the United States. Similarly, child mortality in some rural districts can climb to 60 deaths per 1,000 live births, stemming from preventable causes like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. The single largest risk for childhood mortality rate is the loss of a mother. As I walk through the hospital and witness the work, it occurs to me: to save the children, the most cost effective, compassionate response is to save their mothers.
In higher resource settings like the United States, these conditions are typically managed or prevented through timely access to prenatal care, surgical interventions, and effective treatments. However, in remote areas of Uganda, limited healthcare infrastructure, few trained professionals, and long travel distances to the nearest hospital contribute to the persistently high mortality rates. Strengthening rural medical facilities, expanding midwife and physician training, and improving transportation options can dramatically reduce these preventable deaths and help bridge the gap between Uganda and global health standards.
Uganda – Worth the investment!
As I leave the breathtaking natural scenery and vibrant cultural mosaic of Uganda, I reflect on the tapestry of experiences that have captivated me and many others who visit. Though challenges persist—particularly in healthcare infrastructure and education—grassroots efforts, mission hospitals, and local NGOs continue to drive progress and enrich communities. It’s a good country to invest our resources: Uganda’s story is one of resilience, hospitality, and innovation.
African Mission Healthcare collaborates with faith-based hospitals to upgrade theatres, train midwives and surgeons, and sponsor surgeries, we empower an army of smart, motivated professionals ready to serve. Like any community, they need functional facilities, reliable power, and the chance to train. As those resources become available through the generosity of donors, it is my desire that safe motherhood becomes within reach of every woman, no matter how remote her village.