Dean of Men Jeffery Rogers stands with Ugandan school children. Courtesy | Jeffery Rogers

Freshman Timothy Mulungi had never seen colorful eyes until he came to America for orientation at Hillsdale College.

“I thought it was a myth,” Mulungi said. “But it’s true! I’ve seen green eyes, blue eyes, even yellow, and all are different shades with so much variety. It’s beautiful! And it reflects God’s beauty.”

Mulungi, the eldest of four and a Uganda native, received a Hillsdale scholarship to study for four years at the college. He said he hopes to return to Uganda and implement what he will learn here. He plans to study biology so that he can become an agriculturalist, help teach other Ugandans, and reform life back home.

A month prior to Mulungi’s introduction to Hillsdale, Associate Dean of Men Jeffery “Chief” Rogers arranged a two-week mission trip to Uganda from July 20 to Aug 4. Director of Campus Recreation and Club Sports Ryan Perkins and sophomore Cole Sutherland traveled with Rogers to the African country.

“You want a better life for yourself and for your family,” Rogers said. “But you don’t want to drain the brain capacity of Uganda and bring all their smart kids here and keep them here,” Rogers said. “That would be wrong. We want to bring someone back, and hopefully with the principles and their faith in God, they’ll go back and make a difference in their country.”

The three men visited recent Hillsdale graduate Jacob Ngobi ’23. Ngobi’s mother, Joy Ngobi, is a practicing anesthesiologist and founder of the Hope Institute of Uganda. Based in Wisconsin, the institute provides scholarships for Ugandans to receive an American education. The Hope Institute also travels on medical missions to Uganda and sells original Ugandan jewelry to help generate revenue for local craftsmen.

Hillsdale partnered with Joy and The Hope Institute to provide scholarships for Ugandan students. This summer, Joy hosted Rogers and a Hillsdale crew in Uganda. She toured them around the country, and Mulungi accompanied the group to become more familiar with a few Hillsdale faces.

Perkins said seeing the corruption, lifestyle, and sufferings of the Ugandan people made it difficult to know where to start helping.

“I think the hardest part was you’re exposed to these really hard situations and you want to help, but you’re not always able to,” Perkins said.

Rogers said 78 percent of Ugandans are under 35 years old and over half of the total Uganda population is under the age of 15. The population is very young, and the wealth is concentrated at the top. The president of Uganda has been in power for 40 years.

“He’s rich and the people are poor,” Rogers said. “It’s a situation where the country is suffering, and the few haves are suppressing the have-nots.”

Sutherland said when he was talking with kids, he learned their only aspirations were to join an opposition party — what they called, “terrorists.”

“The corruption, even on the individual level, is discouraging, especially for the long term impact there,” Sutherland said. “If there is going to be change, it has to come internally.”

Perkins described the local villages, where everything is handmade and each family  raises its own food.

“Nothing’s paved. Houses are built with clay bricks that they just cook in the sun,” Perkins said. “So a very, very simple lifestyle in the village. And that’s where they struggle to get kids to stay in school.”

The group visited several schools to read and play with the children.

“The most resounding thing that stuck out to me about the trip was how happy all the kids were,” Sutherland said. “They have nothing, but those kids were so much happier than any kids here.”

One teacher, who likely didn’t have a high school education, oversaw a classroom packed with more than 60 kids.

“Probably about ten percent had lunch,” Sutherland said.

Besides engaging with the kids, Rogers, Sutherland, and Perkins helped organize a library.

“One of the classrooms was filled floor to ceiling with books,” Sutherland said.

The group sorted the books based on which ones were beneficial and which should be discarded.

The books were all donated, but many donated books are rejects and not good for an educational library, Rogers said. But the Ugandans were fascinated with any donation.

“You have kids who have never touched a book and of course they want to see pictures, but we were like ‘not that one!’” Rogers said.

Rogers said he held a two-day leadership seminar in a village church to teach Ugandans to be self-sustaining, good neighbors, and strong leaders. Rogers preached from Luke 15  and said he focused on calling the Ugandan men to action. He witnessed women, around the ages of 17 and 18, caring for their children who were the product of rape.

Rogers said the lack of accountability and male leadership has allowed the violation of women to continue.

“None of the men were brought to task for their actions,” Rogers said. “I called all the men together and said, ‘You’re either going to be the problem of Uganda or the solution of Uganda.’ I was just calling men to lead. Because if men lead, if men are responsible, and if men live godly lives, women are blessed by that. If men don’t, women are really hurt by it.”

In addition to the school visits and the library work, Sutherland said the group also visited a local hospital where he witnessed a surgery on a facial tumor. They also visited a leperward, where the sick come from across the continent to have shelter and live together. Sutherland said the disease was inactive, so he could talk and even touch the wounded Ugandans

“They were just so happy to see other people,” Sutherland said.

Rogers, Sutherland, and Perkins all joked about the classic Ugandan  dish, matoke.

“If you’re really into uncooked, warm, mashed bananas, then it’s the place for you to go. They do it really good,” Perkins said with a sarcastic smile. “If you’re not into uncooked, unripe, warm, mashed bananas, you may have a tough time there.”

Rogers shared that Winston Churchill called Uganda the “Pearl of Africa” in reference to Lake Victoria and the beauty of the landscape.

“But he was wrong. You are the pearl of Africa. It’s the people,” Rogers said to the villagers. “You’re just a dusty, dirty pearl that needs to be polished, and you can get a great education, and make a difference in your country.”

That is what Mulungi said he hopes to do. He said he has noticed how motivated Americans are, especially at Hillsdale. They are intentional with their time and have ambitions. He contrasted that with Ugandans, who, he said, have little passion or drive.

“I want to embrace the challenge. I’m here to learn. Everything has a challenge, and strength rejoices in that challenge, right?” Mulungi said with a smile.

Mulungi shared that while things haven’t been easy, he takes comfort in Philippians 4:13, which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“My passion really is God,” Mulungi said. “It hasn’t been easy, but I’m grateful to God that I’m here, and I want to do his will for my life.”